7 Promises AEW Have Made Since Launching (But Haven't Kept)
An objective audit of AEW's year-one promises.
AEW President Tony Khan was interviewed on Talk Is Jericho in February 2019. Little over a month after his promotion's launch press conference in Jacksonville, Florida, the lifelong wrestling fan outlined a vision for AEW's future built on honesty and integrity, saying he wanted the company to be known for delivering on its promises. He wanted to be able to say that he never lied to anybody.
Through Khan, The Elite, and other company representatives, AEW made a lot of promises in 2019. Now is a fair time to judge how successful they've been in delivering on them. Yes, this is still a young company, but 17 episodes of Dynamite and five pay-per-views is enough of a sample size to gauge how honest they've been throughout their first year.
Building trust with the audience is critical. Fans need to know that the time and effort put into following a promotion isn't going to waste. Khan, to his credit, recognises this, but while AEW has been successful in fulfilling boatloads of early promises, they've been found wanting in other departments.
This honest appraisal of AEW's year-one vows will be conducted as objectively as possible. Let's do it.
7. Oriental Wrestling Entertainment
AEW's 8 January 2019 press conference saw the promotion's Executive Vice Presidents make several promises relating to working with other promotions, one of which came from Matt Jackson. "I have some friends in China, these guys are doing some of the most gifted wrestling moves I've seen in my life," he said, confirming a link with the emergent Oriental Wrestling Entertainment, adding that the fans were going to fall in love with them.
Dragon Gate legend CIMA and his #STRONGHEARTS stable were brought up. This is the one part of the promise AEW has lived up to, with CIMA, El Lindaman, T-Hawk making semi-regular undercard appearances.
Still, we are yet to see a single OWE wrestler. Not one native talent from that promotion has appeared on AEW television yet. On the other hand, a number of AEW wrestlers (including SoCal Uncensored and Kenny Omega) have crossed over to appear on OWE shows. The working relationship does exist and with CIMA a key figure in the Chinese promotion's growth, it could still be expanded on - but how can AEW fans love wrestlers they've literally never seen?