10 AEW Disappointments We Really Didn't See Coming

6. Pay-Per-View Indiscipline

Scorpio Sky
AEW

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.

 
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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.