WWE Spring Cleaning 2021 - Braun Strowman, Aliester Black, Buddy Murphy & More

beakerjoe

J. Marston wrote: »

New AEW scout is a big Braun fan...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI8Ij64uFwA

"Braun is the atypical guy we need in pro wrestling. That's what I look for when I'm scouting talent."

He clued in WWE to him, but he AEW don't need him.

Agent Coulson

90 day non compete clauses end 1st of September.

All Out is on the 5th of September.

Itssoeasy

Loughc wrote: »

While I agree with the Vince issue the problem is whoever they sell to will get an entertainment show runner in.

The big advantage AEW has is Tony Khan is a WRESTLING fan. That’s why AEW is so much better. They pay attention to the small details. Whoever buys WWE will licence it to feck and use it as an entertainment vessel nothing more.

Whoever they do keep on as wrestling advisors will still be in the WWE model that’s gotten so stale.

Vince and Kevin Dunn are both the problem. Vince with his carry on with changing things so often and Kevin Dunn is like a lord onto himself when it comes to the TV production which is awful. Yes, he’s not the director but I’d be a brave person to go against something he wants to do.

Tony Khan may be a wrestling fan but triple H for example was a wrestler and with nxt he has shown how he’d run raw and smack down if given the keys to the kingdom on a bigger scale. Let’s not act like AEW is pitching perfect games here but they are better at least at being consistent.

titan18

beakerjoe wrote: »

He clued in WWE to him, but he AEW don't need him.

He just doesn't work with the size of the AEW roster. You've Archer sure and Hager but that's about it and they're both leaner than Braun.

However, Braun is still incredibly popular and brings an audience. Now, some parts of AEW won't work for that audience (they're less family friendly) but outside of someone like Lesnar, there's no active available wrestler imo who brings the amount of viewers than Braun will. You even got a ready made position and a story of him taking the Dark Order leader spot considering his relationship with Brodie Lee, and the Dark Order are kid friendly so he works there.

Headshot

titan18 wrote: »

He just doesn't work with the size of the AEW roster. You've Archer sure and Hager but that's about it and they're both leaner than Braun.

However, Braun is still incredibly popular and brings an audience. Now, some parts of AEW won't work for that audience (they're less family friendly) but outside of someone like Lesnar, there's no active available wrestler imo who brings the amount of viewers than Braun will. You even got a ready made position and a story of him taking the Dark Order leader spot considering his relationship with Brodie Lee, and the Dark Order are kid friendly so he works there.

Adam Page is lined up to the be the leader and will use the Dark Order to go against the Elite when he's going for the title

Agent Coulson

I'd say Braun has no interest in being a wrestler he is a money man Entertainer so I'd could see him trying to get in to film big guy number 6 in a Seagal, Van Damme straight to DVD effort.

titan18

Headshot wrote: »

Adam Page is lined up to the be the leader and will use the Dark Order to go against the Elite when he's going for the title

True, and that's where they're going and I think Page will be a star, but if they were interested and Braun was (I'm pretty sure he won't be or AEW will), Strowman brings casual and kid viewers more than anyone else outside of Lesnar imo. If they did sign him, youve two options, the kid friendly route and have him join something like The Dark Order as a face or if you want to do the Monster Among Men thing, you throw him in with Tazz and you've a program with Brian Cage straight off as a giant hoss fight. Personally, I think the kid thing with Dark Order makes AEW far more money and you can keep Strowman out of the actual wrestling programs.

The likes of Black and Murphy fit far better in with AEW as is but they don't draw new viewers really.

Agent Coulson

Always love a Tama Tonga tweet

https://twitter.com/Tama_Tonga/status/1400120291083255816?s=20

Agent Coulson

https://twitter.com/LanaWWE/status/1400177333038899202?s=20

Agent Coulson

https://twitter.com/WWE_Murphy/status/1400185366540435463?s=20

Monokne

Surprised by people suggesting WWE has dropped the ball on, of all people, Braun Strowman. He is the archetypal WWE big man that would never have amounted to much in the industry without WWE. Can anyone seriously suggest if he'd been in TNA or ROH or NJPW he would have had a more succesful career than he has to date?

He was the utter drizzling sh*ts when he was called up. His promos have never gotten beyond passable. He's ok in the ring but very limited and getting worse as he's slowed down the past year or two. To have a talent like that get over to the level he did, work a number of big main events, and make himself millions of dollars is absolutely maximising his potential. He's not this Hulk Hogan level performer with incredible charisma. Just a well pushed big man. For me, he was ready to be cycled out 18 months or two years ago. Very stale and one dimensional. In any event, I think he will be back on a smaller contract at some point.

Lana is a really good manager. Would like to see her in that role elsewhere. I have no interest in seeing her wrestle. I know she has worked hard to improve but she just isn't any good.

Blake, Riott & Murphy can go wherever and do whatever - all very talented people that would fit in ROH/Impact/AEW etc.

Lord TSC

There was a stage early in his solo run where the crowd were massively hot for him, begging for him to become he top guy. Which, given his limitations and how the crowd usually doesn’t get that behind a guy with his look, felt like they’d struck gold with him.

But instead, they didn’t capitalise on it (surprise surprise). It felt so obvious he should murder Brock and win the title, and instead, he went into a holding pattern for years until the crowds just gave up on him.

Agent Coulson

They love a good Giant in Japan.

Choo choo here comes the Braun train.

Monokne

Lord TSC wrote: »

There was a stage early in his solo run where the crowd were massively hot for him, begging for him to become he top guy. Which, given his limitations and how the crowd usually doesn’t get that behind a guy with his look, felt like they’d struck gold with him.

But instead, they didn’t capitalise on it (surprise surprise). It felt so obvious he should murder Brock and win the title, and instead, he went into a holding pattern for years until the crowds just gave up on him.

Strongly disagree. He was just not the type of performer that you could run with as a champion and build around. You have to accomodate his limitations. His best stuff at the time was all built around stunts, pushing ambulances and cars over etc. He was never the guy to main event every PPV turning back title challengers. Come on now, let's not be silly.

CastorTroy

Remember when he beat the tag champs (The Bar so not a small team) in a handicap match at Mania for the titles?
And yes I know he had a partner.

LineOfBeauty

They had it with Strowman, for a small moment they had it. If they'd pulled the trigger then they could've had a legit top star to rival Reigns. But, like everyone else in the company, he was fed to Reigns and got the Big Show role. A case study in botched pushes and a missed opportunity.

RollieFingers

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Vince and Kevin Dunn are both the problem. Vince with his carry on with changing things so often and Kevin Dunn is like a lord onto himself when it comes to the TV production which is awful. Yes, he’s not the director but I’d be a brave person to go against something he wants to do.

Tony Khan may be a wrestling fan but triple H for example was a wrestler and with nxt he has shown how he’d run raw and smack down if given the keys to the kingdom on a bigger scale. Let’s not act like AEW is pitching perfect games here but they are better at least at being consistent.

Let's not act like NXT hasn't been horrendously stale for a good while now, just look at the thread on here, very little if any interest. I wouldn't hold my breath that HHH will be a magical solution to WWE's problems.

The White Wolf

Santana Garrett is the lost name not being mentioned. What was even the point of signing her.

ThePott

RollieFingers wrote: »

Let's not act like NXT hasn't been horrendously stale for a good while now, just look at the thread on here, very little if any interest. I wouldn't hold my breath that HHH will be a magical solution to WWE's problems.

I loved NXT, helped get me into WWE properly. The move to 2 hours and the 'third brand' counter-programming stuff killed it. Roster needs a shake-up, people don't move up anymore. I'm weeks behind with it at this stage, where it used to be must-see. Now I just try and binge it before they have a PPV.

It's still a decent show but not a patch on it's former self.

TheG0AT

ThePott wrote: »

I loved NXT, helped get me into WWE properly. The move to 2 hours and the 'third brand' counter-programming stuff killed it. Roster needs a shake-up, people don't move up anymore. I'm weeks behind with it at this stage, where it used to be must-see. Now I just try and binge it before they have a PPV.

It's still a decent show but not a patch on it's former self.

Agree with this that NXT was the "wrestling" show where most of the best talent was and the best matches but its lost its way in the past year and is missing out on a live crowd. I was genuinely excited when Finn reappeared in NXT and thought we'd get a series of him v Adam Cole matches with Cole being pushed to the main roster after mania last year, but alas that didn't happen.

