10 Terrible Debuts AEW Quickly Fixed
In which human beings acknowledge human error and why so many trust AEW's process.
There were mixed - but familiar - feelings when Andrade El Idolo debuted in All Elite Wrestling on a special Friday night edition of Dynamite.
An undeniable buzz could almost immediately be felt inside Daily's Place as well as online, such was the potential of this specific signing. Few of the many, many performers under-utilised by WWE over the last half-decade come with as much to offer as the former "Cien", and AEW has so often been such a perfect platform for pro wrestling in its short lifespan that it's hard to imagine anything but bangers from the globally recognised star.
But it'd be misrepresenting the pulse entirely to pretend all comments were glowing.
On an episode that already had problems, Andrade's arrival wasn't without its own. Vickie Guerrero's troll heel shtick feels dated in the extreme, particularly next to a character that needs to be as far away from it as possible. The connection between the pair felt forced and unnecessary, diluting some of the spectacle.
But this precise issue has been commonplace before. AEW isn't a perfect product in the same way pro wrestling can never be prestige television because of its very nature - not every single match can be better than the last, nor can every new idea be the best one. But one of the reasons that it's a very good product is because wrestling is elevated when companies spot this, and make right what they've accidentally gotten wrong.
AEW, brilliantly, does this a lot...
10. The Dark Order
In the books that'll one day chronicle the history of All Elite Wrestling, The Dark Order will surely get their own chapter.
No one act stigmatised AEW more in the infancy of both the gimmick and the organisation, then twice proved the mettle of the creative folk behind the curtain and talent of the wrestlers plucked from relative obscurity to play the parts.
When Dynamite seemed to be buckling somewhat in December 2019, it was The Dark Order presentation that had the most blows landed upon it. Ironic, considering how far of the mark those punches were in the now-infamous beatdown of The Elite on the last live episode of the year.
Vignettes in early-2020 were stronger in explaining the core message of the group, but a Steve Jobs figure didn't the authoritarian control of eventual 'Exalted One' Brodie Lee, who debuted in March and unlocked the missing ingredient in the group.
As an absolute bastard of a leader, Lee brought out the warmth and silliness for an overall good, informally babyfacing the rest of the gang until his desperately sad passing expedited the inevitable.