10 Mistakes AEW Can't Afford To Make At Double Or Nothing 2021
4. Since People Will Complain Either Way...
...get the finish of Miro Vs. Lance Archer absolutely bang on.
This feels different to, say, Cody Vs. Chris Jericho at Full Gear 2019, at which AEW attempted to bring back the enormity of drama to professional wrestling. The anxiety you felt ahead of the show was the very idea behind the stip, but WWE-brain made it feel like a hollow or bad one. It was (apparently) either going to get walked back, or, because WWE can't book beyond the title picture, Cody was going to be left with little to do.
This feels less like big fight drama, and more of a strange booking decision. AEW can book, so this is reassuring, but no man can afford to lose here and there's not enough good will to suggest that a loss won't be devastating.
After frivolous long-term storytelling for long-term storytelling's sake, the intense killer version of Miro has finally emerged as the performer he could have been in WWE. This was very close to not happening. His arc almost unravelled the crucial idea that AEW is better at promoting talent than the passé, directionless competition.
Lance Archer is dangerously close to losing any lingering shred of credibility, and after just over a year, AEW has already exhausted the make-good that a turn enables. If he turns in defeat, so what? He already lost something as a heel.
"Protect" is an awful word in wrestling because it is anathema to drama. But by Christ whoever loses here needs protecting.