The Secret Stat Behind Why AEW Matches Mean More

None of this is to say that AEW is revolutionising the sport by shunning such finishes, which would be an absurd statement. The stance is a product of Khan's influences. A self-confessed wrestling obsessive, he grew up on Memphis, Mid-South, and All Japan, and shares Cody's fondness for Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-Atlantic, and WCW. Across the Pacific, NJPW is currently experiencing the most successful business period in its history with a product that almost never yields disqualifications or countouts.

WWE's audience is conditioned to receive these finishes as normal. Defenders will say they "protect" those on the losing end by not taking a conclusive fall, preserving a cleaner conclusion for a bigger payoff later down the line. This is rarely the case. Keith Lee looked great in defeating Randy Orton in less than seven minutes at Payback 2020 but has gained nothing from three inconclusives in six main roster matches. Whatever rub he got after defeating 'The Legend Killer' has been undone by a supposedly 'Limitless' wrestler becoming a peripheral figure in somebody else's story, rather than the protagonist in his own.

Merely existing in the same space as Orton and Drew McIntyre does not constitute a rub; winning, conclusively, does.

Disqualifications, countouts, and other such shenanigans aren't inherently bad. They can be used to good effect, but not with the frequency WWE employs them. Spamming them relentlessly has created a copout-heavy product that prevents fans from tuning in in good faith, knowing, for example, that when Lee is booked to face McIntyre on Raw, it there won't be a winner or loser. "Neither of them can afford to lose," apparently.

It is a tired, raisin-balled practice that creates a universe in with nothing truly matters, when winning and losing should be everything to a professional combat sports athlete, whether their realm is scripted or otherwise.

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