10 Biggest Missed AEW Opportunities
6. We Need To Talk About Andrade...
Whether as La Sombra, Andrade 'Cien' Almas or Andrade El Idolo, the real-life Manuel Alfonso Andrade Oropeza has spent over a decade proving he's one of the best in-ring talents on the planet.
Andrade looks like a star, wrestles like a star, makes his opponents look like stars, and delivers each and every time he steps between the ropes. So, having become an afterthought under Vince McMahon's stewardship on the WWE main roster, many were expecting El Idolo to be positioned as a genuine main event attraction upon landing in AEW last year.
It's absolutely crazy that, in 16 months with AEW, Andrade has had just 14 matches on TV - seven of which have been some variation of multi-man match.
That's not to say that the ridiculously talented 32-year-old should necessarily be having matches on every single Dynamite and Rampage - and yes, he did take some time away to get married to Charlotte Flair - but it's criminal to see the one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion bogged down by bulls**t like the Andrade Hardy Family Office, Vickie Guerrero or the baffling blink-and-you'll-miss-it turn on Dragon Lee this past August; a turn that has had zero follow-up.
On a micro level, this past March felt like the perfect time to pull the trigger on Andrade as the TNT Champion, particularly when he, Darby Allin and then-TNT Champ Sammy Guevara did battle. On a macro level, the whole presentation and use of El Idolo has been one fumble after another.
Yes, the former NXT Champion is far from a great talker, but there are easy ways around that. And yes, not everyone can be in the World Title picture all at once. But still, Andrade is in the same conversation as the likes of Miro and Malakai Black who can be so much more than what AEW has allowed them to be.