14 Ups & 4 Downs For AEW In 2020

Downs...

4. Matt Hardy's Run

Matt Hardy AEW
AEW

AEW is the self-styled buffet of professional wrestling, but Matt Hardy and his BROKEN universe has always felt incongruous to it. AEW promised a variety of disciplines presented under a meaningful sports-adjacent framework captured with an acknowledged camera. You get lucha libre. You get the best of the hybrid modern style. You get blood, guts, and brawling.

You get the full professional wrestling on TV experience: great promos, great angles, great matches, great hooks.

Hardy's heightened gimmickry feels less like a classic staple WWE abandoned, and more like a passé trend that felt far more ancient than the Dog Collar and the whip-lashing because the BROKEN Universe is not timeless.

Even when not visited by disaster, Hardy's in-ring suffered. He worked a dud with Santana and only approached the gentleman's three with Sammy Guevara. The run wasn't an unqualified disaster - Hardy was terrific value in the build towards and at Double Or Nothing itself - but the character was untenable (and unwanted) in this context.

But, as you'll read, Hardy has recovered - and that Up has more weight than this Down...

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!