The Secret Genius Behind AEW’s Talent Roster
In any legitimate sporting enterprise, to which AEW aspires, there exists an average team, an average player. 50/50 booking is both inevitable and realistic, as well as necessary to create balance—provided it doesn’t weirdly infiltrate all areas of programming.
Christopher Daniels is a wily veteran presence with a body that has seen better days; he has the tricks to defeat the young guard, but lacks the durability to hang with them consistently. His is a credible scalp to claim for an act such as MJF—a major win to drive his ascension to the main event.
50/50 booking, in this specific example, is consistent with Daniels’ act and age. Likewise CIMA. The Dragon Gate legend’s compatriot Michael Nakazawa, meanwhile, is a literally slippy proposition, one who is clever enough to win—but who lacks the serious disposition required to do so at the main event level.
This mix, of the refined veterans and the raw rookies, is reflected in a tag team division bookended by the Young Bucks and their Private Party disciples—though the Women’s division, at this early stage, feels more like a marketing necessity, in truth.
Much was made of AEW’s “wins and losses matter” M.O.—and whether or not it is tenable. AEW’s deceptively ingenious talent roster makes it so.
The battlefield incorporates the youngest of emerging talents and the most established of veterans, the gulf between which allows for in-built win/loss logic. If the veteran wins, the emerging talent is made, provided they show sufficient endeavour in the first showing, and tactical improvement in the battles to come. The aura and legitimacy of the veterans, meanwhile, is reinforced in victory, shaping the complexion—and legitimacy—of the company’s main event picture in the short-term. And, when this is all subverted in the years to come, as the main event picture evolves, the triumph will resonate all the more. The audience will, through statistics, know precisely just how hard they worked to ascend.
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