10 Secrets Behind AEW's Booking Magic
9. Holding Fire On The Match
The dreaded comparison must be made here; in what is the real secret to AEW's approach, Khan tends to use the modern decline of WWE as a How Not To guide.
Naturally, nobody could ever be bothered to collate the statistics on this, but an astonishing number of WWE matches in recent years have been built on how the previous match between the same competitors didn't end conclusively. It is a crippling formula. Profound familiarity + no hope for resolution = deadening loop. This isn't another extension of tribal discourse, a debate of which promotion is best. WWE, viewed in isolation as a dramatic medium, has failed dismally at the core concepts of suspense and anticipation.
"The same match you watched last week, only this time, somebody wins! Maybe. Play it by ear, eh?"
It is impossible, unless you are 16 years old on Reddit or 70 years old on the Nuclear family couch, to give half a f*ck about the same match repeated over and over again - particularly since WWE's homogenised style creates such a sensation within the same show.
AEW creates a match, either formally or as a formality. They make you want it. Then make you want it more by creating a legitimate narrative reason as to why it's not happening "when we come back".
MJF mounted a torture campaign before he deigned to wrestle Cody. Chris Jericho, spurned by Jon Moxley, sent his goons to weaken him across the episodic TV cycle. FTR and the Young Bucks were separated in the grudge match realm by mutual respect, and now that the pretence is over, through the rankings system.
Or, simply: it's a big damn fight with a big fight feel, and the premium pay-per-view stage is where it belongs.