9 Promises AEW Have Made Since Launching (And HAVE Kept)

3. Fluid Alignments

AEW's first Jacksonville press conference saw Cody promise that the promotion wouldn't "coach fans on how to be fans," adding that the audience would never be asked to boo or cheer certain people against their will, suggesting the promotion wouldn't swim against the tide with specific alignments. Part of this meant operating on a looser face/heel alignment scale than has become the norm over the past few decades and refusing to box performers into certain behaviours.

That doesn't mean that everybody's a tweener, though. Take a guy like PAC. There's no way that 'The Bastard' is anything other than a total villain, though other characters are flexible enough to straddle the line as and when required.

The Young Bucks are the best example of this. While they are understandably received as heroes by the audience, Matt and Nick Jackson's wrestling characters had always had d*ckhead tendencies. They aren't above talking trash, taunting opponents, and behaving like bell-ends, so they do so regularly. This allows them to interact with somebody like Hangman Page without having to worry about being "too heel" or "too face."

The system works. It's a break from the norm but after a 20-year monopoly, anything that blurs the lines without sacrificing storytelling is welcome.