10 Biggest AEW Creative Mistakes
7. Storytelling For The Sake Of It
Tony Khan is guilty of telling long-term stories for the sake of it. Short ones too.
The idea is to deepen the elusive, premium feel of the big match, but this only works when fans truly give a sh*t about the characters involved. Death Triangle Vs. House of Black closed with an electrifying trios match at Double Or Nothing, and was delayed by an injury suffered by Rey Fénix, but did it need to last almost half a calendar year? What did AEW truly do to build the heft of a match that people were always just going to watch purely as a spot-fest?
What did Alex Abrahantes dressing up for Halloween for three months six months after the holiday actually do?
There are several bad AEW takes out there. They really aren't worth entertaining. One in particular however is so awful and the opposite of true that it must be mentioned here. AEW, if anything, tells far too many stories. Before the match was cancelled, Bryan Danielson had suggested that Chris Jericho paid Zack Sabre, Jr. to take him out of Blood & Guts at Forbidden Door.
What?
Why couldn't the 1 best technical wrestler alive challenge the A best technical wrestler alive to determine who was, in fact, the best wrestler alive?
AEW is episodic to a fault, if anything. Everything has to be linked to a story in some way, and it can become almost patronising as well as contrived. The Lucha Brothers couldn't just work Private Party to establish potential contenders for the new, fighting World Tag Team champions last week. It had to involve some forgotten, sh*tty AHFO lore.
This is a big mistake in the overall creative process because this contrived attention to detail and procrastination accomplishes nothing of true significance that a simple match graphic could not, half the time.