The Secret Weapon AEW Holds Over WWE

SoCal Uncensored Ricky Havlik
AEW (Ricky Havlik)

Talents afforded the agency to connect, unforgettably, with the crowd; the manifest promise of long-term storytelling; the proper treatment of tag team wrestling; a thrilling and incredible throwback to the days of talent jumping; unregulated comedic creativity that, at the very least, marked AEW as an alternative: all of this converged to make AEW’s various promises an awesome, manifest reality.

AEW holds the cards. The Royal Flush, the potential game-changer, is the sheer tonal range of Double Or Nothing’s epic five-hour runtime.

Double Or Nothing wasn’t the best pro wrestling show of 2019, gauging by online consensus. That distinction still belongs to NXT TakeOver: New York. Double Or Nothing, however, was by some distance the easiest show of this super-served era of pro wrestling to take in.

WWE is an endurance test in these George Barrios years. The marathon run-times of the pay-per-views are not helped by the sequencing problem, in which countless would-be great matches are lost to fatigue, and yet more midcard attractions are lost entirely. The matches themselves are largely patterned in structure—the heat spot is predictable often to the second—and the limited move-sets do not help the homogeny, nor does WWE’s apathetic, token approach to tag team wrestling. At best, WWE is over-familiar in its presentation. At worst, the company is such an abject joke that it spawned the very beast that challenges it now.

In contrast, Double Or Nothing celebrated the diverse and colourful fabric of pro wrestling at large.

The Casino Battle Royale incorporated the niche comedy that has revolutionised the Independent scene, which has long evolved from its delineated days as the ultra-violent or technical alternative. The opening match proper, SoCal Uncensored Vs. Strong Hearts, folded in the classic drama of American tag wrestling with CIMA’s influential puro-lucha impulses. Britt Baker’s Fatal 4-Way victory over Kylie Ray, Nyla Rose and Awesome Kong maintained interest, particularly through Ray’s eye-catching, fierce feminine spirit.

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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!