THIS Was The Most Genius Wrestling Angle In Modern History
At the climax of a fabulous Young Bucks Vs. SCU sprint, the Dark Order entered the ring. Evil Uno reached into the throat of Matt Jackson, with palpably fake blood over his hands, and said, reading the room about as well as the competition AEW were so quick to banter off, "You'll never doubt us again". Kenny Omega, Cody and Dustin Rhodes appeared to make the save. All were battered - by enhancement talents in cheap masks trained to work punches by Shane McMahon - in what was a suitable, humiliating visual metaphor for how far this closing segment literally missed the mark. In the case of Omega, it was closer to Steve Austin taking a kicking from the Brood than it wasn't.
AEW President Tony Khan, in a series of since-deleted tweets summarised by Voices of Wrestling, provided a fascinating glimpse into a creative restructuring process over the Christmas period. After much "soul-searching," Khan took full editorial control of the booking. He remained receptive to ideas, in what continued to be a collaboration, but tethered everything together and demanded final say.
The Homecoming show was massive.
In a very rare strategic misfire - WWE is, if nothing else, exceptional at being cunning - they didn't run an NXT show on New Year's Day. That night's Dynamite ran unopposed. After a defeat to NXT in the overall viewership ratings and, for the first time, the 18-49 demo on December 18, this represented a major opportunity to both reclaim a divided audience and restore its image. The fake blood and hokey presentation of December 18 was only a surface issue; the angle lowered the Elite to the Dark Order's painfully midcard level, which was the opposite of its intention. This followed several high-profile defeats suffered by Cody, Omega, the Young Bucks and Hangman Page. To many, the talent that was so bright with star power that they made AEW remotely viable in the first instance were no longer stars.
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