All posts by World War Joe

Wrestling

AEW Needs A Developmental Brand

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Right now, NXT is really bad. I mean almost unwatchable at times. From the hideous new arena to the ridiculous gimmicks of their top talents, but at least NXT makes sense. The whole point of it is to bring in talent, put them into meaningful feuds, give them title runs and let the fans get a glimpse of what the future of the company will be. In a year or two, the main roster will be guys Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Solo Sikoa, Grayson Waller to name a few.

Let’s look at AEW’s developmental brands in Dark and Elevation. These aren’t developmental brands, these are fillers. Some people argue that the other companies are the developmental brands and AEW is the main roster now in wrestling. A few months ago, we watched the final matches of Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole on NXT. Now the trio is on AEW and all the developmental work done. Their names have been built up; their brand is still there. The trio didn’t lose a step from their NXT run. Tony Khan just brought them all over and they’re doing the exact same thing.

Dark and Elevation are poorly managed. Lets me give you the matches on February 8th of Dark.

Julie Hart vs Kelsey Heather

Powerhouse Hobbs vs Gus De La Vega

The Gunn Club vs who the hell cares.

Mercedes Martinez vs Queen someone

Anthony Ogogo vs Someone

Lee Moriarty vs I don’t care

Anna Jay vs some woman

Fuedo Del Sol vs Serpentor

And last was Wheeler Yuta vs Aaron Solow

Who do you think won the matches? The AEW wrestlers that are featured on Dynamite and Rampage? Or the random people nobody cares about? The only match that wasn’t obvious was Yuta vs Solow. Everything else on the card was a waste of time. It didn’t elevate anyone. It just filled time and let wrestlers that aren’t featured in a while a chance to be in front of fans.

And worst of all, look at some of these records. Powerhouse Hobbs, a guy that I absolutely LOVE. A guy who I think will be running this company in a few years is 39-17. When the hell was Powerhouse Hobbs in all these matches?  And the Gunn Club is 35-0! You’re telling me this team is undefeated and running through opponents like this are just now going after the tag champions? That Christian Cage and Billy Gunn had to have a discussion about the worthiness of an undefeated team?

This card had 9 matches on it for an hour-long show. So, each match was about 6 minutes long. What exactly can you do in 6 minutes? You can’t have much going on. You can’t cut many promos. You can’t really have a lot of interference.

Did any of these matches elevate the winners? Anna Jay is a main roster wrestler, one of the most popular women on the roster, doesn’t need to be in any match against an extremely unknown wrestler whose name I already forget. It shows she can beat an unknown talent. So does she get a title match next week? No? then what was the point?

What is the point of putting Santana and Ortiz in a Dark tag match and then put them on Rampage? Santana and Ortiz, arguably one of the best tag teams in the world of wrestling do not need to be in a match that doesn’t matter.

I went to an AEW live showing. They film Dark before the show so we got to see a few matches. Preston Vance fought QT Marshal. Was the best Dark match because these were two main roster wrestlers, but it didn’t set up for anything. I was hoping it would set up for the Dark Order to fight The Factory. Two tag teams with interesting talent. I know I crap on the Dark Order every time I talk about them, but I would rather see them wrestle and maybe do something besides looking like fools online.

AEW is doing a massive disservice to its wrestlers with how they’re handling Dark and Elevation. They should have maybe 4 matches at the most. That’s about 25 minutes for each match in terms of entrance, match, finish, promo and future match teases. What an absolute waste of 2 shows.

Another great example is Captain Shawn Dean. I don’t know wither or not to care about him. He has Dark matches and he was featured in a match against MJF where CM Punk ran in and knocked out Dean to give MJF the loss. Soooooo is Dean going to be a future AEW star? Or is he cannon fodder? Or is he a realistic prospect? I know Grayson Waller is going to be a featured star in NXT. Why? Because he’s featured more. He’s in big matches like War Games and he’s having a feud with AJ Styles and LA Knight. You see progress. You see screentime. You see potential. You see a guy that is being smartly pushed.

