How AEW Got A Five Star Match With NO Fans
Something like this was already in the works just after lockdown; Khan, aware that a deeper reservoir of creativity was required to lift the gloomy no-fans setting, had the idea to promote a Parking Lot Brawl between the Best Friends and the Lucha Bros. It didn't happen - neither Fénix nor Pentagon were available - and it was shelved until AEW's collaborative culture enabled it to happen in the end.
It was felt during lockdown that no match could reach true classic status because every classic match, whether blood-soaked U.S. melodrama or the high-end of puro's master craftsmanship, had one elusive thing in common: the roar of a crowd. Khan had the idea to promote a match that the pop might even diminish, and Santana plotted a tremendous story to arrive at it.
When Sue flipped the bird to the heels, in a now-seminal exclamation mark, the commentary team could only piss themselves laughing as the show faded to black. AEW had achieved something very improbable. They've a knack for doing that.
WWE looked at the looming, empty space and tried to obscure or no-sell it. AEW utilised that glaring, depressing space as a resource, an artist's canvas, with which to deliver four incredible spectacles that would never have happened in the old world.
AEW extracted opportunity from crisis to cement itself as the best and most creative promotion on the planet.