10 Bad Habits AEW Must Kick RIGHT NOW
5. A Lapse In What The Rules Are In General
It is very irritating when the rules change constantly.
Tony Khan is the kayfabe offscreen General Manager of AEW. He is the match-maker, and has used a Jack Tunney-adjacent intervening power only rarely. He told Jon Moxley ahead of Full Gear 2019 that he couldn't sanction his match with Kenny Omega, and, following a spate of f*ck finishes, ordered the Young Bucks to defend their Tag Team titles in a Steel Cage at All Out 2021. There is (thankfully) no onscreen authority figure. There is no storyline championship committee. Tony Khan is the sole decision-maker.
Why, then, has Christian Cage booked two separate Tag title defences on behalf of Jurassic Express in 2022?
It's one thing for a blood feud to develop, and for a star to challenge their fellow star rival to a pay-per-view match. Khan is not going to not sign off on that in kayfabe.
It's quite another for Cage to act as guest booker, even if it suits his money-hungry manager character, because he A) disregarded the rankings and B) has no authority.
Also: the Smart Mark Sterling petition gimmick is terrible because it's never explained that he's some deluded goof; the implication is that, had he procured the required signatures, Swerve Strickland might have been out of there.
Why do officials only separate certain brawls?
The answer is because Khan doesn't want main event rivals to touch before the match, but that's another inconsistency that must be addressed.