How THIS Was AEW’s First Major Mistake

AEW being the "babyface brand" was the easy bit - they were going up against the Ravishing Rick Rude of companies. WWE will always be the heel because they've proven wholly unconvincing as the good guys every time they've tried over the last five decades. The die is deservedly cast, even if you're able to forget when one of their better angles, matches or characters gets under your skin.

Protecting the integrity of the show (the name, even, "All Elite" is a term that should always mean something) drove booking changes and must continue to do so.

The Nightmare Collective was an idea borne of pro wrestling nepotism and an earnest want for some friends, family and former favourites to get their sh*t in. They sure managed that alright - the stable remains the shorthand for the company's worst excesses from its maiden annum. Only slightly better was and is The Dark Order - a concept twice rebooted with no certain happy ending currently in sight. The Women's Division went from counter-intuitive to insulting, before ironically only showing signs of life while the empty arenas left the atmosphere dead.

It's an imperfect balance proving why no pro wrestling can or should be perfect, but customers are happier more often than not and TNT made the subjective objective with a moneyed extension of their television deal in early 2020. The dumb choices above were just that - nothing that couldn't be rectified.

Jake Hager has become the rule-proving exception.

CONT'D...