The Secret Ingredient Behind AEW's Booking Success

This match stealthily built the conflict between MJF and Cody through the use of a fully interactive fictional universe, one that functions to both enrich and delay the biggest marquee matches under AEW's mentality of producing four blockbuster destination pay-per-views per year. The fictional universe generates a sense of animosity between talent and anticipation among fans that is designed to make the wait for the big match unbearable, the atmosphere for it electric.

Back in November, in a derided segment that made far more sense in retrospect, Cody was set upon by the debuting Butcher and Blade, who it transpired were goons hired by MJF in a bid to antagonise Cody into accepting a PPV match with him on his sociopathic terms. MJF selected Cody's partner for a resulting tag team TV match: the runt of the Nightmare Family, QT Marshall, an unremarkable enhancement talent in AEW canon. He entered a glorious over-delivery of a performance in the match itself, earning a bond with the AEW audience that, in turn, earned him a spot in the Nightmare Family onscreen alongside Cody and Dustin Rhodes. In January, MJF cut a promo in which he called Cody a coward for not immediately accepting the Revolution match under his humiliating set of stipulations. One of Cody's close friends, Diamond Dallas Page, interrupted. MJF, aghast at the disrespect, claimed he was going to shag his daughter with a tremendous riff on his old "Bang!" catchphrase.

The match was set for Bash At The Beach, after weeks of elegant cause and effect booking. In a fun outing, in which DDP performed a top rope splash to the outside, MJF stole the pin. He had got one over on Cody's close business associate, his mentor, and his older brother, deepening the personal stakes of the programme without resorting to and giving away direct interaction. If MJF feels like a natural at this, it's not just because he's a prodigy.

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