10 Failed AEW Experiments
7. Weigh-Ins
The idea of including weigh-ins in AEW was of course to give the biggest fights in the company an extra level of importance and legitimacy; the term “big fight feel” taken to the next level. As a nod to genuine combat sports, opponents would get into the ring, step onto the scales and see if they qualified for the match.
In combat sports that have weight divisions and championships associated with them it’s important that combatants make weight before the fight. In AEW however, there are no weight specifications for any title. So, from the offset, it didn’t really make any sense.
Each of these weigh-in segments tended to be long, boring and ultimately didn’t add any extra level of excitement to the upcoming event. The worst of the bunch of course was Cody Rhodes squaring up to boxer Anthony Ogogo where, due to an issue with the scale, it took host Paul Wight an excruciatingly long 60 seconds to find and read the correct figure.
In its early days AEW was trying its best to find its own identity. It needed to be more than the biggest indie in America but it was perhaps trying too hard to be different from WWE. These kinds of experiments were teething problems along the way before AEW found its own take on sports entertainment.