10 Ways AEW Has Revolutionised Pro Wrestling
1. Getting Stipulations Over
Stipulations meant nothing in mainstream pro wrestling for a long, long time.
Through excess and diminished aura, the Hell In A Cell match has lost its prestige. There is an inorganic quality to its scheduling, and the modern version pales to the - yes - blood and guts of yore. The Steel Cage match is a logic-devoid ratings grab. WWE continues to excel at Ladder matches, but they are no longer the star vehicle that saw Shawn Michaels, Edge and Jeff Hardy literally ascend to stardom. Generally, the gimmick match is obligatory. The build is rarely organic; it's just something WWE does, whether it aligns with the intensity of or interest in a programme, when the singles match has already happened. It's a hollow if not unexciting ratings facilitator booked by a calendar.
The next time AEW promotes a Lights Out match, it will be anticipated with a certain, uneasy dread. Jon Moxley Vs. Kenny Omega was a pulsating, frightening spectacle - all the more impressive, given how much more of it was worked than met the eye - so much so that the stip, initially received as a strange, antiquated territory throwback, now feels genuinely dangerous, as a violent pro wrestling match should.
AEW taught WWE a lesson with its first-ever Steel Cage match, which got over huge in one night. It was built as a match Cody had to survive, not wrestle, and was worked as if there were no escape from the challenge. He had to fight, smart and hard, and climbed only to take the ultimate risk.
No escape, no cowardice, no bullsh*t - all meaning.