10 Totally Dumb Booking Tropes Wrestling Is OBSESSED With

1. Selective Application Of Company Principles

Finn Balor
AEW

On the July 22 edition of AEW Collision, Andrade el Idolo was escorted out of the building. Commentator Ian Riccaboni explained that he was ejected because he was likely to interfere in and ruin the integrity of the World Trios title match. AEW wanted a clean contest.

Why, then, are the Outcasts allowed to interfere in almost every single match involving one of their members? They sometimes get thrown out, but they are always stationed at ringside to begin with - even though Tony Khan should know exactly what to expect by now. Do they have a manager's license? If so, why hasn't this been revoked?

Andrade hasn't yet interfered in a single match on Collision, and yet he was ejected from ringside for potentially doing something that repeat offenders actually do without impunity.

What?

Perhaps this is a philosophical difference between Dynamite and Collision that will become more pronounced over subsequent weeks, but what sense does that make? Khan books and is the storyline, mostly offscreen General Manager of each show.

Wrestling bookers tend to book storylines with a very convenient application of their "values" depending on where each programmes needs to go next. This isn't an isolated incident; Jeff Jarrett's stable was sometimes prevented from seconding their members to the ring earlier this year, because Tony Khan presumably knew what they were like, before simply being allowed to come back out the next week.

That's enough. It's time for a steel cage match to prevent outside interference...in this feud and this feud alone, my undercard babyface can get his head kicked off for all I care.

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!