The One Thing Everybody Gets Wrong About Wrestling

by Michael Sidgwick
MJF Cody
AEW

Chris Jericho looked like such a sadist with his demented, skull-scraping application of the Liontamer that Cody surely would have passed out - but MJF throwing in the towel spared Cody a definitive, stigmatising loss. It was the perfectly balanced finish, one that informed his subsequent blood feud with MJF. He wasn't buried. Omega wasn't buried. Page wasn't buried.

AEW gets a kicking (by bad faith actors looking to gotcha Dave Meltzer on Twitter, truly, a pathetic calling) for an apparent failure to present an alternative product with the marketed sports-oriented feel. This isn't untrue at all; even before AEW created the much-needed levity of Stadium Stampede and embraced a sort of heightened quasi-canon in the wake of the unfolding global health crisis, the early promises of "statistics" and the like never materialised. The win/loss rankings are a helpful visual cue as to who is on form, but they didn't drive the booking, at least exclusively.

But AEW has emulated the most important part of sport: the agony and the ecstasy of the failure and the triumph. To borrow an analogy from that sports-oriented messaging, if AEW is a new "league," there's very little in the way of a mid-table. So don't worry.

Or do worry.

That's the point.

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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 surefire Undisputed WWE Universal 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!