From: Lopen | #030 Nice that Cole is back to taking otherwise good segments and single handedly crapping on them
That segment was good? Slater was the only good part and he was basically crapping on it too.
Also I guess I'm the only one who doesn't like the AJ thing? To me she feels like... a poseur, I guess? A tryhard? I'm not buying this crazy character from her-- and I'm a man who loves his crazy characters. In fact this may be the only crazy woman gimmick I haven't fawned over ever. Also making Kane look stupid harkening back to his late 90s run where he was basically a giant gorilla.
Anyway yeah Raw was terrible. Time to take another few week hiatus and see if it improves next time.
As a lifelong lover of crazy people in wrestling, I think we're just so starved for one that isnt Orton or Kane, that its just exciting.
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For whoever asked if AJ had a crazy gimmick in FCW, she never really did. She just had an enormous b**** gimmick, which she played to flawless perfection. She was extremely good at it, and it was always enjoyable when she got the mic. That gif is from after Daughter Guerrero slapped her for being a huge b****.
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Cole was crapping on the Lauper segment long before Slater got out there. Like, before anyone even finished saying a line.
It's like they had that great video package about her impact on the industry and then as soon as she walked out into the arena Vince must have been screaming "BURY HER! F***ING BURY HER GOD DAMMIT!" into Cole's earpiece.
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Hulk Hogan @HulkHogan I am giving@austinaires until 8pm Thursday,then on IMPACT LIVE on Spike I will make him decide his fate,World Title and Greatness or nothing
Wow way to bury the X-Division Hulkster.
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Thank you, Eddie Guerrero. http://tinyurl.com/73jgc2r
I think he was referring to the stip on him getting the world title and greatness requiring him to give up the X-Division title so he could leave with nothing
But yeah poor choice of words on his part
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Winter too I guess, in that it was her first TNA character. AJ sorta just shifted into it and in a way that I didn't really buy the transitions for.
She was dumped and humiliated in public by the only man she ever loved! If that won't make a woman snap, what would?
Like I can't even buy her beating up other divas if she flips out... I mean I'm not saying that Mickie James looked like she could manhandle someone but she was at least she wasn't smaller than everyone. AJ is basically the women's wrestling equivalent of Spike Dudley or Rey Mysterio.
I sort of buy this, but the flipping out is the ultimate equalizer. Rey and Spike beat people up WITHOUT any equalizer. Plus, it's not like AJ has actually beaten any other divas with any particular accomplishments (by which I mean Beth Phoenix, because she's the only one).
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Rey and Spike don't "beat people up." They win, yeah, but they win via roll-ups and speed. I'm not saying I couldn't see AJ winning matches-- I'm saying I couldn't buy her seriously hurting anyone which is what a crazy character needs-- at least the capacity to, to back up their craziness. Otherwise you just ignore AJ and then what does she do? She pouts and that's it.
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Well, the only person she has really attacked is Kaitlyn right? She snapped on Nattie within the context of a match, which seems to be okay with you. And it's not like she seriously injured her or anything...
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Snapping on Nattie within the context of a match was played off as a beatdown though, which was my point. Spike and Rey and such don't do those things. It wasn't played off as "she won through speed and technique" so no I wasn't really okay with that.
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You could also play that one off as Nattie not taking her seriously, due to her lack of accomplishment in general, and the fact that she had JUST been dumped and was standing there pouting acting like she wasn't even going to fight at all.
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That. As I recall, Nattie was standing there making fun of her and alternately jawing with the ref, and AJ just started slapping the **** out of her and not letting up
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Which would be a perfectly valid premise for AJ to win a match. Win a match decisively, even. But she started to manhandle her because "she's dangerous and unstable" or whatever, which was pretty "lol" to me.
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Not sure I understand the comparison between AJ and Spike. AJ's tiny but her opponents are small too. It's not like she's snapping on Kharma...to me AJ/Natalya is closer to a Bryan/Sheamus deal in that one is obviously smaller but not by so much that he isn't a threat.
