Wrestling News & Rumours Thread ***NO CHAT***

B.A._Baracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119380628#Comment_119380628

. yeah I agree with the accent. Its very grating. Like a woman skanger trying to put on a blokes skanger voice lol.

ThePott

It's mad seeing so many people turn on Gresham online after defending him the last while.

I think there's definitely some blame to be put at Tony Khan's door too though. Sounds like there was barely any communication between him and Gresham. I know that there's talent relations for that and so forth but buying a company and keeping the company's champion at arm's length is odd.

I agree with what people are saying that TK has too much on his plate right now to the point it's impacting the product as a whole.

hynesie08

I know that there's talent relations for that and so forth

Is there though? Fair few lads have said there's been zero contact when their contract was up.

ThePott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382330#Comment_119382330

Honestly that was a bit of a pre-emptive point. Cause I knew someone would point it out but Christopher Daniels is the VP of Talent Relations apparently. Whether he's doing a good job is another question.

There definitely does seem to be a pattern though that if you're not at the top of the card or someone AEW sees as having value that you can be largely left in the dark.

Fightful updated their story to include more details on yesterday.

• Gresham met with Tony at 4 PM before the show and was upset about the creative direction and booking for his character
• originally the contents of the meeting were to remain private, but people in the locker room could physically hear what was going on
• security at the event could hear what was going on
• Gresham had spoken to QT briefly over the last week and to Dutt
• He spoke to them about his frustrations about his creative and was told that ultimately ends with Tony
• Was told Tony wasn’t able to meet with him until a few hours before the show
• the general process is talent speaks to one of the coaches who then contact Tony if it pertains to booking
• Coaches involved: QT, Daniels and Buck. Dutt and Megha help as well to communicate at least 10 times a day
• Numerous people have said communication has gone down since AEW has been back on the road after the Daily’s Place era
• AEW side believe Gresham entered the meeting with his mind made up and had never seen him that heated before
• Gresham had a vision for his character that Tony/ROH disagreed with
• Gresham did not want to go heel, but ROH felt he wasn’t looking at the bigger picture
• Finish to the Claudio match had at least been hinted to him though they can’t confirm if he outright knew
• Janela confirmed to Fightful that he had not spoken to the coaches before his contract expired and Marko had only emailed though couldn’t confirm if the coaches responded.

hynesie08

Christopher Daniels is the VP of Talent Relations apparently. Whether he's doing a good job is another question.

I know BTE isn't a Canon show, but it definitely seems to imply CD's job is more in the lane of "make sure you contact Julie in accounts to ensure everything you can write off is written off before you submit your tax" rather than a Laurinitus axe job, which is a necessary evil.

ThePott

True. I think there's a certain danger when a promotion of this size is founded by people who are all friends.

Whether Daniels can do his role effectively while also being talent himself and knowing some of the talent so well is probably up for debate. As they say it's not Show Friends and all that. Not suggesting it's Jobs for the Boys (although it often has been) but how connected is he with new and incoming talent that he doesn't have a history with? That's all speculation obviously and I'm sure there's examples for and against it too.

I think they can definitely benefit from having an objective axeman when it comes to talent at times. It could be the case that AEW has grown so much and they haven't adapted their internal structure and practices to reflect that growth. Eventually though it's gonna bite them on the ass. Either by having a bigger talent grow frustrated or have an emerging indie talent not see it as the haven it used to be.

hynesie08

Daniels was probably a great idea when the elite ran the show, and he was over janela, kiss, Fuego and the lads, but when you're supposed to be over lads who've been around roughly the same amount of time as you, or have done more than you, or both, how do you control that?

I'm not saying Cornette, but you definitely need someone who doesn't give a fcuk controlling the oars, if not steering the ship.

riffmongous

Not surprised Gresham was pissed considering how things went down, little tv time, no buildup and then no communication (if he is to be believed) before dropping the title in the opener in just over 10 mins. I'm not a fan of ROH in general but that's a pretty crappy way to treat any champ, and just as bad it takes the shine off Caesaro's win

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382988#Comment_119382988

It did feel weird for Claudio's win alright... like, the moment could've been so much stronger if they'd built a bit of a program between them since Claudio arrived. But instead it just felt like a title shot out of nowhere, like a formality to give him the belt. So it kind of lacked the emotion it should've had, for a moment Claudio's been waiting years for.

Gresham's not the most interesting fella, so I kind of understand the lack of time. They ideally would've done that little heel turn a lot earlier and allowed that to build a little with a few matches, if even just to build the Claudio angle - though it does sound like Gresham was just not on board with any character storytelling like that at all.

Agent Coulson

Claudio’s original debut was due to be the surprise challenger on the PPV however when The American Dragon got injured Tony had to change those plans.

So if the original plan had happened there would have been no build to Claudio walking out and Gresham losing the title anyway.

I can totally understand why Tony would want to build his ROH around Claudio as his champion.

Agent Coulson

Cornette saying Brock did walk out and it probably took someone he would trust and respect like Paul E getting on the phone to him with the offer of more money to come back.

