10 Things AEW MUST Achieve Over The Next Five Years

All Elite Wrestling has roared into life as legitimate, demo-chasing, head-turning competition.

It is the epicentre of professional wrestling conversation, whether that manifests as euphoric praise or, in the absence of WWE inspiring any new debates worthy of everybody's time, pedantic flash-take criticisms. It's where the buzz is, ultimately, and AEW has a real knack of generating it most weeks.

Kenny Omega, as it turns out, dressed like a scrub on purpose to resonate more like a star when he made the decision to turn stardom on like it was a faucet. This long, long-term vision and sheer audacity best exemplifies AEW's ability to reward its fanbase and get the pro wrestling world talking. That Kenny Omega wore a barely suppressed smirk in the face of criticism, and answered it with the sudden impact of his own V-Trigger, builds yet more trust in a process that simply can't be doubted headed into 2021. This is a company that rehabbed the ailing Miro and Matt Hardy in the same match at Winter Is Coming.

AEW has accomplished much already. The O.G. Elite are all gilded stars after many dummies were spat at their presentation early on. The TV ratings and PPV buys remain very impressive, as fans evidently are drawn to rising, needle-moving stars like Darby Allin, MJF and Dr. Britt Baker. The immaculate presentation of the Jon Moxley character in itself acts as evidence that AEW is a legit alternative.

But there's more to be done...

The AEW Women's division is not good enough.

AEW has something of an excuse. The promotion can only recruit from an existing pool of talent, and the market leader of North American pro wrestling only upgraded the classification of women from "things" in 2015. The independent scene is of course desolate in 2021, and, pre-pandemic, was more oriented towards pushing elite-tier men in the last phase of a Super-Indie era WWE quashed with its greedy, desperate recruitment strategy.

But there are signs, too, that AEW is all too happy to hide behind all that.

The usual one weekly segment has long developed a "token" quality. Whispers of a turnaround linger in the air, but have done for too long now to take seriously. And if there's a thoughtlessness and not malice to the presentation of the women - Hikaru Shida stood front row where Jon Moxley would never stand, Jim Ross expressing shock when calling the work of a more seasoned talent - that's not great, either.

The booking feels obligatory and is badly lacking in the detail that proves so immersive in, for example, Hangman Page's arc. That AEW used this attentive quality to put a cross-promotion over more than the talent - Abadon dragging Hikaru Shida under the Go Big Show ring apron was more of a commercial than a jump scare - is really an indictment. Proof that much of this is won't, not can't.

It's not just unfair and apathetic: if you look at which two WWE performers put on the highest-rated TV match of 2020, it's really quite daft.