>>16408321Respect for the sensible reply, I disagree on certain small things and think overall Cody gave the movement a structure so that when AEW started it wasn't just a clusterfuck of ideas as well as random free agents and actually had some foundation.
I think Rollins had his style worked out and was actually more of a high-flying Punk, adapting his knee to being mid-air, throwback moves like the HBK slingblade, frog splash, etc. same way Punk would throw in a Sharpshooter, Macho Elbow, etc. I think Ospreay was influenced by Shibata about stepping up in weight, more structured matches and real fight feel.
Unrelated, but I stand by money shakes and spooky story Cody as well as Sourboy being the funniest shit ever on BTE.
I think AEW haters try to downplay Omega and the Bucks, Okada and Omega were the figureheads of 'the wrestling outside WWE can be bigtime or next-level' and Bucks did stuff like their breakthrough with fan engagement and getting everyone involved at shows or on social media and feeling like part of something. I also think Cody ultimately took all the pieces and figured out the formula, which is Bucks fan engagement, to which he added catering to fringe groups on social media, etc. unique wrestling not found in WWE, like Omega, Okada, NJPW, Lucha, American and British Indies, collabs between companies, as seen in All In or his NWA feud, etc., callbacks to old wrestling, bringing back legends and using them properly, bringing back old matches and gimmicks, and other things.
