It's Official: A New Era Is Under Way In AEW
Title shots are rather easy to come by in AEW these days.
Contrast Darby Allin, Wardlow, and the general state of the TNT title picture. Darby Vs. Cody Rhodes at Full Gear 2020 felt like a massive deal, one of the biggest midcard matches of recent memory. It was the apex of Darby's Kenta Kobashi-esque arc, and the match was close to Kobashi's elusive 2003 title win over Mitsuharu Misawa. The match wasn't as big or as good, to be clear, but parallels can be drawn. Darby was agonisingly close to toppling Cody for over a year. It's no coincidence whatsoever that, when he did, his subsequent reign was amongst the most successful in the history of the title. Now that Orange Cassidy's International title has supplanted the TNT title as the more over prize for which open challenges are set, that TNT title is now directionless and without prestige. Wardlow has a strange hold over it, as if AEW has sneakily inserted an automatic rematch clause into its storytelling, and Wardlow is lukewarm. This might be because he appears entitled, like he hasn't put in the work. Because title shots are easy to come by.
Because AEW has over the last 18 months slowly lost sight of itself.
Jeff Jarrett's gang of d*ckheads have provided tremendous entertainment over the last several months, and have been booked in several awesome angles that differentiate AEW from WWE's promo-heavy approach, but they too have rendered Khan's 2021 comments somewhat hypocritical. It's easy for Jarrett to get a title shot. He beats people up, who then offer to put the titles on the line, or he beats a tag team champion in a singles match. This is WWE booking. The knowing, overbooked TNA tribute has elevated his angles, but on a fundamental level, the AEW tag team division is much too like WWE. Or every North American promotion ever. It's mad, and bleak, how it always ends up like this.
Speaking to X-Pac on his old 1-2-3-60 podcast in 2019, Tony Khan told him: "Wrestling hasn’t been taken seriously as the true athletic competition it is...I feel wins and losses are a huge part of the equation. I really want a win and a loss to be taken seriously. The win-loss record should be a huge component of the competition to build up to the championship."
Consider recent match results pertaining one Matt Hardy.
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