10 Ways AEW Is Better Than WWE
9. Creating Stars
This is the most important aspect of the game.
Consider the respective arcs of Wardlow and Wheeler YUTA - the latest big projects that AEW hopes will follow in the footsteps of proven quarter-hour ratings draws Dr. Britt Baker, MJF, Darby Allin and Jade Cargill.
Patterned after the Batista arc, Wardlow is incredibly over as the good-natured ambitious badass pushed too far by his evil puppet-master. Fans gravitated towards him because he's a towering sh*t-kicker, and they're besotted with him now because he displays more resolve, smarts and beautiful violence with each passing week.
YUTA meanwhile entered 2022 as a technically gifted prospect nonetheless positioned to eat pins and enable the stars to build their win/loss records. In April, he has embraced violence as the newest member of the Blackpool Combat Club. This nestles alongside AEW's greatest achievements; creating a star is the most difficult challenge facing any booker, and Khan just completed a speed run. Assisted by the ingenious work of Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, YUTA's offence was distributed very carefully across his various matches opposite his future stablemates, and they knew exactly how much to give him. YUTA's babyface fire is magic, and Mox and Danielson are masters who told him exactly when to cast it.
Wardlow and YUTA are both completely different characters. AEW fans know to invest in any act, irrespective of the promoter's preference, provided they get behind them.
Vince McMahon meanwhile slaps Theory in the face and, on occasion, actually plays to a performer's strengths, even if they aren't leviathans. And it only took Chad Gable six years to get over!
AEW's superior ability to create stars (for their own audience) is largely enabled by...