8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Nov 30 - Review)
3. Yes, AEW Shows DO Flow Together
This angle wasn't just sensational on its own terms.
Apparently, AEW's TV shows suffer from a lack of flow. The shows "do not connect", according to WWE Producer 'Road Dogg' Brian James. This is primarily because AEW operates within a sports-oriented narrative framework, as part of which the matches are meant to exist as fixtures for the sole purpose of determining challengers for little things called "championships" before heated conflicts emerge.
Things aren't meant to necessarily "flow" in the context of a professional wrestling show, but when the occasion demands, storylines should overlap. The dovetailing across the Jon Moxley and William Regal storylines was deft. Mox, uncontrollable, had to be ejected from the arena. AEW needed a logical reason to get him away, otherwise, he wouldn't be the picture of integrity that he is. This means of removing him from Regal's orbit also happened to be a red-hot way to build an emotionally charged rematch in and of itself.
This was supreme narrative elegance on the part of Tony Khan, who, now that he doesn't have several crises to manage for the first time since June, incredibly, is on trademark deep-thinking form as a booker. This was a significantly better method of "connecting" stories than a match going to a numbing non-finish leading to an impromptu tag. That isn't flow.
That's sh*t.