10 Mistakes AEW Can't Afford To Make At Double Or Nothing 2021
Sting probably shouldn't get WrestleMania 31'd in his first AEW live match...
AEW - a promotion so excellent at its best that they have somehow conspired to make the normal course of business iconic - has yet to deliver the perfect pay-per-view.
The first Double Or Nothing was excellent and special, more than that. The show however peaked before the main event, and the undercard wasn't without the odd gentleman's three. All Out 2019, mostly tremendous, followed a similar pattern. Escalera de la Muerte was so dementedly creative that even a very worthy main event could not follow it.
Full Gear was tighter and more impressive than even DoN '19 in some ways - the excellent episodic TV informed its grand heft and proved that this was no novelty - but the crowd was mic'd poorly. Revolution 2020 was near-perfect. That event was the idealised AEW show because it once more illustrated that the company had built the perfect destination model. The show made wrestling feel special again, but a disaster of an entrance marred a key match and the retrograde opener suggested that AEW's throwback booking wasn't always timeless.
The pandemic-era PPVs (please, let the past tense endure) were unfathomably great, mostly, though All Out was an enervated botch-friendly bad time of a show, three cracking matches aside. Revolution 2021 was just a TNA-level shame by the end.
They are close, but lessons must be learnt...
10. Don't Do A Massive F*ck Up
No wrestling promotion actively tries to disappoint its audience with a catastrophic scene. Well, WWE do, but they don't count. They are a mean-spirited sports entertainment content factory, not a wrestling promotion.
In the intro, the climax of Revolution was described as a "shame". Farce is the more accurate word, but AEW's level of good will is such that its base couldn't bring themselves to laugh at it, even though it was comically bad. But for all the exhausting accusations of media bias etc., if this sh*t keeps happening, that will change. NXT and NJPW were once beloved critical properties. This isn't the case anymore. They are each mocked in various circles because there's no emotional investment stopping them. If AEW punishes its audience, the exact same thing will happen. Guaranteed.
The only potential for large-scale disaster lies in Stadium Stampede II, but not in the match itself.
Tony Khan must allude to the crowd - during a pre-tape screened on the Buy-In or something - that the main event might just sprawl to ringside. "You never know," that sort of thing. The spoiler will circulate on Twitter, obviously, but it's a reassuring one.
Also, the match almost has to sprawl to ringside. It's a bizarre idea to screen a cinematic match during the first pay-per-view since Revolution 2020 promoted in front of a full capacity crowd. A live element is a must, and it's almost certain to happen. Chris Jericho isn't not getting his pop. The thirst is in the man's DNA, and he deserves it.
Certain fans in attendance for Blood & Guts demanded refunds because they couldn't read. Without an obvious hint that, yes, Jericho is going to drag MJF's bloodied body into Daily's, the fans might sh*t on and ruin the broadcast, no matter how good it is.