10 Times WWE Ripped Off AEW
4. Babyface Saves
Have you noticed recently how, in stark contrast to last year, WWE babyfaces aren't left for dead in the middle of the ring after a heel beatdown?
This was a significant and constant plot hole that opened up for years, come to think of it. Nobody had any friends. The scripting from words to action made virtually every babyface look like a gigantic a*sehole. Maybe the idea was always for the babyfaces to get rescued, but Vince soured on their push and rewrote the run-in at the last minute. In any event, they looked like pitiful losers you almost resented for dying at your feet.
This has changed, noticeably and for the better; now, when Rey Mysterio is set upon by Seth Rollins, his pals Aleister Black and Humberto Carrillo come to his defence. They exist only to do this, presently, but it's a start.
Moreover, there's a renewed attempt to overlap storylines in a bid to establish connections, avoid endless rematches and book multi-man tags - an attempt, generally, to carve open more narrative possibilities.
It's hardly the deft and hermetic stable-based booking that AEW has perfected in 2020, in which no motivation is unaccounted for and from which this new WWE booking drive is inspired, but bless them, they are trying.
Perhaps Bruce Prichard watches AEW in full view of Vince McMahon. He'd get away with it, since Vince wouldn't know good wrestling if he saw it.