Yeah except Natalya isn't Sheamus even compared to Divas... going off sizes for divas past and present I would make a men scale of something like...
AJ : Rey Mysterio Natalya : Dolph Ziggler Beth Phoenix : Sheamus Kharma : Great Khali
Or something like that.
Also Daniel Bryan isn't quite big enough to come off as particularly menacing either so that comparison doesn't entirely help even if you are trying to sell off Natalya as Sheamus sized.
Like don't get me wrong I'm not saying AJ shouldn't come off as a threat to win matches. I'm saying she shouldn't come off as a threat to seriously injure people through psychotic beatdowns/escapades, which is kinda necessary for the crazy gimmick to work, even if they don't beat people down.
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Like don't get me wrong I'm not saying AJ shouldn't come off as a threat to win matches. I'm saying she shouldn't come off as a threat to seriously injure people through psychotic beatdowns/escapades, which is kinda necessary for the crazy gimmick to work, even if they don't beat people down.
What if part of her crazy gimmick is the ability to summon Kane for a beatdown? But really I see her more as a Harley Quinn type of crazy, and she was never a real physical threat either.
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Don't read into the comparison too much. I'm saying that because women are smaller, there is no "extreme" like Spike or Rey (apart from Kharma). AJ is small but not freakishly so. Besides I don't think you can measure a psycho AJ and a psycho Rey by the same stick.
And Smuffin's right, Natalya didn't take her seriously.
Granted yeah if AJ gets Kane summoning abilities and her direct beatdowns of Caitlyns and Natalyas cease then yeah I will re-evaluate my position of the gimmick. (though probably hate it more because of what that means for Kane)
What I'm saying is you've gotta be x amount of menacing to be able to pull it off-- the whole relative thing doesn't really apply because Rey Mysterio being a deranged psychopath doesn't work even if it's a cruiserweight division exclusive gimmick.
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Yeah except Natalya isn't Sheamus even compared to Divas... going off sizes for divas past and present I would make a men scale of something like...
AJ : Rey Mysterio Natalya : Dolph Ziggler Beth Phoenix : Sheamus Kharma : Great Khali
Or something like that.
Also Daniel Bryan isn't quite big enough to come off as particularly menacing either so that comparison doesn't entirely help even if you are trying to sell off Natalya as Sheamus sized.
Like don't get me wrong I'm not saying AJ shouldn't come off as a threat to win matches. I'm saying she shouldn't come off as a threat to seriously injure people through psychotic beatdowns/escapades, which is kinda necessary for the crazy gimmick to work, even if they don't beat people down.
If Rey Mysterio went over the edge into madness I could totally buy him tearing Dolph apart if Dolph wasn't prepared.
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Eh. Daffney's much bigger than AJ, and yeah, I totally buy her as dangerous.
She's a "Dolph Ziggler" in that example. Which yes makes a difference.
"Must be this tall to go crazy" is how I look at it. Though again it's not all on her size either-- it's her demeanor clashing so much with her original gimmick as well.
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Eh. Daffney's much bigger than AJ, and yeah, I totally buy her as dangerous.
She's a "Dolph Ziggler" in that example. Which yes makes a difference.
"Must be this tall to go crazy" is how I look at it. Though again it's not all on her size either-- it's her demeanor clashing so much with her original gimmick as well.
AJ is too cute to be a classic crazy person in wrestling. Shes not Sid, or Daffney, or even Mickie James in terms of how she carries herself...or is even capable of carrying herself. If she had better crazy eyes like Mickie does it might be closer, but Mickie did have some size to make her threat more real too.
Which is more "true to life" crazy ex girlfriends and that, but outside the angle shes currently in I cant see it working.
If she sticks the transition from crazy to just HUGE ***** we may have something.
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Yeah, that's sorta what I was getting at, actually. Thing is I don't think they're trying to present her as a "true to life" crazy ex here. I do think that's what she's doing with it in some respects, but then in other respects she's going totally out there. I totally buy her as the manipulative/vindictive parts of the character-- don't buy the SKIPPING CAUSE CRAZY TRA-LA~ and I SNAPPED ON CAITLYN RAGE parts-- just don't feel natural to me.
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The skipping is completely part of the manipulation.
She's stopped being psychotic and turned over into "Crazy like a fox" mode about a month ago.
There's been a method to her madness.
Well shes BEEN turning. We're in a very "Samao Joe Ninja"/ Anonymous RAW GM kind of place with this right now. Its a slowburn angle with AJ having a MASTER PLAN.
Its neat if they actually pull off the reveal in a cool way, but recent WWE leaves me believing one day AJ will get squashed by Kharma or Beth and never return, with her master plan forever a secret.
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Not sure on that. I don't think you're necessarily sure either because the problem is that "she's not acting the part well but is supposed to be acting legit crazy here" and "she's a bit crazy but she's just embellishing here for manipulation purposes" are actually interchangeable reactions to the same scene and you can project how you feel about AJ onto what you think either one is.
To further muddle the issue is the fact that we're not even sure how much of her character is crazy and how much is manipulative right now, as she's shown signs of both.
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Not sure on that. I don't think you're necessarily sure either because the problem is that "she's not acting the part well but is supposed to be acting legit crazy here" and "she's a bit crazy but she's just embellishing here for manipulation purposes" are actually interchangeable reactions to the same scene and you can project how you feel about AJ onto what you think either one is.
To further muddle the issue is the fact that we're not even sure how much of her character is crazy and how much is manipulative right now, as she's shown signs of both.
Well, without any interpretation from the announcers other than Cole selling the METHOD TO HER MADNESS possibility, we have no choice but to ASSUME Jakyl is right for now.
The quick explanation is Punk calls her crazy and claims he "digs crazy chicks", all of a sudden AJ begins acting MORE eccentric and playing into Punk's expectations, which is NOT her being crazy but rather using Punks and Bryan's perceptions of her against him, with Kane playing the extremely confused 5th wheel.
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The quick explanation is Punk calls her crazy and claims he "digs crazy chicks", all of a sudden AJ begins acting MORE eccentric and playing into Punk's expectations, which is NOT her being crazy but rather using Punks and Bryan's perceptions of her against him, with Kane playing the extremely confused 5th wheel.
This is PRECISELY how I read it.
She IS, in Lopen's terms, "trying too hard" because she's infatuated with Punk and A.) Punk said he likes it, B.) Kane is manipulated by it (which helps Punk), and C.) Keeping it going at all times throws people off the scent.
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I thought it was pretty clear that she will manipulate *anyone* who looks like they'll fall for it. She was hitting on Josh goddamn Matthews at one point
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We are thought, and reality, and concept, and the unimaginable
(This is gonna get a little confusing so just know that I'm speaking entirely in kayfabe here)
But I also don't think it's entirely an ACT, per se. It's method acting on her part.
In order to be BELIEVABLY crazy you kind of have to GIVE IN to the crazy, if you follow me.
It's not like she's sitting there plotting "how can I give the impression to Josh Mathews that I'm crazy?" It's more along the lines of "I want everyone to think I'm crazy so I will just turn my brain over to those impulses for now."
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And I'd be perfectly fine with that but the problem is she lead into all of this with mental breakdowns before Punk's "I dig Crazy chicks" and before Kane was in the picture. So she can't be totally on the manipulative end of the spectrum. And there's enough evidence of her being manipulative that she probably can't be totally on the crazy end, either (though you could actually explain away everything she's done as whims of a crazy person, on a stretch)
So it's all pretty blurry as to what's supposed to be what here. Yeah she could be embellishing for her manipulative purposes-- or she could be manipulating while legit descending further into craziness and looking dumb doing it. I think you guys are all going to see it as the former because you all like AJ a lot, and I'm going to see it as the latter because I've never been particularly big on her.
And if I had to bet I think ultimately WWE is going to make it seem like my idea was right, regardless of whether it is, just because it's the easier way to write it. So we'll never know what the real intent is.
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