10 Ups & 7 Downs For AEW In 2020 (So Far)

5. Jake The Pest

Jake Roberts
AEW

Jake 'The Snake' Roberts has been a net positive to Lance Archer. 'The Murderhawk Monster' is a functional talker himself, though Jake, craggy voice and all, is one of the greatest of all time and gives his charge's act an injection of genuine evil to compliment his brutishness.

Unfortunately, that evil manifested in the most tasteless way prior to Double Or Nothing. Roberts became a full-on botherer. Resorting to cheap misogyny and simulated sexual harassment, he symbolically dropped a snake on Brandi Rhodes, slithering all over Cody's wife himself, before cutting a copy, outdated "women belong in the kitchen" promo the next week, drawing more eye-rolls than heat.

This stuff absolute sucks. It doesn't garner pro-wrestling animosity in 2020, only genuine animosity, and the distastefulness is more likely to make viewers tune out than tune back in to see the babyface's retribution. It undermined the Archer vs. Cody storyline too, transforming it from one of the best-built matches in wrestling to marred midcard attraction.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.