10 Times AEW Put Amazing Details Into Storylines

4. The Elite Vs. The Inner Circle

FTR Young Bucks
Scott Lesh

The war won by the Elite at Double Or Nothing II began on the very first episode of Dynamite on which Chris Jericho, finally received as the tippy-top Ace of a wrestling promotion, made a plan to hold onto that title by recruiting the impressionable youth of Sammy Guevara, Ortiz and Santana and the ostracised, reinvented muscle of Jake Hager.

The Inner Circle was formed, and they kicked the sh*t out of the Elite to make their presence felt.

It was a tremendous angle, one paced to perfection, that accounted for Kenny Omega's absence when Jon Moxley brutalised him out of the picture. This formed the pattern of the other, electric all-hell-breaks-loose angles: they weren't easy, sensory overload brawls: the players involved or rather not involved - the injured Kenny Omega, the disenfranchised Hangman Page - were always very carefully considered so as to not ask revealing questions of the process and to advance other, dovetailing storylines with a deft economy.

Again: these weren't mindless brawls. The melee on the Full Gear go-home put Dynamite over as a realistic card, not a "show", when Matt Jackson didn't just stand there looking furious because the camera was on him.

He wasn't done, TV time remaining or not: he launched himself at the Inner Circle because he wanted to put over the idea that he wasn't just paid to pretend to hate them.

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!