10 Booking Steps For The AEW World Title Tournament

5. (Somewhat) Faithful Rankings Bracket Quarter Final Results:

Kenny Omega Orange Cassidy
AEW

Hangman Page Vs. Brian Cage

This has a real big match energy and drama to it. Page is the future tippy top guy, where Cage at present is a protected upper card monster heel. Page takes an absolute sh*t-kicking here, perhaps even suffering a storyline injury to get Cage over as a destroyer and account for his ultimate failure to win the tournament. He wins the quarter-final nonetheless, and he wins it cleanly. There's an interference coming up in the semi, and it's a major transgression in storylines. It won't resonate as one, if too much f*ckery is afoot in the quarters. A clean loss isn't a burial. The next booking manoeuvre dictates that, not the result...

Darby Allin Vs. Scorpio Sky

A pissed off Cage attacks Allin in the entrance tunnel before the match; he doesn't cost Allin outright, preserving the integrity of the tournament, but Allin is clearly weakened. He loses what is still a competitive match, and to intensify the heat on Cage, he returns - again, after the clean result - to smash him with a Drill Claw onto a ladder. Thats' how their saga started, at Double Or Nothing, and that's how it will end: with a Ladder match for the FTW Title at Full Gear.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!