Triple H's WWE Vs. Tony Khan's AEW: Which Is Better?
1. Storytelling
In the battle of the two best or most acclaimed stories of the year, CM Punk Vs. MJF edges out the Bloodline saga.
Firstly, it was better. This is subjective, as most of the list is, but great long-term storytelling knows where it's going and reaches an incredibly emotive conclusion. Punk and MJF knew where they were going - on a fascinating journey that transcended the heft of North American TV wrestling as a morality play - and the spurned handshake that started it all, a nonchalant move at the time, was emotionally devastating in retrospect. Alongside the Kenny Omega and Hangman Page saga, it was the closest wrestling has orbited prestige drama ever. "Be my Valentine," Jesus Christ. Even the minor beats of the trash talk meant something in the end.
The Bloodline saga while brilliantly performed is advanced through misunderstandings that could be easily resolved if the players simply watched the TV shows. They don't, because WWE, fundamentally illogical, is a bad, ill-fitting mash-up of live broadcast sport and drama series in which the performers somehow do and don't know they are being filmed at the same time.
Elsewhere, WWE doesn't really tell intricate, twisting, overlapping stories. What Triple H tends to do is establish a premise, have the performers regurgitate that premise, and then the last match happens. What has Damage CTRL Vs. Their Babyface Rivals actually achieved?
"We're taking back control of the division / "No you aren't" for about four months.
Tony Khan hasn't had his best year, but he booked the best programme of it and is really cooking of late. Consider the overlap between the Full Gear main event and Eliminator tournament; while both developments converged to book a great TV match, the drama and intrigue was deepened to keep fans guessing. Khan subverted his bad habit of telegraphing outcomes with a superb red herring; having Ethan Page as the favourite, while MJF teased a face turn, meant that a match between those two was a viable possibility - but it in fact deftly obscured the more popular outcome of MJF Vs. Ricky Starks.
Winner: AEW