How THIS Was AEW’s First Major Mistake

With the midweek night selected as the best spot for All Elite Wrestling's brand new show, WWE cynically counter-programmed it with its third brand in an effort to marginalise it as a tertiary concern. This failed out of the gate when the black-and-gold brand was crushed in early head-to-heads, but also added a welcome early edge to both shows.

There was a sense (as, to be fair, there always should be) that these shows needed to be great. Viewers finally had a sense of control again, in the form of their remotes and later their wallets. TakeOver gate figures could suddenly be pitched against those sold-out AEW pay-per-views. ProWrestlingTees designs went up against ones with #FTMF splashed across the back. It was easy to label this a wrestling war, but the reality was that fans felt as though they could all win again.

The ratings dropping on Thursday presented the opportunity for competitive fires to rage, but they often followed a day of utter euphoria discussing what had gone down on the show the night before. The best storylines, the favourite matches, the coolest characters. These are the discussions that permeate wrestling discourse when the product is operating at a peak - there's less need for analysing the inner mechanisms when the outer machine functions. 2019's main roster was at times shambolic, but this was merely an element of the thing we all loved, not the only thing. Two mainstream networks proved it every Wednesday.

2020 has sadly returned the background into focus.

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