If WWE Was Being Honest About AEW

Ricky Starks Darby Allin Brian Cage
AEW

AEW did not book Darby Allin Vs. Ricky Starks in various matches eight times in five months.

Allin Vs. Starks, a midcard programme that didn't need to be preserved to sell a pay-per-view, was preserved, nonetheless, to deepen fan investment in it. It's part of AEW's old school promotion mentality. Tony Khan essentially booked this week's superb Dynamite opener five minutes after seeing Starks in action all the way back on June 11. He correctly (and inspiredly) looked at the skeevy, unhinged Darby Allin as the ideal opponent for Starks' pure wrestling style and glamorous persona. To build the heat after two early, very violent and very short encounters (an in-ring beatdown and a deranged angle-cum-match), Starks dressed as Allin to take the piss out of him in wryly amusing promos.

Receipts; shredded backs; powder keg moments of furious brawling: a very strong and patient build erupted in a superb, adrenalised match so pregnant with hatred that Starks, lying pained on the mat, used the only energy he had left after a kick-out to petulantly kick Allin away from him. Every second created an illusion of mutual disgust, but the slow build functioned to cast this just as much as the phenomenal work: what drives anticipation for the viewer masquerades as rising tension between the workers.

If you want people to watch the match at a cost of £9.99, don't air it for free. Ronald McDonald doesn't give out hamburgers on the closest road to the drive-thru window because Ronald McDonald gets his seven hours and doesn't have brain worms. Make them want to watch it by teasing glimpses of the physical chemistry, establishing a grudge, and making you feel something one way or the other for the performers involved. It's honestly outrageous that this should need to be explained as analysis of a wrestling promotion, much less the richest. If Vince McMahon has forgotten more about promoting pro wrestling than a snarky critic will ever learn, in 2020, he shows no signs of ever remembering.

CONT'D...(4 of 6)

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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!