How THIS Was AEW’s First Major Mistake

Go back to what you know, take everything REAL slow...

Jon Moxley Jake Hager
AEW

It has been a legendarily awful week for professional wrestling.

Never has the thought of this seemed so appealing, but if you happened to have been living under a rock lately, you may have missed news that Linda McMahon pushed through a company-funded Florida super PAC to keep their shows going live, Jerry Lawler celebrated the risking of his life commentating on Raw by inserting some racism into it, AEW elected to proceed with Double Or Nothing as an empty arena $50 pay-per-view, and WWE fired or furloughed over 50 staff and talent ahead of a investor's call next week where they'll project yet more record figures and the odd $500,000,000 in reserve.

In a time for the world where almost every major live attendance industry and enterprise has ground to an alarming and worrying halt, North American pro wrestling declared itself essential and pushed forth in spite of the worst optics this side of Stephanie McMahon's dismemberment joke less than two months after Crown Jewel 2018.

"The show must go on" has been the message from the beginning, but it feels more like a b*llocking at this than a statement of misguided bravery at this point. Less "sit back and relax" and more "sit there and watch the f*cking telly", Triple H's warm welcome to that first SmackDown of this era has morphed into the message every exhausted parent is relaying to their children at the witching and twitching hour when everybody has just about had enough, thanks very much.

This has been most glaring - and depressing - on Wednesday Nights.

CONT'D...

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett