How AEW Has ALREADY Changed Wrestling

Nyla Rose
AEW

Her astonishing, perfectly-timed aerial spots at Fyter Fest and All Out brought the house down, and at the latter event, she held a chaotic match of many moving parts together in what was, in more than one sense of the word, a powerhouse performance. Joey Janela is a violent mad man with a WWE-unfriendly physique. Jungle Boy, in an alternate timeline, is wearing a ‘Property Of The Performance Center’ t-shirt and working matches on the Florida live event loop; in AEW, he is starring as a breakthrough babyface heartthrob in an audacious and creative act.

This new breed of talent is flourishing through AEW’s drive of expression. They aren’t being told how to work, or being told to slow down. If this unregulated creativity drives AEW’s success, we might see a new, more experimental WWE because, thus far, the ‘shook’ industry leader is following.

AEW has also created jobs for excommunicated offscreen personnel deemed too old or too irrelevant to feature on or behind WWE television. WWE phased out Jim Ross for being too old; AEW in contrast signed him for his experience and welcoming familiarity. WWE in part promoted Paul Heyman in response to AEW’s rise to prominence. WWE attempted to sign Tony Schiavone purely because AEW had shown interest. This is largely driven by spite, but it’s no less welcome: making real money in wrestling in 2019 is no longer contingent on looking the part through the old WWE metrics.

Nor sounding the part.

CONT'D...(4 of 5)

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Contributor
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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!