12 Exact Moments AEW Booking Stopped Making Sense
3. The Blackpool Combat Club, General (August 23, 2023)
The Blackpool Combat Club seemed like a winning idea.
Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley drafting in Wheeler YUTA (and perhaps others) to reshape AEW in their own violent image? While continuing to escalate their now very bloody, stiff matches? Before inevitably feuding with and elevating their proteges? Sounds great!
No, not great.
It was more an identity, a “lifestyle”, than a faction - or, less generously, an excuse for Mox and Danielson to indulge their tough guy leanings. When they actually did engage in stable warfare, the results were underwhelming. They feuded over concepts in emotionless sagas. They defended the art of wrestling against the evils of sports entertainment versus the Jericho Appreciation Society in 2022, which, without any believable hatred, dragged on and on. Against the Elite a year later, there was lots of vague, unengaging chat about “professionalism” amid the usual Anarchy In The Arena and Blood & Guts faction feud template.
Mox barely cut promos throughout this run, preferring instead to mow down midcard opposition in increasingly random and pointless matches. This moody tweener role made for such bland television.
This was a foolish use of the man, and things got plain dumb narratively the longer it went.
By August 2023, with CM Punk’s exit causing several migraines, the BCC played heels against career rivals Best Friends and the Lucha Bros. (!) as Danielson played face against Ricky Starks.
At the exact same time.
The matches were outstanding, the booking made zero sense. Everything the grifters spout about AEW was sadly true during that dumbass summer.