10 Creeping Problems AEW MUST Fix

6. Absolutely Horrendous Props

Andrade AEW
AEW

In which AEW feels too much like TNA.

Nobody is campaigning for AEW to rip off WWE's production. WWE's production is slick, polished and nausea-inducing. WWE feels like a fake scripted show before the bell rings. F*ck WWE's production.

AEW mostly gets it right, though the refreshingly live, energetic feel is often undermined badly by piss-poor camera shots and woefully unconvincing props. The finish to Blood & Guts was produced horrendously.

More thought should have been applied to it; had AEW established a wide camera shot that captured a very respectable live crowd throughout the show, and used it to film Chris Jericho's fall, it would have looked uncontrived and dangerous. Instead, the close-up exposed the insulting prop work. Printing a metal effect on cardboard wasn't going to convince anybody that it wasn't cardboard even before the impact made it yet more painfully obvious.

The pig carcasses at Stadium Stampede looked nothing like dead pigs. The wall that Jake Hager and Wardlow crashed through was clearly plaster and did not exist before it was erected to exist.

AEW is beloved because it feels like the real, expressive promotion raging against the sterilised monopoly. Too often, it really doesn't look like it.

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!