10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (Jan 18)

7. AEW's Booking Style Will Be Influenced By 1980s WWF

When All Elite Wrestling produces its first show this May (Double Or Nothing in Las Vegas), most expect the in-ring work will be fast-paced and follow modern indy styles. Literally nobody would be expecting it to seek influence from a time when 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan and The Bushwhackers were running amok.

According to Cody, it will. Sort of.

He told ESPN that AEW would have the same flavour as the WWF did towards the tail end of the 80s. No, he doesn't mean characters like Hacksaw, Luke or Butch will be smacking others with planks or wood or licking faces, he means All Elite will let the performers be themselves without micromanagement. That, to Cody, was the beauty of that era.

Instead of hyper-analysing every single detail of a wrestler's act, AEW management will let them fly free and show faith in their abilities to create. This is a wonderful way of looking at things, and it's nice to know AEW will resist something that's become a widespread issue in WWE over the past decade or so.