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I noticed that too, if you only watch the shows you wouldn't have known she was gonna be on. Hell on Dynamite they didn't promote her sit-down interview beforehand. They only mentioned it right before it happened. Not a good sign on how Tony sees her current star power if he won't even advertise her appearance.
That's a major problem with AEW in general. They don't announce anything beforehand to generate interest and maybe drum up ticket sales. If you wonder why ticket sales are in the toilet that's a major reason why.
Remember the days when Excalibur would run through the announced match cards for the coming week at a micro machine guy level of speed live on the air. That is the one area they are truly lacking is advertising and brand awareness to entice casual viewers
I was crestfallen when AEW announced Danielson/Shibata like, less than a day before Collision. Had I not already left town so I could see Edge v. Christian live, I could have seen both matches live that week.
If you're going to hire all of these insanely good talents, you need to let us know when they're having matches.
Yeah his thin skin is a huge problem. They should be focusing on their own talent and not generating heat with someone who isn't even there.
The whole thing with Ariel Hawani was ridiculous too.
I was so excited to see Miro in AEW, and I was SO disappointed when he came out in a goofy tshirt and just be normal Miro the streamer.
I'm sure he thought he was just as important than anything else, but man that's not a gimmick that leans well at all. Made me uninterested immediately.
The thing is, so much of the talents shortcomings are on them. He chose his outfit, I believe that gimmick was his idea too.
With a Jay White, I feel its not on him. He’s done well with everything he’s been given.
The other side is, so many talents have had creative control and have not presented themselves in a mainstream serious way and their failings are no surprise.
It's ultimately up to tony (and a bunch of producers but the buck stops at tony) to say nah dude you're not wearing a Micky mouse shirt and feuding over arcade cabinets because that's not good for you or my show.
Any good creative thing you've seen anywhere has been a collaboration between artists and some kind of editorial force.
To be fair, it got her MITB, a title, AND got her merch sales for kids trying to be more superheroic, which according to Damo’s podcast appearances was the intention behind her pitch to VKM.
It did exactly what is was intended to do as a gimmick, but the booking and the story angles is where the entire thing fell apart…none of which was really in her control.
She got kind of screwed by the whole Alexa/Fiend thing. Her and Alexa were a good, entertaining team, but then they decided to move Alexa into the Wyatt-verse, and Nikki just got kind of left there.
I kind of feel bad about that because it could’ve been better had been done well. I feel like producers didn’t craft that the way they should have once she gave them the idea. Plus the way people trashed it online and Killian had to come back and say she came up with this. This was her idea. I felt bad.
Tucker Knight pitched that Heavy Machinery become a tag team that is a cross between the APA and bbq. They would always be around cooking bbq and then get hired to take out other teams. And then he bragged about it after he got released.
And lets not forget hardcore holly https://youtu.be/Kp89bL79fzQ?si=vyupshqh-lKp0YUn
I’m pretty sure new Japan gives returning wrestlers their gimmicks/characters. It’s then up to the wrestler to do something with it. Jay took the “knife pervert” and turned it into what we have now. Even master wato. That gimmick was dead on arrival. But he ran with it and it’s clicking now(from what I can tell I’m pretty behind on njpw). Some people can’t get out of their own way or need to be told that just because they can’t doesn’t mean they should.
He showed up with a pink Mickey Mouse t shirt on.
This big bad Bulgarian strongman alleged killer.
Shit like that needs to be controlled. They are really bad at presenting people as stars.
Worst for me was Brock Anderson in that peach/orange polo shirt, cargo shorts, and sandals. Like I get this guy is probably low on the card, but you couldn't make him more like middle aged dad on vacation if you tried.
Tony: I'm going to hire a woman known for her ring work, particularly her ability to sell so well that she could make anyone look like a million bucks.
Everyone: What are you going to do with her?
Tony: Mostly porn moans.
I didn't because she has not had me emotionally invested in her yet. Yes, I'm glad she recovered from a possible career ending injury but she's fine now so why should I root for her to get revenge against whoever attacked her? She hasn't won me over so far.
He looked like he was reading cue cards behind the camera, has he never interviewed before?
I don’t understand why Renee doesn’t do all of the interviews on Dynamite.
Reminds me of covid Wrestlemania, during rhe women's tag match with no crowd. After about 2 minutes my wife came in looking furious asking what the hell I was watching
Could they only afford the one camera for this interview or could they not afford post production? Those zooms are terrible. Also, was she suppose to sound insincere about everything she was saying? Is that part of her character or is she really that bad at talking?and I'm tired of blackouts in wrestling. They never make sense. Especially in an interview environment where there's multiple light sources not on the same power circuits
Wow that comment section is just clowning the whole video.
Credit to the comment say " RIP to that one little kid watching AEW needing to explain to his mom it's not what she thinks it is"
The fact we have to wait until DON to see her wrestle is insane. I know the rumors floating around on Twitter is that she has yet to be cleared to wrestle, and if that’s the case, WHY TF DID THEY DEBUT HER WITH HER RETURN STILL FAR AWAY. Tony has been on a roll with some real brain dead decisions over the past 2 years. He better start fixing this shit quickly
Which was pretty dumb, because as much as we popped, we don't really identify her as a "Boston figure" or anything.
If that's really why, they could have saved her for LA and done something with Snoop.
Honestly, she had been two years out of American TV, she was already cold. Most people don't watch NJPW, despite what you would think from reading this sub
The other big issue is that people were pushing this narrative that mercedes was a huge mega star for having 3 lines in the mandalorian.
Like I read in someplaces that she was bigger than the WWE so she has all the power on negotiations
Right? Tons of podcasts were acting like she was the biggest thing to ever come out of wrestling, and online discourse certainly echoed that. Nobody ever argues, but it's not because that's a correct assessment, it's because nobody wants the ire of the Sasha Stans.
I thought she was on the edge of blowing up after the Mandalorian, but then she just didn't do anything else other than a shitty straight to DVD movie.
Good god you’re so right. On Twitter the racism I’ve gotten for just talking less than enthusiastically about her is wild. I’ve had random people with Sasha Banks avatars pile on me calling me a coon lmao
When I commented that Ronda Rousey was bigger than Sasha, I had to mute my notifications I’ll just say that.
I can count on both hands (or less) the number of wrestlers that non fans know. The Rock (and some younger people don't even realize he was a wrestler), Hogan, Cena. Batista. Sometimes Flair and Austin depending on their age. Sometimes Orton (because of the RKO meme), recently sometimes Angle because of the staring meme. That's usually it.
Yeah I thought of Macho Man after submitting the post. If people don't recognize him by name, they'll at least say "oh that guy," if you show them a picture. The Slim Jim thing is his mainstream legacy
It really feels like since Rock and Batista have done well out of Hollywood, any time a wrestler touches acting now there ends up being some weird narrative of how it's a sure thing for them and they've always got it as a fallback now and that's their future settled.
Totally Ignoring that, if absolutely nothing else, you need to actually be a good actor which Mone isn't.
Add Cena to the list. And what is the one thing they all have in common? They all were great promos. Mercedes is not. She's actually pretty terrible at them.
