10 Things That Absolutely SUCK About Wrestling Today
5. The Idea That AEW Is Becoming A Content Farm
AEW formed in opposition to WWE because the market leader had created a lapsed generation of fans there for the taking - enough to, after three months of Dynamite, secure a sizeable TV rights fee.
When the original TV deal was announced, AEW released a manifesto of sorts, the theme of which was: everything you hate about WWE, we won't do. Wins and losses would matter, you'd see less "soapy" storylines, the performers would actually try when working TV matches.
In 2019, WWE was shockingly awful - and one of many factors working against it was the "super-serve" philosophy in place at the time. Mainline TV spanned five hours, as did even the B-level PPVs (incorporating the 'Kick-Off' portion). AEW was so refreshing in contrast; Dynamite felt like event television every single week, with each episode building patiently to a highly anticipated, elusive quarterly pay-per-view.
That vibe is all but dead, even if the promotion remains excellent at its peak.
Rampage is dead. The house lights are dimmed to obscure the fans who leave to beat the traffic; those who remain don't react too loudly to the good if skippable action. Battle Of The Belts never even sparked into life; it very rarely doesn't feel like a contractual obligation to Warner Bros. Discovery. Dark and Dark: Elevation are only mildly fun for Taz's bizarre tangential riffs, and with the rankings system abandoned, those shows don't even function as a necessary exercise in stat-padding. ROH offers nothing that AEW doesn't, since AEW offers virtually everything, embracing the full range of wrestling as its USP. The prospect of a C-show barely appeals when the B-show is utterly inessential.
The volume of content has both undermined the special AEW vibe and the booking: does the phoned in gauntlet cliché programme that was Chris Jericho Vs. Ricky Starks happen if Tony Khan doesn't have so much to contend with?