It's Official: AEW Is As Good As WWE Is As Bad

The Miz Money In The Bank Drew McIntyre
WWE.com

If you invested in Darby Allin when AEW first gently encouraged you to, you will have formed a connection with that character. Ditto Jungle Boy. When Dr. Britt Baker didn't get over as a face, she wasn't vanished; AEW reassessed her strengths and turned her heel. If you're into Damian Priest, good luck. You were probably into *loads up Wayback Machine for full WWE dot com NXT roster of 2017* for a while there, and were cruelly punished.

Women's wrestling is the one counterargument put forward in halfway good faith, but look at the absolute state of RAW. Look at the fact that ratings-generator Rhea Ripley is in purgatory between an NXT that buried her and a main roster that doesn't know where to put her. Look at that placeholder of an NXT Women's Title match at TakeOver: Vengeance Day, the worst pun ever, incidentally, and the fact that every Io Shirai programme revolves around a random beat-down or pre-taped challenge. WWE and NXT are more committed to equality - that can't be denied - but increasingly, the booking very much can.

Promos are objective as it gets, Jesus Christ. You are faced with two rather stark options: expressive, threatening badass spiels or lame unfunny scripted bullsh*t interspersed with the f*cking Miz saying cor-rect.

AEW isn't perfect - several programmes are dragging on the slow road to Revolution - but it remains as good as WWE is bad. Again: it exists precisely because WWE is so bad that it relinquished its monopoly to arrive at this point.

CONT'D...(5 of 6)

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Contributor
Contributor

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!