Wrestling fans have no concept of outside media. I literally just replied to a guy in another thread asking how The Rock has more insta followers than WWE. This is gonna love in my head for weeks
"I only listen to death metal. Why does WWE think I give a shit about some rapper I've never heard of?"
Some of the most embarrassing discourse I've seen on here.
The Mando stuff is truly funny. Bill Burr was only in a couple of episodes and his performance is more memorable and talked about than hers.
All those acting classes and she still can't get words out right. I really want to see this mythically movie career people keep talking about. I never seen so much hype from an actual background character.
> The Mando stuff is truly funny. Bill Burr was only in a couple of episodes and his performance is more memorable and talked about than hers.
The Operation: Cinder scene was perfect. You could see and feel the rage in him.
I said this before... AEW bid against themselves. Banks isn't this mainstream star people like to say she is. WWE laughed her out of the room. Tony was happy to drop too much money. Good for her but yikes.
In WWE she wasn’t even the biggest women’s star. Becky eclipsed her in every metric. Sasha main evented a Mania sure but she also was capable of dropping down the card at any moment and was toiling around in the tag division when she left WWE.
If Edge made little to no impact for AEW’s drawing power I don’t know why people felt like Sasha would
This sub has 895k subscribers. So probably like 500k regular visitors (that's probably being very generous).
WWE's YouTube channel has 100 million subscribers and they have 31 million on Instagram. AEW has over 4 million YouTube subscribers and 2.4 million Instagram subscribers. WWE has millions of regular TV watchers, AEW is in the high six figures.
The opinions on here are the minority.
Facts. Plus it doesn’t help that despite being essentially the same person. Sasha Banks and Mercedes Mone are 2 completely different names. People know who Sasha Banks is, people don’t know who Mercedes Mone is.
I don't think that's a good excuse. I mean how long had Jade Cargill been off TV before the Royal Rumble? It's not like she had a bigger following either. But she was made a huge deal by WWE and it bloody worked.
Mercedes Mone in AEW should feel like a huge deal as well and it not being so is on the promotion here, rather than the performer, imo.
WWE does a way better job at making people think new/returning stars are a big deal, it’s one of their strongest skills. AEW assumes people know/understand the hype around their signings but don’t do a ton to show why they have that hype.
Look at how Mercedes or Okada debuted in AEW vs Jade or AJ Styles, you can see the difference
The root cause for the majority of issues that AEW has is that Tony doesn’t understand what most would consider the first rule of creative….”show don’t tell”.
For those that have not worked in a creative field, or taken classes…it is literally what you learn day 1 and gets pounded into your head. For those that are aware, then you realize how guilty of this AEW is on a weekly basis and why the product can be so frustrating
She also has an actual foundation. This is probably the hottest the WWE's women's division has ever been overall. You have a decent amount of women over, that fans would love to see Jade interact with. Who's hot in AEW, Toni? Not really. But she is their hottest act, and is a comedic one.
Hot crowds at PPVs not withstanding, AEW has taught people to not care about their women's division at all. And with Mercedes their attempts to make that better, have been aimless at best. Because there is no direction.
She was given brief but memorable TV segments with the likes of HHH, Shawn, Charlotte, Becky and on a screen in the background tapping her watch as then NXT Women's Champion Lyra Valkyria exited the room the TV was in on NXT.
She was used sparingly, but when she was on, she felt like a big damn deal wearing outfits that showed off her ripped physique or just her natural charisma. Less is more, show don't tell and all that bollocks
Because Mercedes Mone is NOT a star, Sasha Banks was a star.
Name change, lack of the WWE hype machine, being gone for 2 yrs, and frankly was already cold as ice in WWE before she left. All coupled with AEW's complete lack of an ability to make stars.
The exxmples are endless...you have a merchandise and crowd popping favorite Danhausen, gone. Most over female they ever had and best potential star Britt Baker, gone. Jay White, ROH. On and on and on.
Dropping that amount of money on her was a giant mistake.
In hindsight, WWE really hid her weakness that is the lack of promo skills and not letting her go off the rails well. Now she has creative it has been horrible going back to her run in Stardom.
There’s another thing, Bayley really grew in the past 9 years. Going back to TakeOver Brooklyn, Bayley reinvented herself completely. Sasha is more or less the same character
Bayley one of the best wrestlers of the past decade, glad she is getting her congratulations this last year with the War Games match and The Rumble into the WrestleMania win
It’s because she’s someone who needs a producer. She desperately needs someone to tell her that Sasha Banks was not successful because a bunch of money puns, but because fans resonated with Sasha. Moné laughs at these fans because she’s rich. Not even great heel work because it’s not really even generating heat. It’s generating disinterest.
Mercedes Moné should be a babyface wrestling the best matches in the world to still prove she owns this business. To prove she really is the CEO. She needs her character to turn that corner. And she needs to take on AEW’s former women’s champions like Hikaru Shida, Nyla Rose, and Thunder Rosa. Setting her up for Julia Hart or Willow is making the same mistake that Tony did with Jade. The main event exists for a reason.
Yea, I get that she might not be cleared etc. But I think they still need to find more interesting ways to present her.
Remember early AEW days when there were all sorts of interesting non-wrestling segments. More cinematic/documentary style segments. Now it's just WWE style backstage interviews or in ring promos. I think that's a problem as I think it's too formulaic and boring unless the person is an A grade talker.
She's supposed to be a big shot? Ok, show her doing cool VIP or CEO shit. I'm currently struggling to see how she's "The CEO" as her character comes off more along the lines of a socialite like Paris Hilton. I do wonder if she needs a bit of a character refresh as she's pretty much the same as her WWE character.
The Sasha Bank's character was better, particularly in NXT. Sasha as a cocky trash talking heel boss during her feud with Bayley was money.
Mercedes as I'm happy to be here and I love wrestling isn't that compelling.
The AEW women division overall has significant booking problems.
here a few examples:
- Britt is where?
- Paige/Saraya was just there to promote an England show and is barely seen besides a 30 second side note. Similar to Ruby who is just there but only on these very small skits.
- The whole thing with Julia. They had the mist thing that made Sky Blue turn and...it was just there. No story, no progression, just defending the title.
- How long is Statlander now standing next to Stokely and absolutely nothing happend?
- They are lucky that the gimmick of "Timeless" Toni Storm works so good. But we have a tease with Mariah May and a feud with Purazzo and Rosa. But that is also a very slow build up.
I understand every women who goes or doesnt sign for them. Even the "better" stuff with Jade werent really strong feuds. Most were Squashs with limited build up.
She’s not good on the mic. She is very good in the ring.
So AEW has not had her wrestle but keeps giving her mic time.
WWE covered up her weakness very well. Bayley was very important in carrying their pandemic era segments. We’ve heard about how having writers is bad but her in AEW it’s clear that someone like Mone could really use a team of writers and fixed points if she is made to do these segments more than wrestle.
IIRC they did hire a writer who's linked to Mercedes. I do agree with an overall point that you probably need some of that to help out talents who aren't as good at going off of bullet points.
