Post by Angusdacat on Sept 7, 2022 14:36:45 GMT -5
As easy as it is to put the blame on one person (or 3) for AEW's decline, this destruction would have been manageable if it had a sturdy foundation.
When AEW began, one of its biggest appeals was having wrestling that mattered. Dozens of young, scrappy, and fresh talent battled it out with reinvented stars from yesteryear to advance through the rankings and earn opportunities that they couldn't afford to squander.
Because of this, every match had stakes. This wasn't the WWE where you could lose 4 matches in a row and still get a title shot all because you interrupted the champions promo. There were clear winners and losers; the winners had to hold on to momentum and the losers had to learn and adapt progress.
Because of this everyone had a story, a reason to be here and a reason to fight.
Where did it all go?
This isn't a brand new thing, nor did it start when Punk entered the company. It started around the time Cody and the other EVP's had their falling out. We'll never know if the "sports based product" was purely a Cody Rhodes thing or not, but the AEW Dark win-padding began around this time, and after Cody left we began to constantly see the WWE formula of *Champ cuts a promo* *person interrupts* *person gets title shot*
When it becomes a running gag that the 1# contenders never get title shots; when wrestlers challenge for every belt in the company but lose every television match; when feuds start and end with no direction or future; when you look at 80% of the roster and constantly have to ask yourself "what is your goal here?"; and when a world champion offers a title shot at the company's biggest PPV and not a single member of the roster claims it? Then you have a problem.
So what's my point? My point is, even if you fired every single person involved with drama, AEW would still have a tremendous company... if they still followed their initial mission statement. Because no matter how many divas you lose, there would have always been hungry challengers.
When AEW began, one of its biggest appeals was having wrestling that mattered. Dozens of young, scrappy, and fresh talent battled it out with reinvented stars from yesteryear to advance through the rankings and earn opportunities that they couldn't afford to squander.
Because of this, every match had stakes. This wasn't the WWE where you could lose 4 matches in a row and still get a title shot all because you interrupted the champions promo. There were clear winners and losers; the winners had to hold on to momentum and the losers had to learn and adapt progress.
Because of this everyone had a story, a reason to be here and a reason to fight.
Where did it all go?
This isn't a brand new thing, nor did it start when Punk entered the company. It started around the time Cody and the other EVP's had their falling out. We'll never know if the "sports based product" was purely a Cody Rhodes thing or not, but the AEW Dark win-padding began around this time, and after Cody left we began to constantly see the WWE formula of *Champ cuts a promo* *person interrupts* *person gets title shot*
When it becomes a running gag that the 1# contenders never get title shots; when wrestlers challenge for every belt in the company but lose every television match; when feuds start and end with no direction or future; when you look at 80% of the roster and constantly have to ask yourself "what is your goal here?"; and when a world champion offers a title shot at the company's biggest PPV and not a single member of the roster claims it? Then you have a problem.
So what's my point? My point is, even if you fired every single person involved with drama, AEW would still have a tremendous company... if they still followed their initial mission statement. Because no matter how many divas you lose, there would have always been hungry challengers.
