10 Awful Things Wrestling Needs To LEAVE In 2023
4. AEW's Endless Indirect Subplots
It seems like every week, an AEW programme becomes more and more convoluted with the addition of a new act or a new subplot of some sort. In 2023, AEW strayed further and further away from the "personal issues draw money" maxim.
The Don Callis Family is a prime example of this. Powerhouse Hobbs was brought into the stable because his association with QTV - as everybody who hasn't worked a day in wrestling called on day one - was a stupid idea. His explanation was riddled with holes. He said that he was once insulted by Chris Jericho as a child and held onto that rage into adulthood. Why, then, did it take him three years to unleash it?
It's not as if backstage attacks are uncommon in wrestling. They happen every week.
It was a flimsy excuse to prolong a programme that could have instead used more focus, a traditional fired-up babyface promo from Kenny Omega, who, despite his otherworldly greatness, never really sold the betrayal. The stakes were diluted to do yet more dithering, stable-based booking, the likes of which feel passé in AEW these days.
Chris Jericho brought in Paul Wight in October to combat the size of Hobbs. The idea of Wight and Sammy Guevara truly hating one another is preposterous. They're just indirectly aligned with people - Omega and Callis - who should sell their hatred of one another with more conviction. Also, Wight was cast as a weird extra guy who just hangs around and does the odd skit in 2023. He did a Captain Insano bit with the Acclaimed and was fished by Adam Cole and MJF. How is he a difference-making destroyer?!
Also: why did LFI immediately make friends with FTR just to facilitate the House of Black's fourth concurrent programme?
The degrees of separation between the Blackpool Combat Club and Best Friends and CHAOS and Ricky Starks and Big Bill and Adam Copeland and Christian Cage and Darby Allin was also just silly and messy.
Why does everything need to be so convoluted?
AEW needs to be more focused and direct with its booking in 2024.