Then Kross was brought in and given the monster gimmick and killed the whole idea of actual good wrestling and story telling. The Vince fingerprints are all over that. We're also getting far to many promo's and vignettes, just let the show be about wrestling and story telling

With the roster cuts you would hope that some of the NXT guys and girls get pushed up to the main roster and we might see NXT go back to being about wrestling.

Agent Coulson

If they do get taken over the don’t want to be paying out contracts for years like Turner was when WWE took over WCW and didn’t take the high contracted talent contracts.

Loughc

RollieFingers wrote: »

Let's not act like NXT hasn't been horrendously stale for a good while now, just look at the thread on here, very little if any interest. I wouldn't hold my breath that HHH will be a magical solution to WWE's problems.

Exactly this.

This isn’t a snide on HHH in the slightest but anyone who’s engrained in the WWE system for that long is going to fall into old/bad habits very quickly.

One of WWE’s biggest problems is they’re fine when everything is going their way but as soon as they hit a blip they can’t work themselves out of it.

Ratings are down… time to wheel out a McMahon.
Fans are unhappy with creative… YOU are the authority. (For 5 minutes)

It’s a stale product and can never freshen up when they’re all pandering to Vince.

The White Wolf

If they were to sell while removing the McMahons from creative and television (along with Kevin Dunn), I could possibly see Triple H working as a Feige type individual overseeing the product day to day.

I mean it's that scenario that is the most realistic one we have of things improving.

Itssoeasy

Nxt I suppose had to go to two hours with AEW arriving on the scene even though it’s not been a good move on their part. I mean raw has become unwatchable(and my watching of it has become less and less) because they were able to book a two hour show for the most part, and yes I know USA network is paying for that third hour but it’s clear WWE(or vince and the creative staff) can’t book the third hour well at all and is it nearly 10 years of three hour raws ? It changed whenever raw 1000 was which may not be 10 years but it’s not far off.

I don’t think NXT is as far gone as raw but it’d want to be careful. I mean even rewatching the Raws on the network with the ads removed and so it’s about 2 hours, it’s a slog to watch.

beakerjoe

I think since the move to 2 hours, NXT has been subject to more input from people above HHH. Id say Vince, Dunn and maybe others have been a huge influence on the direct of NXT when they went against AEW, esp when AEW was ahead early on.

Triple H is obviously involved, but id wager his influence has decreased a good deal when they went 2 hours. The counter booking, the time and angles given to the likes of Kross and Dexter Lumis and the shoehorning of main roster performers (Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley, Nia, Shayna etc) reeks of Vince McMahon/Kevin Dunn. The main roster presentation has sneeked from constant recaps, bland announcing (removal of Mauro) and repeated camera cuts. And lets be clear, NXT or not, McMahon has the final say on what happens there since they went up against AEW.

HHH appears to get these guys and appears to be at least at one stage has his finger on the pulse of what fans wanted. Id have more faith in a company where HHH had the final say than Dunn or McMahon.

Lithium93_

Even with AEW's arrival. Did NXT really have to go two hours though? They could've kept on doing their own thing, but no it had to suffer due to Vince being Vince.

And yes it'll be 10 years this July since RAW switched to the 3 hours.

Necro

The moment NXT got viewed as the third "brand" it was destined to start failing.

It was far better off remaining as a developmental area with a tight one hour runtime for the show where you didn't have umpteen filler matches each week.

Instead of being a launchpad for the main roster and stars of the future they have to horde the likes of Cole, Shirai, Gargano and Ciampa to have some sort of "starpower".

Has Vinces grubby mits all over its decline tbh.

PTH2009

Amazed 205 live is still a thing

Agent Coulson

HHH seems to escape all the criticism he was the one counter programming AEW and destroying what was a fun show that had nothing to do with Vince, It was made pretty clear that NXT was totally HHH baby and Vince had no interest in it or the talent there.

His ego is just as big as Vince's no former WCW talent ever got a fair chance as they all had to lie down for HHH even Sting 15 years later when he joined the company had to lie down for HHH.

beakerjoe

Agent Coulson wrote: »

HHH seems to escape all the criticism he was the one counter programming AEW and destroying what was a fun show that had nothing to do with Vince, It was made pretty clear that NXT was totally HHH baby.

Im sure it was pre move 2 USA. Maybe even initially going head to head, but Id say Dunn and McMahon pulled rank when they lost the first few weeks. Thats purely my opinion though.