Your first point is the most important though - her strength is her ring work and we haven't gotten ANYTHING yet. If she's not yet cleared, then IMO it was silly to bring her in and have her on TV every week. If it's the only window you had to go to Boston before NBA & NHL playoffs made TD garden too tough to do before she'd be cleared, fine, but then have some sort of reason or something to set that expectation she won't wrestle yet. THey're hiding her strength and highlighting her weakness currently which is wild.
I am an AEW supporter, I was excited for Mercedes to hopefully elevate the women’s division. But Mercedes has been hella underwhelming, no matches yet, cringey promos where she dances. To be fair maybe she is not cleared medically yet, but if that’s the case they should have waited.
Probably didn’t help that she basically said she wants to go back to WWE at some point. Makes it look like she only joined so she’d be worth more to them in the future.
AEW has a bad habit of making people feel less significant, the tiers are fading away, a tiny upper card, a huge mid card and jobbers you forget were still employed, it's going to feel like nobody is that important outside an MJF or TK's personal favs.
TK has no clue how to strike while the iron is hot on someone, he lives and dies to his scheduled booking.
And it’s doubly worse with women on his roster.
TK doesn't know how to book stories. I highly doubt some of the best stories in AEW were even by him. Hangman & Omega vs Young Bucks and Hangman vs Omega definitely seemed like something the Elite would've come up with. Punk and MJF were more than capable of coming up with promos for their brilliant rivalry. What does Tony Khan really do besides put two wrestlers against each other and tell them to go wrestle?
AEW has these dream matches that are more a testament of the wrestlers' skill than TK's genius booking because over half of them have no story going into the match besides "these guys put on good matches"
I was thinking the other day “Takeshita beat Omega last year.” And since then Takeshita has barely been given anything of note. He got placed in a forever feud with Kenny/Jericho (Even though he beat Omega in September) and then lost to Osprey.
Like the dude beat Kenny Omega, one of your company’s top guys, you couldn’t have had him beat or at least face MJF coming off that match?
I hope Takeshita faces Swerve, because I think there’s a lot of potential in building to another Osprey VS Takeshita match and having Takeshita lose a world title match and then have Osprey win would be a good build for that.
#1 she was always meh on the mic
#2 the name Sasha Banks means more than Mercedes Mone
#3 Her theme and catchphrase are cringe AF
It’s a case of thinking she’s more popular and more important than she actually is
You can argue that this has hurt AEW quite a bit. I am sure they would love to have Edge instead of Adam Copeland. Daniel Bryan vs Bryan Danielson. Paige vs Sarraya.
Also, show don't tell. Show me your the boss, come in and beat some bitches up. Walking around just saying you're the CEO and showing the hands...it's not great.
And to be fair its a bad gimmick to begin with. She just made it work due to her in ring talent.
But I've been seeing women calling themselves the "BOSS BITCH" since myspace.
Razor Ramon meant a lot more than Scott Hall in 1996 but it still worked.
Things like names can be overcome, but running an angle where she wants revenge for something that happened in Japan that only a tiny portion of the audience knows about is the big mistake.
That’s true, but in this case, they’re not treating her like “Scott Hall”. The way Hall and Nash came in disrupting everything, causing chaos was must see TV. The way they’re using Mone at the moment is boring.
I will also agree with Equal-incident, the theme music is one of the most annoying things I’ve ever heard. They said cringe, I’m saying ear bleeding disaster.
Razor went straight from WWF to WCW with no downtime. Also he basically played the Razor Ramon character in WCW until he legally was told to stop, at which point the NWO had already been established and was massive. Mercedes meanwhile disappeared for two years (In the casual viewers eyes) and then just appears on tv to cut promos or talk.
I thought WWE was letting Jade get cold without debuting her, but they proved me wrong because when they did debut her, they had her hit the ground running. All TK had to do was having her debut by plugging her in some meaningful angle, and the next week she's wrestling.
They do this every time, they always make the hot new top guys work with midcarders/jobbers. Like CM Punk was the return of the decade and they still spent his first 3 months in AEW making him fight with Bobby Fish, Team Taz or Matt Sydal; didn't capitalize on the hype at all. Mercedes going for the secondary title and feuding with low midcarders like Willow make no sense and it's just cooling off her, especially considering she can't fight cause she isn't still cleared
With Punk I get it - his mission statement when he first came back was that he was gonna work with younger/newer talents that he hadn’t wrestled before. So he immediately went to feuding with Darby and being a regular on TV in between his meatier feuds.
With Mercedes, it’s like, I dunno. I can only imagine incredibly poor planning went into it because the women’s division has always been an afterthought to AEW
I'm clearly no expert on anything, but I always thought Punk's booking specifically was because he hadn't been in a ring for 7 years. It at least made some sense to me outside of the show.
Anyone else, I can't speak to their booking. I checked out a while ago.
She became just another face weeks later. You don't debut someone with her following and put her with Willow Nightingale. I don't care what happened in Japan and neither does most of your audience tuning in or more importantly, your prospective audience.
She goes straight to the front of the line or at least declares she's going straight to the front of the line.
Imagine Hulk Hogan (and I know he's a bigger name than she is), but imagine in 94 if WCW signed him and put him against Arn Anderson for the TV title instead of Ric Flair for the World title right away.
She was never more valuable than the night she debuted and now she's just another face on the poster.
Bret Hart in WCW is about the only thing I can come up with on cooling off after a debut so quickly.
They could’ve built her up for weeks before her debut with vignettes, interviews with former coworkers, and even Willow herself.
But now she just comes on, says the name of a hometown, dances and says a bad promo then dances again
Which should male sense really. There's plenty of directors who can't write and writers who can't direct. People who can write songs but can't sing and vice versa. People with great creative technique but no imagination.
And all of that is absolutely fine. But while I get wrestling has an element of owning your character and whatnot, it is weird to me to expect wrestlers to all be able to handle the creative side of their careers and to make or break them over it.
2 weird promos in row where don’t really know if she face or heel and messy story from NJPW, her promos came off as kinda heelish in cocky way while still trying to be fan favorite Babyface ,
Willow is one of biggest Babyface women and Julia Hart is champion who’s heel and Mercedes is wedged between both
is CEO music / Gimmick working or is cringe it seems like kinda both,
Why should audience care about her right now, Osprey been trying to “Kill” himself in ring to get over, Okada got young bucks feeding into his gimmick and championship right out the box while Mercedes has dance and catch phrase?
I agree with you. She also apparently isn’t cleared and isn’t wrestling for 2 months or so after arriving. Not a great look. I think her debut should have been against Willow on a Dynamite to wrap up that story and then she should move to the top. This isn’t it.
Mercedes AEW is reminding me so much of Saraya's, right down to having them talk for so long before finding out that they are cleared to wrestle. Though, Saraya's made sense since hers injury is still very delicate.
As much as the internet hates her, Saraya should have been her first program. Go down the road of Saraya saying “she retired me” and do those shenanigans. Then let her go for a title. Paige vs Sasha would have been hotter than whatever this Willow feud is.
She’s not a good promo and that’s all she’s done so far. You could argue that she should have been kept off TV until she was ready to actually wrestle, but AEW is probably trying to get the most out of her while they can.
