10 Times AEW Took Advantage Of WWE Ignoring The Fans

6. PAC

Roman Reigns, CM Punk
AEW

Frozen out of WWE following an awesome reinvention as the 'King Of The Cruiserweights' in 2017, PAC easily delivered on years of elevated expectations by having total bangers with the greatest of ease.

It's not like he hadn't already shown his pre-existing paymasters what he could do. He spent the better part of 2014 as NXT Champion back when that brand genuinely and earnestly existed to try and forecast what a future main roster might look like. On night one of his call-up, he lost his first name and he'd lose just about everything else by the time he eventually hit the wall there.

His time in Jacksonville hasn't even been some sort of perfect reimagining of those lost years, but standards were set so low that merely living up to his tremendous potential was the central task at hand. That's been a doddle.

A feud with Kenny Omega culminated in a fantastic early-Dynamite encounter, and though the pandemic and visa issues conspired to make his feuds a little clunky over 2020, he's so reliable that half the time a lack of story behind battles barely even matters.

 
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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett