AEW (All Elite Wrestling) is a weird one for me. As someone that’s kept wrestling as a whole on the periphery for the past 15+ years. Seeing AEW pop up was interesting. The snippets I was getting on how it came about, what the roster looked like etc in the early 2020’s was kind of impressive.
A new rival to WWE, AEW was stacked with big names from different eras of wrestling. Chris Jericho, The Hardy Boyz, Christian Cage, Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin. Then the rise of newer talent there as well looked promising.
As a mostly casual fan from years past, I can’t profess to know the quality of the entire roster of AEW. But, seeing those names that were big to me, and then getting sent reels and clips regularly. I was really pleased to see a promotion doing well, particularly with older names that looked to have found a new home.
I even had the pleasure of attending AEW All-In at Wembley Stadium! Seeing wrestlers new and old compete in a massive stadium was something else. Jeff Jarrett, Sting, Billy Gunn. Hell, even The Big Show made a brief appearance.
Whilst I was racing to catch-up on story lines and understand the matches, I learned about Orange Cassidy, Samoa Joe and some other great competitiors, too!
I left thinking AEW is probably the promotion that’s likely to compete with WWE. Especially then, when Vince was still around….
AEW now
It somehow all feels different now. When The Rated R Superstar (Adam Copeland/Edge) joined, just as Christian Cage was in a big heel arc, it seemed perfect. MJF was riding high, before going off for a while due to injury/needing rest etc. Then, it’s gone quite flat.
Poor Darby Allin was hampered with Sting on his way out of the industry. Although I imagine the young wrestler was able to take a lot of experience and lessons there. He felt a little held back. A great wrestler, a good gimmick, and well, good screen time/events. Just not really for him.
Then we’ve ended up here where it feels like it’s kind of fallen out of the zeitgeist. I was watching Orange Cassidy clips one day, now I couldn’t tell you if he still wrestles on the AEW roster.
MJF is on a heel turn but is now stuck with another retiree in Dustin Rhodes (not to ever diminish the careers or abilities of the older wrestlers, but move on guys). This isn’t particularly fun to watch, especially with a wrestler so capable as MJF, especially on the mic.
Kenny Omega, by all accounts one of the best wrestlers in the world (sick entrance theme from Final Fantasy legends Masayoshi Soken, with vocals by Jason Miller and a special voice by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu) is making his way back in. But who knows where that’ll go?
It feels like all the potential has somehow been wasted and AEW interest has diminished a little. There’s nothing I suddenly feel compelled to find out about, or watch on YouTube whilst getting dressed etc.
What’s next?
It seems that AEW has gone from a rising star to perhaps plateaued at best. I’d argue that it’s actually gone downhill after a rise to prominence. It’s hard, though. Being a rival to the biggest league in the industry is no mean feat. Can you imagine a rival to the NBA or NFL? Almost impossible to think, isn’t it?
I truly don’t know enough about wrestling, what’s good, what’s bad and what we should be excited about. What I do know is what entertains and interests me, and whilst I’ve already said I don’t really think WWE is what it was, it certainly seems to be on the rise and shutting AEW out in a big way.
Will we see a turn? Some solid storylines, a dip in WWE popularity? Perhaps some new roster signings will bring in some interesting changes.
I’m hopeful for AEW and I’d really like to see it flourish. I have no idea what’s holding it back, but hopefully, they can get to the crux of it and change for the better again. There’s talent and promise there, for sure. But it needs to be nurtured and utilised properly.
Come on guys. You can do it.
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