10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About AEW
5. "There Are Too Many Dives"
Was there too much brawling in the Attitude Era?
Virtually every main event sprawled into the crowd under a swarm of punches, and a worked punch - particularly so many of them - isn't any less contrived than a dive.
Kenny Omega, PAC, Hangman Page, Cody, Jon Moxley, Darby Allin: virtually every key singles player not named Chris Jericho does one dive per match, and this is multiplied to extravagant degrees in the tag team division. It's a problem endemic to wrestling at large - if it isn't a dive, it's an apron bump - but the take betrays the diverse complexion of AEW's in-ring.
Thus far, in well under less than a year, AEW has promoted: unhinged, barbaric death matches (Omega Vs, Moxley); electric, lucha libre-inspired sprints (Fénix Vs. Nick Jackson); the most timeless of old-school dramatic spectacles (everything Cody does); deeply authentic, charming-as-hell joshi wars (Riho Vs. Emi Sakura); scintillating new-gen tags (Lucha Bros. Vs. Private Party); veteran versus upstart battles (Jericho Vs. Darby Allin); layered, story-driven tags (Omega and Page Vs. Moxley and PAC); revived standards of yesteryear (Jericho Vs. Jungle Boy); intricate, state-of-the-art singles matches (PAC Vs. Page)...
AEW is criticised constantly for its dives, but in totality, it is the most eclectic in-ring product out there.