15 Misconceptions About AEW You Probably Believe
6. “The Matches Are Too Choreographed And Rely On Finisher Kick-Outs”
Once again: this is an industry-wide problem that has taken root forever, almost imperceptibly.
In what has now resulted in a total overcorrection, great matches were a rare treat on U.S. TV a decade ago. The talent - and eventually, the bookers - spotted an opportunity to fill the gap by working or promoting matches with the explicit purpose of high quality.
Meanwhile, the tape-trading wrestlers all drew influence from the same sources. The moves, the style, the rhythm: so much is homogenised and overlong. Who’s better, who’s winning, who do I even want to win: most of the time, another move happens to further smash those thoughts out of your brain.
AEW is a major offender; it is after all ‘Where The Best Wrestle’. Compounding the above points, the pro wrestler through biological design is a thin-skinned creature. They’re going to try and impress you, and, because they think you’re a dumb huge mark, they’ll often do this by spamming signatures down the stretch. We’ve collectively ended up at a point where it’s difficult to remember what a match looked like without a constant, grabby barrage of near-falls. This “misconception” is actually true - but how is it an AEW thing?
In this latest WWE run, CM Punk has kicked out of finishers more often than he has heard crickets for anti-AEW jokes nobody in the crowd understands. And he’s meant to be the understated purist! He’s meant to be the wise veteran ready to impart the less-is-more approach to the young kids in NXT!
In 2025, Punk almost exclusively trades in the sort of match that a WWE fan invents to mock AEW.