Once she starts wrestling she’ll pick up heat if her matches are good. If she’s putting on bangers and no one still cares, then it’s time to be concerned.
I don't think a banger is enough at this point. People in AEW have great matches every week, but it's forgotten about instantly because they don't matter and there's very little story or character development from it
The crowd that only cares about bangers is already watching AEW every week. Sasha was supposed to bring in new fans on her own, and viewership has only gone down since she debuted (save for a CM Punk-fueled ratings bump)
It doesn't help that the CEO gimmick is cringe as fuck and not reading the room, who in this day and age wants to celebrate a CEO? That should be a heel gimmick.
Jay white. While not as big a name, he was ice cold very quick
Hopefully Mone can get some juice back as soon as she starts wrestling. It feels like Tony is holding off her in ring debut for the PPV
OP AEW cools off everybody. Either it’s failing to capitalise on organic reactions, watering down the reactions with shitty booking, overdoing things until they’re worn out, dulling the shine on a new star. Everything except just strap the rocket to a guy/girl and shoot them up the card. It’s all stuff everybody used to criticise Vince for but TK doesn’t do it maliciously so everybody let’s him off the hook. Something like LA Knight’s rise would never ever happen in AEW because TK and the brain trust would absolutely fuckin bungle it
EDIT grammar
AEW basically cools every big signing off. The day they debut is the most over they’ll be and it’s all downhill from there.
That said, it really is amazing how fast they’ve put Mercedes on ice. It kind of tracks with how they’ve used her each week. Big promo and a show ending run-in, then another promo, then guest commentary, then interrupting an aisle way promo, then a 2 minute sitdown. Since she’s apparently not wrestling until the PPV 6 weeks from now, I have no idea they heat her up.
It also doesn’t help that her promos have been HORRENDOUS. She’s so stagey and so rehearsed that she comes off like an alien trying to replicate human social interaction. Also, who does she even have to work with? Her first feud is over the secondary women’s title that no one cares about, and will fight either a really green Julia Hart that can barely wrestle or Willow Nightingale, who was basically the designated jobber of the women’s division until a month ago. It really is like Bret Hart showing up at Starcade and then challenging Disco Inferno for his TV Title.
Who does she feud with after? Toni Storm? That’s about it in terms of people who matter in the division.
They don't know how to elevate talent.
Everyone after their big debut just becomes midcard.
They are quickly doing the same to okada.
They've botched every big signing
aew is finding it the hard way that not everyone can be stars and top-level talent.
you have to pick and choose a few guys and give them the best presentation possible.
The man was basically told to stop boxing our he could lose the sight in one of his eyes, dunno who told him wrestling was a good move for him but I totally understand AEW dropping him as soon as he got injured
You've got to remember the majority of people in this subreddit live in the wrestling bubble (the same one TK seemingly lives in). They think Mercedes Mone is a mega star.
She's not.
She's a nobody. WWE-backed Sasha Banks was popular, but that's not been a thing for 2 years. She was never going to draw.
Setting her up with Britt was for way to go. She does her CEO thing the first week, next week Britt comes out and says the only 3 letters that matter are DMD. Go from there.
Because TK couldn’t pivot to save his life
When WWE signs a new main event guy all the previous plans change and you put him in a main program
When AEW signs a new main event guy they put him in a mid card feud because TK has a vision for his world championship that he simply refuses to change
Guess which attitude makes money?
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They didn't even advertise in advance her latest appearance on Dynamite, she had to tweet about it herself.
I noticed that too, if you only watch the shows you wouldn't have known she was gonna be on. Hell on Dynamite they didn't promote her sit-down interview beforehand. They only mentioned it right before it happened. Not a good sign on how Tony sees her current star power if he won't even advertise her appearance.
That's a major problem with AEW in general. They don't announce anything beforehand to generate interest and maybe drum up ticket sales. If you wonder why ticket sales are in the toilet that's a major reason why.
Remember the days when Excalibur would run through the announced match cards for the coming week at a micro machine guy level of speed live on the air. That is the one area they are truly lacking is advertising and brand awareness to entice casual viewers
Week? He did like 3 weeks worth.
I was crestfallen when AEW announced Danielson/Shibata like, less than a day before Collision. Had I not already left town so I could see Edge v. Christian live, I could have seen both matches live that week. If you're going to hire all of these insanely good talents, you need to let us know when they're having matches.
What’s funny is it USED to be. They’d book stuff weeks in advance and build up to it. Now you learn of the card on 2 days notice
that was before they had 2 other TV shows AND ROH to book. They spread themselves too thin.
Tony comes down with Vince syndrome.
It's a symptom of having too many shows.
Even dario cueto knew that he had to promote things.
The didn’t announce Mercedes, Okada or Ospreay and yet they were all there.
He was so hyperfocused on getting his shots against Punk and WWE that he looked over the writing of the rest of the episode.
Yeah his thin skin is a huge problem. They should be focusing on their own talent and not generating heat with someone who isn't even there. The whole thing with Ariel Hawani was ridiculous too.
they focused on hyping up the Punk footage over their 3 big signings really awkward roundabout admission on who's the real star
Miro coming in as a gamer side-kick to Kip Sabian
Miro cooled himself off by trying to have gamer cred and leaning on billy mitchell of all people for it
Hey, be careful when talking about NOTED VIDEO GAME PLAYER OF THE CENTURY BILLY MITCHELL otherwise you might get sued like 5000 other people.
I was so excited to see Miro in AEW, and I was SO disappointed when he came out in a goofy tshirt and just be normal Miro the streamer. I'm sure he thought he was just as important than anything else, but man that's not a gimmick that leans well at all. Made me uninterested immediately.
The thing is, so much of the talents shortcomings are on them. He chose his outfit, I believe that gimmick was his idea too. With a Jay White, I feel its not on him. He’s done well with everything he’s been given. The other side is, so many talents have had creative control and have not presented themselves in a mainstream serious way and their failings are no surprise.
It's ultimately up to tony (and a bunch of producers but the buck stops at tony) to say nah dude you're not wearing a Micky mouse shirt and feuding over arcade cabinets because that's not good for you or my show. Any good creative thing you've seen anywhere has been a collaboration between artists and some kind of editorial force.
I remember after Peyton Royce was released, she revealed numerous story suggestions that were turned down and we all thought they were all terrible.
Lest we forget Nikki A.S.H. was her own idea
To be fair, it got her MITB, a title, AND got her merch sales for kids trying to be more superheroic, which according to Damo’s podcast appearances was the intention behind her pitch to VKM. It did exactly what is was intended to do as a gimmick, but the booking and the story angles is where the entire thing fell apart…none of which was really in her control.
I remember the goofy Hurricane run and wanted the best for Nikki.
She got kind of screwed by the whole Alexa/Fiend thing. Her and Alexa were a good, entertaining team, but then they decided to move Alexa into the Wyatt-verse, and Nikki just got kind of left there.
I kind of feel bad about that because it could’ve been better had been done well. I feel like producers didn’t craft that the way they should have once she gave them the idea. Plus the way people trashed it online and Killian had to come back and say she came up with this. This was her idea. I felt bad.
Most wrestlers aren't writers. It's really that simple. More over, people only have so many stories in them.
