10 Moves Tony Khan Must Make To Save AEW
7. Bring Back And Do Not Abandon The 'Opening Banger'
The show-opening Dynamite promo became a fixture so gradually that you didn't even notice.
Tony Khan has tinkered with the format to the detriment of Dynamite of late. Despite being "very happy" with AEW, the network has imposed certain things. The word "sh*t" is bleeped now, the flow of blood has been bandaged, and something like the Lights Out match between Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs (while very good) wasn't the ultra-violent fare that the promotion was once permitted to indulge. If the opening promo isn't a semi-regular network mandate, it needs to go. The traditional opening 'banger' was once so vital in setting the tone and igniting the crowd into creating waves of what, sadly, might now be referred to as the "old" noise.
In another insidious tweak, which must have been ordered by the network, the opening match, when it even happens, is interrupted by an ad break. This has a noticeable effect on the atmosphere, which fades when the wrestlers involved do little when the tape machines stop rolling. Remember the days of the uninterrupted first match?
They were glorious. At the very least, AEW should transpose the Rampage gimmick of the almost imperceptible "90 seconds!" of picture-in-picture break.
The new format is all too similar to WWE - and, on the subject of which...