AEW has 0 idea what they’re doing half the time. The whole company is just a dream match factory and that’s it. what do you guys think?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Steve Cutler/ Wesley Blake

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NXT missed a huge opportunity not giving these two men the tag titles and Jaxon Ryker the NXT Championship. Ryker has been helping Cutler and Blake win a few matches and him helping them win the tag titles would’ve been fun to see. Similar to the Bloodline, they could’ve also helped Ryker win some matches. I never saw any singles careers from Cutler and Blake, but at least giving them the tag titles would’ve made their time in NXT interesting and if the fans were behind them who knows what could’ve happened.

Simptastic Joe

Videogames

X-23 : Marvel Strike Force

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Easily one of my favorite characters in the game. X-23 has all the healing abilities as Wolverine, but I mainly use her because of the attack Feral Rage, which attacks the most damaged opponent for 4 attacks and if that enemy gets defeated, she continues the attack on to the next most damaged opponent. So, depending on how powerful the targets you can take out many opponents in one attack. 

Simptastic Joe

Videogames

Thor : Marvel Strike Force

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0 downside to Thor. He deals a ton of damage on his 1st attack; his 2nd attack damages adjacent targets and his 3rd attack shoots lightening at all opponents and Stuns them. He is part of the Cosmic and Mystic classes so you can use him for the long run. I’m also leveling up Heimdall and Loki as well so all 3 give each other Asgardian buffs. And eventually the more damage Thor takes, he’s able to unleash a massive counter that hurts all opponents. Thor is a character that is built to be in a lot of starting rotations so I highly recommend putting a lot of points into him.

Simptastic Joe

Videogames

Namor : Marvel Strike Force

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I hate Namor. Don’t know why, but as soon as I got him, I’ve been trying to get him out of my main Villain squad, but he’s so easy to level up and does so much damage that I’m forced to keep him. Obviously, I’m drawn to characters that Summon other characters to my team or have more Perks and Bleeds to their moves. Namor doesn’t impress on paper, but somehow, he’s gotten me through a lot of the game as soon as I unlocked him. So, I don’t know if I recommend him. He will get you over the hump I think, but in the end, I keep him around until I get something better.

Simptastic Joe

Videogames

Punisher : Marvel Strike Force

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There really isn’t anything special about the Punisher. He feels like a more powerful Minion character. Attacks are simple, no real added Perks to them and his categories aren’t vast enough to put a lot of focus into. I wouldn’t bother with the Punisher in any aspect.

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Shelton Benjamin : Snubbed

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Shelton Benjamin is probably the most talented wrestler in WWE history that was never given a fair shot at a heavyweight championship. Mid card and tag titles he’s won, but Benjamin should’ve won a World Champion by now. Now sadly its too late for him, but I wonder if it would be best for him to end his career somewhere else. Impact Wrestling would be the safest move. AEW is too heavy in the world title run and NJPW doesn’t really have the impact like it did a few years ago.

I thought Benjamin would’ve been good at leading a faction of Chad Gable and Jason Jordan calling themselves the Gold Standard. It would’ve been nice to see Benjamin getting more screentime as something more than a match filler. Being a part of the Hurt Business was probably the most interesting thing they did with him in years, but sadly that ended too fast and now Benjamin is just cannon fodder to make Bobby Lashley look better.

Where do you see Benjamins, future going in the WWE and if you had a dream match for him who would it be against?

Simptastic Joe

Movies and Shows

Your Disability Doesn’t Make Sense   

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I understand the MCU is adding more diversity to their characters. Not just in gender and color, but in disabilities. In the Eternals and the Hawkeye TV show we saw a pair of deaf women Makkari and Maya Lopez. I don’t see the logic of the two women being deaf.

Let’s start with Makkari. She’s an Eternal, which is a superpowered being created by a celestial being. A celestial created her with superspeed and the inability to hear? Okay? Why? And worst of all, the character in the Eternals Phastos is their tech guy of the group, someone who can create anything. Phastos even made a machine that can trap and negate the powers of Ikaris. So, you’re telling me he couldn’t just make a hearing aid for Makkari?

I got into a very long argument online questioning logic of Makkari’s deafness. I argued that her being deaf is a hinderance to the group. Apparently, she can sense vibrations in people’s voices so she can tell what people are saying, but the group still needs to do sign language for her. Not only that, the group battles monsters. Which in a fight, having the ability to hear is kind of important? Also being able to comminate with your teammates is also important. So, besides checking off some diversity boxes, why would they make her deaf?