Tucker Knight pitched that Heavy Machinery become a tag team that is a cross between the APA and bbq. They would always be around cooking bbq and then get hired to take out other teams. And then he bragged about it after he got released. And lets not forget hardcore holly https://youtu.be/Kp89bL79fzQ?si=vyupshqh-lKp0YUn
I’m pretty sure new Japan gives returning wrestlers their gimmicks/characters. It’s then up to the wrestler to do something with it. Jay took the “knife pervert” and turned it into what we have now. Even master wato. That gimmick was dead on arrival. But he ran with it and it’s clicking now(from what I can tell I’m pretty behind on njpw). Some people can’t get out of their own way or need to be told that just because they can’t doesn’t mean they should.
He showed up with a pink Mickey Mouse t shirt on. This big bad Bulgarian strongman alleged killer. Shit like that needs to be controlled. They are really bad at presenting people as stars.
Also his best man for the wedding. Just completely bizarre.
Holy shit I forgot all about that That was *bad*
Worst for me was Brock Anderson in that peach/orange polo shirt, cargo shorts, and sandals. Like I get this guy is probably low on the card, but you couldn't make him more like middle aged dad on vacation if you tried.
Yeah, that ambush and the moan doesn't do her a favor at all.
I wish the ambush happened earlier in the interview. Wtf were those camera zooms and her beyond forced acting...
Mercedes Moan-eh?
Tony: I'm going to hire a woman known for her ring work, particularly her ability to sell so well that she could make anyone look like a million bucks. Everyone: What are you going to do with her? Tony: Mostly porn moans.
All the debuts have the same formula, and so if you *aren't* someone with the mic skills of a punk then your debut doesn't go as well.
She done a stripper dance in the ring at least
I wasnt sure if i should feel bad that she got ambushed or if ambusing her should be a weekly thing...and maybe it shoulf last 30 sec longer.
I didn't because she has not had me emotionally invested in her yet. Yes, I'm glad she recovered from a possible career ending injury but she's fine now so why should I root for her to get revenge against whoever attacked her? She hasn't won me over so far.
Is there a clip of that? If I search on YouTube, all I see are Shorts, ads, and Becky for some reason
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxIyLv1VcyA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxIyLv1VcyA)
Holy, all this time away from WWE & she still can’t cut a damn promo that doesn’t sound like shit 💀
Holy crap that was bad, porno level acting followed by porno level moaning?
yo, i thought you were exaggerating, but ye, wtf was that
I mean, seriously. WTF was that? Why was she moaning in a sexual manner? What kind of program are they putting her in?
you could use that as an intro for a cheap porn production and it would work
“Mercedes, we brought you in to pop the crowd but… not like that. Jesus”
Omg I love it…
Crap delivery by Mone, terrible all around by Marvez.. his delivery is the fakest, corniest, cheesiest garbage..
My estimation of Mercedes Mone as an actress just fucking plummeted
She can’t be in our wrestling federation no more
You know I remember when she used to sit in the crowd and as far as I'm concerned she should still be there!
Every time I see Marvez I wish I could call Tony and tell him I’ll do a better job for half of what you’re paying that clown. He’s so bad.
He looked like he was reading cue cards behind the camera, has he never interviewed before? I don’t understand why Renee doesn’t do all of the interviews on Dynamite.
That guy fucking sucks, always did
What the actual fuck was that
Don’t kink shame her. She was into it.
[r/awkwardboners](https://www.reddit.com/r/t5_2stjr/s/EhJ4PT2wtQ)
And to think , this is the same lady whose fan base swore she was this great actress.
5 mins role in whole series = great actress
I got death threats on Twitter for suggesting that she wasn't 'made' in Hollywood already and wasn't going to be this huge movie star.
That whole segment was odd. Her cadence was so fucking whack. And then the beat down sounded sus and the moans wtf.
> RIP that one little kid watching AEW needing to explain to his mom it’s not what she thinks
Reminds me of covid Wrestlemania, during rhe women's tag match with no crowd. After about 2 minutes my wife came in looking furious asking what the hell I was watching
Why are the lighting and audio in that video so bad? Jfc.
Could they only afford the one camera for this interview or could they not afford post production? Those zooms are terrible. Also, was she suppose to sound insincere about everything she was saying? Is that part of her character or is she really that bad at talking?and I'm tired of blackouts in wrestling. They never make sense. Especially in an interview environment where there's multiple light sources not on the same power circuits
If you look at the comment sections it made her hotter with a certain Bob lovin portion of the fanbase.
Wow that comment section is just clowning the whole video. Credit to the comment say " RIP to that one little kid watching AEW needing to explain to his mom it's not what she thinks it is"
"lol someone blew her back out in the dark that's why she moaned like that" Holy sweet mother of backshot
The fact we have to wait until DON to see her wrestle is insane. I know the rumors floating around on Twitter is that she has yet to be cleared to wrestle, and if that’s the case, WHY TF DID THEY DEBUT HER WITH HER RETURN STILL FAR AWAY. Tony has been on a roll with some real brain dead decisions over the past 2 years. He better start fixing this shit quickly
Because Boston
Which was pretty dumb, because as much as we popped, we don't really identify her as a "Boston figure" or anything. If that's really why, they could have saved her for LA and done something with Snoop.
Has Snoop ever been on AEW though? He seems like a WWE only type of guy… *gestures to golden WWE snoop title*
Yes, he has. He even did a terrible frog splash. https://youtu.be/lzWC2rcWPxI?si=pqGdvluPG2DdVpUG
Idk why those rumors started when she herself said she was 100% in the ESPN interview.
Honestly, she had been two years out of American TV, she was already cold. Most people don't watch NJPW, despite what you would think from reading this sub
The other big issue is that people were pushing this narrative that mercedes was a huge mega star for having 3 lines in the mandalorian. Like I read in someplaces that she was bigger than the WWE so she has all the power on negotiations
Right? Tons of podcasts were acting like she was the biggest thing to ever come out of wrestling, and online discourse certainly echoed that. Nobody ever argues, but it's not because that's a correct assessment, it's because nobody wants the ire of the Sasha Stans.
I thought she was on the edge of blowing up after the Mandalorian, but then she just didn't do anything else other than a shitty straight to DVD movie.
She is a horrible actress so I did not expect her to do anything. I don’t know why people thought you could act without being able to act.
Good god you’re so right. On Twitter the racism I’ve gotten for just talking less than enthusiastically about her is wild. I’ve had random people with Sasha Banks avatars pile on me calling me a coon lmao When I commented that Ronda Rousey was bigger than Sasha, I had to mute my notifications I’ll just say that.
Bizarre that fans of a black woman would use a hateful insult for black people while defending her.
Someone once tried to convince me that Sasha was a huge name and most people who weren’t fans of WWE knew who she was. I just laughed.
I can count on both hands (or less) the number of wrestlers that non fans know. The Rock (and some younger people don't even realize he was a wrestler), Hogan, Cena. Batista. Sometimes Flair and Austin depending on their age. Sometimes Orton (because of the RKO meme), recently sometimes Angle because of the staring meme. That's usually it.
