10 Things AEW MUST Do To Compete With WWE

5. ...To A Point

Ambrose AEW
All Elite Wrestling

Chris Jericho exposed the folly of AEW's big sales pitch just this past Sunday in a somewhat misguided attempt to tweet his own programme with Brock Lesnar.

That wasn't the extent of the optimism; Jericho told the Beast, inviting not a match but meme upon meme, to "lose the gut" - from which we can infer a slumped, drunken Jericho forgot what year it was. Jericho claimed he wasn't pissed - "What's your Twitter, problem?" - but those tweets disappeared quicker than Lesnar did after Royal Rumble weekend. Jericho also agreed with one fan that the Men's Rumble match probably was boring. Matching the classless manner with which WWE has reacted to AEW - principally by Repo Man-ing the sh*t out of its merch - this threatened to undermine AEW's role as the babyface in this new wrestling war.

This didn't harm the perception of All Elite Wrestling one iota - if anything, Jericho's fondness of Grey Goose adds to his marvellous, unhinged crazy old man aura - and the relentless news cycle swallowed it up the second Jericho swallowed his aspirin. Still, there's a lesson here: if AEW is to proceed with the approach, some discipline is required.

If you're going to allow a pro wrestler full rein, that wrestler might just adopt an African accent on national television.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!