10 Things AEW MUST Achieve Over The Next Five Years
8. A Talent Developmental System
AEW is not ideally positioned to develop talent in-house, which puts over the evolution of Dr. Britt Baker, Wardlow and Powerhouse Hobbs all the more.
AEW's recruitment method clashed with the planned schedule well before the pandemic changed everything. And now that AEW has ramped up its recruitment ahead of a planned third hour of TV, the problem has been exacerbated. Sonny Kiss showed much promise in 2020, by revealing a new sense of aggression and improving his body language to match specific story beats - he looked distraught and embarrassed after that Kenny Omega squash - but can't further grow as a performer without the platform. Private Party have stagnated after a head-turning 2019. There are several green Dark Order recruits in need of reps. The Women's division is in stasis, as mentioned.
AEW mustn't follow WWE's Performance Center model - theirs is an homogenised and oppressive approach to training that hasn't produced a great crop of talent - and signs are that they won't. The EVPs all developed beyond one system, one way of doing things. Kenny Omega had the foresight to become a great by leaving Deep South Wrestling; Cody's wanderlust and sense of defiance informed his own evolution from also-ran to top star after his exit from WWE in 2016.
The Nightmare Factory is entry-level. The graduates and the latter-generation post-boom indie guys must, upon a return to a new normal, go out on the same excursions with which the New Japan Young Lions become big show-ready.
All in service of...