10 Things AEW Needs To Stop Doing IMMEDIATELY

7. Ownership Of Contracts

Bryan DAnielson
AEW

It was groan-inducing when AEW first did a Wrestler A Now Owns Wrestler B story, and it's only become more and more nauseating with each subsequent time All Elite Wrestling has opted to revisit this particular plot point.

Back at the tail end of 2008, it was plain stupid to see Shawn Michaels become the property of JBL. Skipping ahead 15 years, it's just as stupid to see such a storyline mirrored multiple times in AEW's relatively short history.

Right now, Stokely Hathaway owns Matt Hardy and Private Party. Prior to that, Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen's contracts were owned by Andrade and La Faction Ingobernable. Before that, it was Hardy himself who claimed ownership of Kassidy and Quen. And across all of this time, each and every step of this journey has been utter garbage.

In this instance, everyone mentioned there are talents with strong upsides, but it's not the talent that's the problem here. Instead, it's the childish booking decision to have a wrestler or manager assume control of a grappler's contract. Simply put, it's just all a bit daft - and not in a 'haha' funny way.

Elsewhere, we also saw MJF claiming ownership of Wardlow for a spell. At least in that scenario, it was long established that Wardlow was an employee of the Salt of the Earth's, rather than being a contracted AEW talent. Plus, the uber-prick heel antics of Max had audiences clamouring for the War Dog to finally be free of Friedman's clutches and to be able to lay hands on his old boss.

For the likes of Private Party and Matt Hardy, not only has it always been presented that they work for AEW directly, but the HFO and AFO guff left a stench on any and all stars it touched... much like the ongoing antics of the Firm are currently doing.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.