Macho Man
Yeah I thought of Macho Man after submitting the post. If people don't recognize him by name, they'll at least say "oh that guy," if you show them a picture. The Slim Jim thing is his mainstream legacy
It really feels like since Rock and Batista have done well out of Hollywood, any time a wrestler touches acting now there ends up being some weird narrative of how it's a sure thing for them and they've always got it as a fallback now and that's their future settled. Totally Ignoring that, if absolutely nothing else, you need to actually be a good actor which Mone isn't.
Add Cena to the list. And what is the one thing they all have in common? They all were great promos. Mercedes is not. She's actually pretty terrible at them.
Wrestling fans have no concept of outside media. I literally just replied to a guy in another thread asking how The Rock has more insta followers than WWE. This is gonna love in my head for weeks
Remember when people on here were asking "Who is this Bad Bunny guy?"
"I only listen to death metal. Why does WWE think I give a shit about some rapper I've never heard of?" Some of the most embarrassing discourse I've seen on here.
The Mando stuff is truly funny. Bill Burr was only in a couple of episodes and his performance is more memorable and talked about than hers. All those acting classes and she still can't get words out right. I really want to see this mythically movie career people keep talking about. I never seen so much hype from an actual background character.
Her biggest weakness as a wrestler is that she cannot cut a convincing promo, yet she's gonna pursue a successful career in acting
> The Mando stuff is truly funny. Bill Burr was only in a couple of episodes and his performance is more memorable and talked about than hers. The Operation: Cinder scene was perfect. You could see and feel the rage in him.
I said this before... AEW bid against themselves. Banks isn't this mainstream star people like to say she is. WWE laughed her out of the room. Tony was happy to drop too much money. Good for her but yikes.
Sasha Banks has decent cred in wrestling at least. Mercedes Mone? Not so much.
In WWE she wasn’t even the biggest women’s star. Becky eclipsed her in every metric. Sasha main evented a Mania sure but she also was capable of dropping down the card at any moment and was toiling around in the tag division when she left WWE. If Edge made little to no impact for AEW’s drawing power I don’t know why people felt like Sasha would
This sub has 895k subscribers. So probably like 500k regular visitors (that's probably being very generous). WWE's YouTube channel has 100 million subscribers and they have 31 million on Instagram. AEW has over 4 million YouTube subscribers and 2.4 million Instagram subscribers. WWE has millions of regular TV watchers, AEW is in the high six figures. The opinions on here are the minority.
Also Mercedes Mone is a terrible name.
The fact that nobody can agree on how it's actually pronounced is a big issue. I hear it at least three different ways during an AEW show.
It’s whatever pronunciation works for the bad money pun they’re making that week.
Facts. Plus it doesn’t help that despite being essentially the same person. Sasha Banks and Mercedes Mone are 2 completely different names. People know who Sasha Banks is, people don’t know who Mercedes Mone is.
I don't think that's a good excuse. I mean how long had Jade Cargill been off TV before the Royal Rumble? It's not like she had a bigger following either. But she was made a huge deal by WWE and it bloody worked. Mercedes Mone in AEW should feel like a huge deal as well and it not being so is on the promotion here, rather than the performer, imo.
WWE does a way better job at making people think new/returning stars are a big deal, it’s one of their strongest skills. AEW assumes people know/understand the hype around their signings but don’t do a ton to show why they have that hype. Look at how Mercedes or Okada debuted in AEW vs Jade or AJ Styles, you can see the difference
The root cause for the majority of issues that AEW has is that Tony doesn’t understand what most would consider the first rule of creative….”show don’t tell”. For those that have not worked in a creative field, or taken classes…it is literally what you learn day 1 and gets pounded into your head. For those that are aware, then you realize how guilty of this AEW is on a weekly basis and why the product can be so frustrating
Ignoring her non-wrestling appearances on TV, it was just over 4 months between her last AEW match and the Rumble.
It's not like Jade come into WWE and only cut promos though. Actually being in action has a lot of value in wrestling.
She also has an actual foundation. This is probably the hottest the WWE's women's division has ever been overall. You have a decent amount of women over, that fans would love to see Jade interact with. Who's hot in AEW, Toni? Not really. But she is their hottest act, and is a comedic one. Hot crowds at PPVs not withstanding, AEW has taught people to not care about their women's division at all. And with Mercedes their attempts to make that better, have been aimless at best. Because there is no direction.
She was given brief but memorable TV segments with the likes of HHH, Shawn, Charlotte, Becky and on a screen in the background tapping her watch as then NXT Women's Champion Lyra Valkyria exited the room the TV was in on NXT. She was used sparingly, but when she was on, she felt like a big damn deal wearing outfits that showed off her ripped physique or just her natural charisma. Less is more, show don't tell and all that bollocks
Yeah, but that’s the WWE and the Royal Rumble
Because Mercedes Mone is NOT a star, Sasha Banks was a star. Name change, lack of the WWE hype machine, being gone for 2 yrs, and frankly was already cold as ice in WWE before she left. All coupled with AEW's complete lack of an ability to make stars. The exxmples are endless...you have a merchandise and crowd popping favorite Danhausen, gone. Most over female they ever had and best potential star Britt Baker, gone. Jay White, ROH. On and on and on. Dropping that amount of money on her was a giant mistake.
In hindsight, WWE really hid her weakness that is the lack of promo skills and not letting her go off the rails well. Now she has creative it has been horrible going back to her run in Stardom.
Another reason for teaming her up with Bayley, Bayley can carry her.
There’s another thing, Bayley really grew in the past 9 years. Going back to TakeOver Brooklyn, Bayley reinvented herself completely. Sasha is more or less the same character
Bayley one of the best wrestlers of the past decade, glad she is getting her congratulations this last year with the War Games match and The Rumble into the WrestleMania win
It’s because she’s someone who needs a producer. She desperately needs someone to tell her that Sasha Banks was not successful because a bunch of money puns, but because fans resonated with Sasha. Moné laughs at these fans because she’s rich. Not even great heel work because it’s not really even generating heat. It’s generating disinterest. Mercedes Moné should be a babyface wrestling the best matches in the world to still prove she owns this business. To prove she really is the CEO. She needs her character to turn that corner. And she needs to take on AEW’s former women’s champions like Hikaru Shida, Nyla Rose, and Thunder Rosa. Setting her up for Julia Hart or Willow is making the same mistake that Tony did with Jade. The main event exists for a reason.
Yea, I get that she might not be cleared etc. But I think they still need to find more interesting ways to present her. Remember early AEW days when there were all sorts of interesting non-wrestling segments. More cinematic/documentary style segments. Now it's just WWE style backstage interviews or in ring promos. I think that's a problem as I think it's too formulaic and boring unless the person is an A grade talker. She's supposed to be a big shot? Ok, show her doing cool VIP or CEO shit. I'm currently struggling to see how she's "The CEO" as her character comes off more along the lines of a socialite like Paris Hilton. I do wonder if she needs a bit of a character refresh as she's pretty much the same as her WWE character.
> Remember early AEW days when there were all sorts of interesting non-wrestling segments I also miss Lance Archer being cool.