“You know that if [Paul] Heyman got on the phone with him [Brock Lesnar], I would have to think that financial remuneration would be a part of that conversation. If it was about the principle of the thing, they may have gone to someone who is close to Brock like Heyman."

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119383216#Comment_119383216

That initial plan would've made a lot more sense than what we got too. You'd get the explosion from his debut, and that electricity would carry through the match to elevate the win (much like the electricity of his surprise debut replacing Danielson at Forbidden Door did). Instead, it was kinda neither one thing or the other... the novelty of his return has well worn off, but there was no build to replace that emotion in the match.

Claudio as champ is def the right direction, but to make the moment land as well as it deserved, it needed more.

Wait I keep getting told the dirt sheet writers were talking out of their holes that Brock walked out now and Corny is saying it as well but Crony hates the dirt sheets why would he agree with them if they were just making it up.

It also looks like the dirt sheet guys were right about WWE going TV14 as well.

J. Marston

Funny how people think Cornette talks out of his hole until he "confirms" a narrative they want to be true.

Spoiler: He's still talking out of his hole.

https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1551550437073080329?t=d_prm8M9dKRQ3UUYj8ahfw&s=19

HHH named new head of creative

The Nal

Creative obviusly impacts the value of the comapny... that Vince owns.

If Gargano and Killer Kross show back up in the next few weeks then you know that HHH is actually running the show 😂

Sirsok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119385002#Comment_119385002

While I loved what he was doing with NXT, was he specifically catering for an independent audience?

Like the WWE audience ain't a "smart" audience in general so would his NXT tenure be indicative of what creative for main show will be like?

CastorTroy

Yeah, I won't expect big changes. At least not quickly. I'm sure he's said before about NXT being different.

Although maybe some of his NXT guys will get a better role. Like Ciampa and Bayley when she returns. Maybe he'll have an idea of what to do with the women, including the tag titles.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119383462#Comment_119383462

Hello, Sean Ross Sapp.

Did Cornette confirm Lesnar walked out?

Cornette doesn't even pretend to be an ITK. It's possible that Lesnar walked out but then came back. Cornette would simply be adding 2+2 = Heyman gave him and buzz and convinced him to come back.

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119385336#Comment_119385336

Wonder who much different Paul Heymens character is from the real life business person ?

Balor, Champia and all the other small dudes getting ready for there main event pushes now which will be good to see but then again Triple H is a bit of a meat head himself so maybe the big dudes will still get the Vince push.

Will the likes of Taker, Goldberg, Austin, Cena all come running back to help out Triple H and Steph like they would have for Vince.

Agent Coulson

So will Brother Love be heading back to the podcast world soon

Conrad will be delighted.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119384921#Comment_119384921

This is a good thing but his health should come first and I'd imagine this is stressful but good luck to him

I'm hoping world title reigns for the likes of KO, Sami, Sheamus and Finn now

hynesie08

So, we're just going to pretend that NXT before the rebrand was stale for over a year and never made an actual star for the main roster?

Lord TSC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119386402#Comment_119386402

I'd argue it wasn't meant to make an actual star, but it was meant to build people up so that when they hit the main roster, they could continue developing into one.

The issue was, every time someone got called up, they were basically treated as utterly new people, and often rebranded to entertain Vince, discarding the aspects of their characters that made them successful in NXT.

(Case and point, the chatter that they wanted Adam Cole to shave his head and become a manager. Or FTR and their whole feud with the Usos. There's barely any examples of call ups that weren't immediately sandbagged....)

ThePott

I think NXT before the Wednesday Night War was an excellent show. As soon as AEW launched and there was more cooks in the kitchen it got a bit messy. If he can bring some of the classic black and gold era stuff to the Main Roster it is nothing but good news.

I think half the problem is that people that did come to the main roster a good chunk of their time had their history in NXT, character and sometimes even their name taken away. I think NXT at it's peak when he was in control was great, is it possible he can recapture that with main roster constraints, possibly not but it could only be an improvement.

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119386432#Comment_119386432

There were a few people who were hampered by developing a natural character arc on NXT and then being plopped into the main roster with no explanation of said development (Emma, Bayley) but the biggest problem was signing people with Indy buzz, teaching them the NXT epic™ and then plopping them on the main show's and then wondering why they sank.

"It's Keith Lee"

Why should I care?

"Because it's Keith Lee"

And?

At least Butch is something, and can develop into the Birmingham butcher Pete Dunne over time, which is why he should have gone through the transition on NXT.

The White Wolf

Late on this one but while it's bad how it went down for Gresham, I think the biggest foul TK made was that he put himself in that scenario in the first place.

Maybe he didn't move quicker because of Danielson's wish to wrestle him, but I just never saw it in Gresham. Great wrestler from what I hear, but doesn't seem to have much about him beyond that.

From what I've seen of him and his missus as well they seem to be high maintenance. Tony is well shot of him if he's gone.

Agent Coulson

The first big move against AEW has been made by new WWE leadership Brandon Thurston is report NXT will hold a PPV on September 4th up against All Out