8 Wrestlers AEW Just Can't Get Over
Trying to get over, over and over again: talent AEW can't make the fanbase embrace...
In typical sports, success is a simple formula of going over your opponent leading to getting over with the fans. Yet professional wrestling, with its distinct entertainment element, makes getting over much more nuanced, complicated, and ultimately unpredictable.
What makes a great wrestler is open to debate. We'd argue that every wrestler requires at least one of the following traits, but often some combination, to get over with the fanbase:
1. In-ring technique
2. A distinctive look
3. Athletic physique
4. Promo skills
5. A gimmick that is embraced
However, it is worth noting that what gets over with fans doesn't necessarily correlate with the backstage motivations from those booking the action. While the powers that be may be high on somebody, that same performer can be the near-universal herald of a bathroom break.
As a new promotion set on providing that delicate balance between old favourites rejuvenated and promoting hot new talent, AEW;s bookers are vulnerable to over-pushing their acquisitions to the point they either ignore or believe they know better than the fanbase.
AEW have plenty of wrestlers who were basically stuck on a spoon and aeroplaned towards the mouth of overness, only to fall short...
8. Jake Hager
It is easy to forget that Jake Hager is a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, largely owing to his huge physical transformation from his Jack Swagger days. Hager, though not currently troubling title holders, is better as a background enforcer. However, the amount of screen time that Hager gets, as well as his adjacency to AEW's biggest stars, does not correlate with his popularity with fans. Though he fills his role well, he adds nothing extra. Hager is in limbo, neither over nor despised, an area that no fan lingers in.
Hager is due a creative shake-up. He needs to establish himself as a more three-dimensional act, pushing to the forefront that which makes him unique. Though the enforcer role can often act like a straitjacket to performers, both limiting their creativity and protecting them from harsh backlash, nowhere is it written that an enforcer must be bland.
If AEW is to justify Hager's place on the card they need to entrust him to stray outside his, and their, comfort zone. We are not expecting the second coming of The Rock, just a little something to make the supreme athlete a more unique prospect.