How AEW Has Actually Answered Its Biggest Complaint

Orange Cassidy
AEW

The camera isn't invisible, and several measures are taken to address that.

Most every promo segment is framed outwardly as a way to promote a match, not to set one up for later that night, which is crucial in deepening that sense of immersion; time, like so much else, is accounted for. Not once have AEW forced its audience to ask what would be happening, if Wrestler X didn't happen to interrupt Wrestler Y. Wrestling is showbiz, and the showbiz in AEW is coherent.

Orange Cassidy is emblematic of the "But I wanted real sports!" criticism, and he bats it away. Not once has he interfered with the fabric of traditional pro wrestling kayfabe in AEW; the magic of Orange Cassidy - and if you don't like it, fine, but to fail to understand him is your problem, not AEW's - is that he's among the most strategic and skilled pro wrestlers in the fiction of it. He out-wrestled Cody on the mat during last week's 20 minute draw - another facet, incidentally, of - yes! - AEW's sporting presentation. But ultimately, all of this was never about "sports". It was about creating a better pro wrestling company. For a growing number of people, that is all that matters.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, Ring Of Honor is currently promoting, free of charge, the strictest emulation of wrestling-as-sport through its Pure Title tournament - and it's very, very good.

It's everything these mutants claim to want to watch, and it's incredibly telling that they aren't doing so.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!