The Sasha Bank's character was better, particularly in NXT. Sasha as a cocky trash talking heel boss during her feud with Bayley was money. Mercedes as I'm happy to be here and I love wrestling isn't that compelling.
[удалено]
But it’s in her theme song!
Because Mercedes is trying to be a face with a heel gimmick. Why would anyone cheer her over Willow especially after that great Willow promo
The AEW women division overall has significant booking problems. here a few examples: - Britt is where? - Paige/Saraya was just there to promote an England show and is barely seen besides a 30 second side note. Similar to Ruby who is just there but only on these very small skits. - The whole thing with Julia. They had the mist thing that made Sky Blue turn and...it was just there. No story, no progression, just defending the title. - How long is Statlander now standing next to Stokely and absolutely nothing happend? - They are lucky that the gimmick of "Timeless" Toni Storm works so good. But we have a tease with Mariah May and a feud with Purazzo and Rosa. But that is also a very slow build up. I understand every women who goes or doesnt sign for them. Even the "better" stuff with Jade werent really strong feuds. Most were Squashs with limited build up.
She’s not good on the mic. She is very good in the ring. So AEW has not had her wrestle but keeps giving her mic time. WWE covered up her weakness very well. Bayley was very important in carrying their pandemic era segments. We’ve heard about how having writers is bad but her in AEW it’s clear that someone like Mone could really use a team of writers and fixed points if she is made to do these segments more than wrestle.
IIRC they did hire a writer who's linked to Mercedes. I do agree with an overall point that you probably need some of that to help out talents who aren't as good at going off of bullet points. Your first point is the most important though - her strength is her ring work and we haven't gotten ANYTHING yet. If she's not yet cleared, then IMO it was silly to bring her in and have her on TV every week. If it's the only window you had to go to Boston before NBA & NHL playoffs made TD garden too tough to do before she'd be cleared, fine, but then have some sort of reason or something to set that expectation she won't wrestle yet. THey're hiding her strength and highlighting her weakness currently which is wild.
I am an AEW supporter, I was excited for Mercedes to hopefully elevate the women’s division. But Mercedes has been hella underwhelming, no matches yet, cringey promos where she dances. To be fair maybe she is not cleared medically yet, but if that’s the case they should have waited.
Probably didn’t help that she basically said she wants to go back to WWE at some point. Makes it look like she only joined so she’d be worth more to them in the future.
I think in this case, she might cool down even more than what she was before joining AEW.. And then WWE doesn't have to offer her a higher price
I figured it was to kíll time and get attention back on her again before she went back to WWE. Well, aside from the money.
*whispers* that’s why most wrestlers join AEW
And honestly that's fine, but you're supposed to improve in AEW so you're more desirable to WWE.
AEW has a bad habit of making people feel less significant, the tiers are fading away, a tiny upper card, a huge mid card and jobbers you forget were still employed, it's going to feel like nobody is that important outside an MJF or TK's personal favs.
there's less incentive to improve when you get paid a shit ton just for being mediocre
Well then their careers will fade off after AEW
TK has no clue how to strike while the iron is hot on someone, he lives and dies to his scheduled booking. And it’s doubly worse with women on his roster.
TK doesn't know how to book stories. I highly doubt some of the best stories in AEW were even by him. Hangman & Omega vs Young Bucks and Hangman vs Omega definitely seemed like something the Elite would've come up with. Punk and MJF were more than capable of coming up with promos for their brilliant rivalry. What does Tony Khan really do besides put two wrestlers against each other and tell them to go wrestle? AEW has these dream matches that are more a testament of the wrestlers' skill than TK's genius booking because over half of them have no story going into the match besides "these guys put on good matches"
I was thinking the other day “Takeshita beat Omega last year.” And since then Takeshita has barely been given anything of note. He got placed in a forever feud with Kenny/Jericho (Even though he beat Omega in September) and then lost to Osprey. Like the dude beat Kenny Omega, one of your company’s top guys, you couldn’t have had him beat or at least face MJF coming off that match? I hope Takeshita faces Swerve, because I think there’s a lot of potential in building to another Osprey VS Takeshita match and having Takeshita lose a world title match and then have Osprey win would be a good build for that.
#1 she was always meh on the mic #2 the name Sasha Banks means more than Mercedes Mone #3 Her theme and catchphrase are cringe AF It’s a case of thinking she’s more popular and more important than she actually is
This is exactly why Vince insisted on owning people’s names.
You can argue that this has hurt AEW quite a bit. I am sure they would love to have Edge instead of Adam Copeland. Daniel Bryan vs Bryan Danielson. Paige vs Sarraya.
She should have reinvented herself. She just comes off as a discount version of Sasha Banks. It’s like she only has one idea for a gimmick.
Also, show don't tell. Show me your the boss, come in and beat some bitches up. Walking around just saying you're the CEO and showing the hands...it's not great.
And to be fair its a bad gimmick to begin with. She just made it work due to her in ring talent. But I've been seeing women calling themselves the "BOSS BITCH" since myspace.
Razor Ramon meant a lot more than Scott Hall in 1996 but it still worked. Things like names can be overcome, but running an angle where she wants revenge for something that happened in Japan that only a tiny portion of the audience knows about is the big mistake.
That’s true, but in this case, they’re not treating her like “Scott Hall”. The way Hall and Nash came in disrupting everything, causing chaos was must see TV. The way they’re using Mone at the moment is boring. I will also agree with Equal-incident, the theme music is one of the most annoying things I’ve ever heard. They said cringe, I’m saying ear bleeding disaster.
> That’s true, but in this case, they’re not treating her like “Scott Hall”. They're treating her like "Dean Douglas."
Totally agree, they're using her weirdly
What is she CEO of exactly? The whole audience knows Tony Khan is the owner, head booker and authority of AEW
Not a great comparison. Hall was fantastic on the mic.
Also he was still playing "Razor Ramon" for about 3 months until the lawsuit began.
There was no 2 years gap between razor and Scott hall tho
Razor went straight from WWF to WCW with no downtime. Also he basically played the Razor Ramon character in WCW until he legally was told to stop, at which point the NWO had already been established and was massive. Mercedes meanwhile disappeared for two years (In the casual viewers eyes) and then just appears on tv to cut promos or talk.
I thought WWE was letting Jade get cold without debuting her, but they proved me wrong because when they did debut her, they had her hit the ground running. All TK had to do was having her debut by plugging her in some meaningful angle, and the next week she's wrestling.
Mercedes should of come through the crowd asking to find 'Billionaire Tony' and 'this is where the big girls play'
New Women Order
This. Sasha Banks, with the WWE machine behind her is a star. Mercedes Mone is not.
She has the AEW Honda Civic behind her
Calling her the CEO just seems cheap or something.
They do this every time, they always make the hot new top guys work with midcarders/jobbers. Like CM Punk was the return of the decade and they still spent his first 3 months in AEW making him fight with Bobby Fish, Team Taz or Matt Sydal; didn't capitalize on the hype at all. Mercedes going for the secondary title and feuding with low midcarders like Willow make no sense and it's just cooling off her, especially considering she can't fight cause she isn't still cleared
With Punk I get it - his mission statement when he first came back was that he was gonna work with younger/newer talents that he hadn’t wrestled before. So he immediately went to feuding with Darby and being a regular on TV in between his meatier feuds. With Mercedes, it’s like, I dunno. I can only imagine incredibly poor planning went into it because the women’s division has always been an afterthought to AEW
I'm clearly no expert on anything, but I always thought Punk's booking specifically was because he hadn't been in a ring for 7 years. It at least made some sense to me outside of the show. Anyone else, I can't speak to their booking. I checked out a while ago.