Now to Hawkeye. Lopez is one of the henchmen of the Kingpin, who is one of the riches most powerful crime bosses in the Marvel Universe. Lopez is deaf and also missing a leg. Oddly enough the actress is really deaf and is missing a leg, which is very impressive especially with all the fight scenes she’s in. mt issue is that disabilities like these shouldn’t exist in Marvel. Tony Stark built a time machine in a night; you’re telling me giving people the ability to hear and see is impossible? That Bucky has a vibraniam arm and the Kingpin can’t afford something like that for Lopez? That forcing fellow henchmen to learn sign language so they can communicate with Lopez was a better idea than just giving her the gadgets she needs or simply releasing her.

I know its nice to give actors and actresses who have a disability like this a chance to be on screen and most importantly look awesome on screen. Both women were incredible to watch. The fight scene was Ikaris was one of the best fights in the MCU and Lopez is reported to have her own spin off show called Echo (which ill get to another time) and was one of the best characters in the Hawkeye show. 

I have no issue with the idea of having a character with such disabilities, but I just think in both situations it made little sense. What do you think about that?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

No Way Jose : Dead From The Start

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Terrible name. Boring moves. Horrendous finisher. No Way Jose was poised to fail from his first moments in NXT. Having a dancing gimmick hasn’t worked out since the days of 2 Cool, and those guys were never really found themselves in the main event picture. I don’t really remember Jose having any main roster moments of value.

Is there a way to save Jose? Not without a total overhaul. He does have some good size and athleticism. A change in finisher is the first thing. Something simple like The Freak Accident or a reverse Samoan Drop is what I would choose for him.

Character wise I would’ve put him in a multi man ladder match on NXT or pair him off with someone like Kona Reeves, another wrestler devoid of purpose. Have them make a run in the Dusty Rhodes tag Team Classic and see if they catch on with the fans. Some matches against Sanity and AOP would really boost their credibility. Maybe move them up to the main roster together. I still think Reeves is on NXT somehow after all these years without a meaningful feud yet.

That’s how I would’ve fixed Jose. I don’t think he would’ve been a main star in the WWE or NXT, but he would be someone that fans would want to tune in to see. Someone who would be in Royal Rumbles, fill out Money in the Bank matches and maybe, with alittle push, be able to jump into a successful singles career.

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

The Death of Trent

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This episode of Rampage has once again proven that AEW has no idea what they are doing with their storylines or how to protect their wrestler’s reputation. The Best Friends and their companions have been fighting the Elite for weeks now. Adam Cole and Orange Cassidy ended their feud in dramatic fashion and I figured this was the ending to the Young Bucks and Trent and Rocky Romero storyline, but it looks like that storyline will continue with AEW’s new signing Jay White. Which I imagine in a few weeks we will get the Young Bucks teaming with Jay White vs The Best Friends.

Today will be the beginning of the end for Trent’s career because he will be going one on one with Jay White, a man who I consider a top 5 wrestler in the world. Obviously, the plan is for White to pick up his first win in AEW against Trent. Which means that Trent is now cannon fodder in AEW? Trent shouldn’t be the one used, it should be Romero. Romero doesn’t have much of a future in AEW. The best-case scenario for Romero is a tag team champion or be in some multi-man battle royal match. Trent at least has potential to be in a mid-card title picture. Maybe squeak out a win there, but not be a long-time champion. Still, Trent deserves better.

On the other side, what would happen to White if he loses his first match? It would kill any momentum in AEW. Many wrestling fans know White in YouTube videos and compilations. I doubt many people who watch AEW even know what channel NJPW is on.

White is going to be booked as a superstar in AEW. He’s not brand new to the industry like Hook. White is one of the most decorated wrestlers overseas, someone who can the face of any wrestling promotion in the world, someone who is not going to sign to one of the biggest wrestling companies in the world and lose to Trent.

Last week we watched Keith Lee in an extremely impressive debut match against Isiah Kassidy. And even though the match wasn’t a complete squash, unlike many of Hook’s matches, it still let the AEW fans know that Kassidy is nothing more than cannon fodder in this company. I doubt there were any plans for Kassidy to beat Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing for the AEW Championship, but still its good to not embarrass him in the eyes of the fans.

So what do you think of Jay White debuting and how far do you see him going in AEW?

Simptastic Joe