How WWE Should Debut The Elite
Who could even seriously considered the timeline posited by the title of this article four years ago?
Kenny Omega, Hangman Page and The Young Bucks (alongside Cody Rhodes) were at the forefront of a revolution when All Elite Wrestling burst into life in 2019, with four of the key five taking Executive Vice President tags as well as working double duty as full time professional wrestlers. Inarguably the most important quintet alongside crucial outside force Chris Jericho when the product launched, the group drove forward an ethos and an idea that something else - a touring indie brand, a new Number Two in the North American mainstream, something else - was viable. Tony Khan was the man with the money and connections to make the dream a reality, but there'd been enough evidence for years from the key players that they'd already put foundational pillars in place.
As members of Bullet Club across New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring Of Honor an the world's independents, the Jacksons, Omega, Rhodes and Page had managed to get merchandise into Hot Topic whilst transcending traveling wrestlers sales by constantly releasing new clobber via ProWrestlingTees. They worked everywhere, but threaded their matches and angles together via Being The Elite on YouTube and putting their own work above everything else on the shows they appeared on. Not that it wasn't to each booker's benefit - The Elite drew the house whenever they were in town, becoming must-see acts whether they had storyline ties to the territories or not.
They flouted conventions over and over again, but as the bigger picture started to form around 2018's historic and integral All In pay-per-view in Chicago, they were proven shrewd in doing so. Four years on, and could the only remaining unconventional move be to tackle the market leader's convention head on?
Per all the usual places, very possibly.
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