10 Ups & 7 Downs For AEW In 2020 (So Far)
AEW is still working on changing the world, though the industry is better for having them.
As with the WWE edition of this column, only AEW's creative output will be considered here. It's unfair to rip on the promotion for factors outwith its control, such as the restrictions imposed by the ongoing global health crisis, so those and other behind-the-scenes matters are best discussed elsewhere.
AEW's half-year has veered back and forth in terms of quality. The promotion audaciously left viewers hanging for two weeks after the universally-panned Dark Order angle of 18 December, leaving themselves with much goodwill to recover as 2019 rolled into 2020. They did so through January and beyond, building to the celebrated Revolution with a masterful run of episodic weekly television before the global health crisis caused a nosedive. Just 30% of AEW's roster was available to them for their first few Empty Arena Era tapings. Things got drab without the likes of The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, and Nyla Rose, but Dynamite is swinging once more - at least creatively. Television ratings remain in the toilet across the board.
It'll take a while longer than we want it to, but things will get back to normal eventually. Here's hoping AEW spends the rest of 2020 adding more Ups than Downs until then...
Let's light the fuse...