14 Ups & 4 Downs For AEW In 2020

12. The Unbelievable Heft Of The Elite Saga

The Elite
AEW/Lee South

Following Winter Is Coming, every original member of the Elite held World Title gold.

This was the dream, and in fact the fully realised answer to the question with which a rebooted AEW began the year: for the men who changed professional wrestling to dominate it. That this development unfolded in parallel with Dynamite defeating all three hours of WWE Monday Night RAW was as poetic as it was evidence - even proof - of every breath of praise directed towards them.

But Kenny Omega, Hangman Page and the Young Bucks are the masters of details-rich, episodic storytelling. This eventual triumph arrived at a cost. The quest for redemption mutated the dynamic and created a path towards another full year of unprecedented pro wrestling storytelling.

FTR shattered a splintering unit by manipulating Hangman Page with a sinister, savvy friendship ploy: the alcohol that always disgusted his teetotal friends. The Bucks struggled between jealousy and vicarious joy at Page's World Tag Team Title triumph, pulling further at the thread. Eventually, following the events of All Out, a betrayed Omega snapped it entirely to become the Ace. But Page didn't turn heel. He's not a bad man. There was no cartoonish binary to any of this.

He is a flawed man plagued by anxiety and self-doubt - that's why he slapped in for the hot tag at the finish, he was never interested in glory, only validation - but that wasn't enough to subdue the growing megalomania within the Cleaner. He was now so desperate to overcompensate that his collector persona is separating him from the Bucks.

To arrive at these respective points in AEW's core overarching story - while dovetailing between so many intriguing developments, like Jon Moxley's attacker, Page joining the Dark Order, the Bucks being challenged by so many emerging new disciples - is a level of epic, expansive storytelling no other wrestling promotion has ever achieved. The Elite are pioneers of the business.

The creative, too, will shape the complexion of the future.

Advertisement
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!