5 Key Focus Areas For AEW Dynamite Year 2

The AEW roster page on Wikipedia currently lists 83 wrestlers contracted to the company. Discounting a handful of developmental talents like Austin Gunn and those that have been unable to perform in recent months like PAC, and you’re left with around 70 individuals jostling for space on a two-hour show (that is closer to ninety minutes with commercials). WWE has 54 wrestlers assigned to the Raw brand by contrast, which has 50% more airtime.

AEW’s solution for this thus far has been the creation of a large number of stables and tag teams. Almost everybody without a singles storyline is incorporated into a group one, which is an effective solution, but one that becomes more and more fragile as potential matchups are exhausted and the roster continues to expand, requiring more and more individuals to be featured in some capacity.

Mimicking WWE and going overboard on content by producing a second show or expanding Dynamite to three hours isn’t the answer, nor is a regular cut to keep the roster at a set level. Looking back to the old way of doing things in NXT might be more worthwhile. Major players were only featured on one or two of the four episodes that were taped at a time, which alternated focus on different storylines each week rather than trying to cram them all in.

Regardless of strategy, avoiding the pitfalls of having swathes of hugely talented performers getting lost in the shuffle is of paramount importance going forwards.