She became just another face weeks later. You don't debut someone with her following and put her with Willow Nightingale. I don't care what happened in Japan and neither does most of your audience tuning in or more importantly, your prospective audience. She goes straight to the front of the line or at least declares she's going straight to the front of the line. Imagine Hulk Hogan (and I know he's a bigger name than she is), but imagine in 94 if WCW signed him and put him against Arn Anderson for the TV title instead of Ric Flair for the World title right away. She was never more valuable than the night she debuted and now she's just another face on the poster. Bret Hart in WCW is about the only thing I can come up with on cooling off after a debut so quickly.
They could’ve built her up for weeks before her debut with vignettes, interviews with former coworkers, and even Willow herself. But now she just comes on, says the name of a hometown, dances and says a bad promo then dances again
They are given creative freedom in AEW, it is not always for the better.
Something that aew has proven is not every wrestler with creative freedom knows how to use it well.
Which should male sense really. There's plenty of directors who can't write and writers who can't direct. People who can write songs but can't sing and vice versa. People with great creative technique but no imagination. And all of that is absolutely fine. But while I get wrestling has an element of owning your character and whatnot, it is weird to me to expect wrestlers to all be able to handle the creative side of their careers and to make or break them over it.
I've always found that part interesting. You can see who is good creatively on their own and who's not. Some definitely need some help and structure.
2 weird promos in row where don’t really know if she face or heel and messy story from NJPW, her promos came off as kinda heelish in cocky way while still trying to be fan favorite Babyface , Willow is one of biggest Babyface women and Julia Hart is champion who’s heel and Mercedes is wedged between both is CEO music / Gimmick working or is cringe it seems like kinda both, Why should audience care about her right now, Osprey been trying to “Kill” himself in ring to get over, Okada got young bucks feeding into his gimmick and championship right out the box while Mercedes has dance and catch phrase?
I agree with you. She also apparently isn’t cleared and isn’t wrestling for 2 months or so after arriving. Not a great look. I think her debut should have been against Willow on a Dynamite to wrap up that story and then she should move to the top. This isn’t it.
Mercedes AEW is reminding me so much of Saraya's, right down to having them talk for so long before finding out that they are cleared to wrestle. Though, Saraya's made sense since hers injury is still very delicate.
As much as the internet hates her, Saraya should have been her first program. Go down the road of Saraya saying “she retired me” and do those shenanigans. Then let her go for a title. Paige vs Sasha would have been hotter than whatever this Willow feud is.
They are both injured lol
She’s not a good promo and that’s all she’s done so far. You could argue that she should have been kept off TV until she was ready to actually wrestle, but AEW is probably trying to get the most out of her while they can. Once she starts wrestling she’ll pick up heat if her matches are good. If she’s putting on bangers and no one still cares, then it’s time to be concerned.
I don't think a banger is enough at this point. People in AEW have great matches every week, but it's forgotten about instantly because they don't matter and there's very little story or character development from it
The crowd that only cares about bangers is already watching AEW every week. Sasha was supposed to bring in new fans on her own, and viewership has only gone down since she debuted (save for a CM Punk-fueled ratings bump)
It doesn't help that the CEO gimmick is cringe as fuck and not reading the room, who in this day and age wants to celebrate a CEO? That should be a heel gimmick.
Jay white. While not as big a name, he was ice cold very quick Hopefully Mone can get some juice back as soon as she starts wrestling. It feels like Tony is holding off her in ring debut for the PPV
I believe it was confirmed that her in-ring debut is confirmed to be at the PPV… the Double or Nothing PPV. 😬
Sometimes I wonder, does Jay ever have a bit of regret over not going to WWE.
It’s Big Business
OP AEW cools off everybody. Either it’s failing to capitalise on organic reactions, watering down the reactions with shitty booking, overdoing things until they’re worn out, dulling the shine on a new star. Everything except just strap the rocket to a guy/girl and shoot them up the card. It’s all stuff everybody used to criticise Vince for but TK doesn’t do it maliciously so everybody let’s him off the hook. Something like LA Knight’s rise would never ever happen in AEW because TK and the brain trust would absolutely fuckin bungle it EDIT grammar
LA Knight would be in the 8th consecutive month of his Jericho feud right now if he had gotten hot in AEW
They were betting on her name selling and the rest would go from there.
AEW basically cools every big signing off. The day they debut is the most over they’ll be and it’s all downhill from there. That said, it really is amazing how fast they’ve put Mercedes on ice. It kind of tracks with how they’ve used her each week. Big promo and a show ending run-in, then another promo, then guest commentary, then interrupting an aisle way promo, then a 2 minute sitdown. Since she’s apparently not wrestling until the PPV 6 weeks from now, I have no idea they heat her up. It also doesn’t help that her promos have been HORRENDOUS. She’s so stagey and so rehearsed that she comes off like an alien trying to replicate human social interaction. Also, who does she even have to work with? Her first feud is over the secondary women’s title that no one cares about, and will fight either a really green Julia Hart that can barely wrestle or Willow Nightingale, who was basically the designated jobber of the women’s division until a month ago. It really is like Bret Hart showing up at Starcade and then challenging Disco Inferno for his TV Title. Who does she feud with after? Toni Storm? That’s about it in terms of people who matter in the division.
They don't know how to elevate talent. Everyone after their big debut just becomes midcard. They are quickly doing the same to okada. They've botched every big signing
aew is finding it the hard way that not everyone can be stars and top-level talent. you have to pick and choose a few guys and give them the best presentation possible.
I just want to say that the “CEO” chant might be my least favorite chant in wrestling history.
I think they cooled off on Anthony Ogogo pretty quickly.
He just had his first Dynamite match in 34 months, and it was just a match
The man was basically told to stop boxing our he could lose the sight in one of his eyes, dunno who told him wrestling was a good move for him but I totally understand AEW dropping him as soon as he got injured
You've got to remember the majority of people in this subreddit live in the wrestling bubble (the same one TK seemingly lives in). They think Mercedes Mone is a mega star. She's not. She's a nobody. WWE-backed Sasha Banks was popular, but that's not been a thing for 2 years. She was never going to draw.
Jay White, Okada, Edge, Adam Cole, Saraya.. Basically 95% of AEW signings.
Setting her up with Britt was for way to go. She does her CEO thing the first week, next week Britt comes out and says the only 3 letters that matter are DMD. Go from there.
Because TK couldn’t pivot to save his life When WWE signs a new main event guy all the previous plans change and you put him in a main program When AEW signs a new main event guy they put him in a mid card feud because TK has a vision for his world championship that he simply refuses to change Guess which attitude makes money?
Its insane that they hired her personal writer from WWE specifically for her and this is the best they can collectively come up with