10 AEW Disappointments We Really Didn't See Coming

6. Pay-Per-View Indiscipline

Nothing about WWE's wrestling output should remotely compare with AEW’s.

Nick Khan and Vince McMahon themselves refuse to acknowledge the product as wrestling, and it's never looked less like it anyway. Since the dawning of the Network, and latterly rights fees, the company has embraced its lot as a Content Production organisation.

AEW is a wrestling company, proudly. And yet, with a couple of glaring, awesome exceptions, WWE is an easier shift on pay-per-view.

For the most part, the "All Elite" element of the name applies most to the quarterly supercards, with the weekly meritocracy mostly feeding the big matches that ask for your time and your $50. Refunds aren't a problem, but complaints around managing the clock started loud and haven't subsided.

All Out 2021 almost immediately entered the conversation as an all-time great wrestling pay-per-view, but it's quickly become established as a rule-proving exception. The shows almost always go too long, even if they boast at least one match of the year candidate or the sort of shock-and-awe that's worth the spend. WWE, in contrast, promise little from television but permit the wrestlers to be masters of their craft in fairly tight two/three hour "premium live events" that overdeliver.

Is it spoiled to ask for less wrestling for your money? Perhaps, but AEW is the company that listens and adapts to the complex changing market, and this would make for a pleasing adjustment.