After watching Will Osprey's match against Kyle Fletcher a few weeks ago, the guys are Wrestletalk said something to the effect those two guys had pushed the boundaries of what's possible in pro-wrestling in 2024. For what it's worth, this is what I personally like most about AEW. They not presenting the same old staid, expected crap. They are at least trying to take the art form in a new direction.
We've seen this a ton lately. Whether it's Osprey just doing what he does, or Swerve cutting an extremely uncomfortable promo over another man's child. Hangman using that angle to fuel a moment in which he drinks Swerve's blood. Hell, even something as straightforward as MJF and Adam Cole building the tired, "Can they coexist?" trope into a poignant story of loneliness and male friendship.
We're not seeing this kind of stuff anywhere else.
People talk about AEW not telling stories, but it's hard to argue that this critique is grounded in reality when the competition's "new" idea is bringing back the Attitude Era. Friends, the Attitude Era happened a full quarter-century ago! It was rad, for sure, back in the day. But now it feels tired, if much more professionally presented. Even the "Finish the Story" mega-arc is, at its base, a throwback to a seemingly simpler, more familiar time in wrestling. It exists today mostly as a nostalgia piece, a reminder of what was.
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| I got the idea for this post on my way into the office yesterday. This pic is 125th Street just off the Metro-North Station. |
The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) has a saying: "The game is the product, and the players are the game." The idea, then, is that quality football matters. Folks tune in to see the best players playing at the highest levels. That's the NFL's value proposition. That's why the NFL has to pay their players a relatively large percentage of the League's overall take. It's also why, even when it's clear that there ought to be a market for spring football, new leagues have had trouble getting started.
The players are the game.
Those spring players aren't as good. The games are therefore not as good.
AEW exists along similar lines, and it's for this reason that it makes sense why they would pay their performers more -- or at least a much higher percentage of their overall revenue. AEW's product is wrestling. Without the best wrestlers, AEW doesn't really have a value proposition.
If we think about it, we can see that the WWE operates along completely different lines. As we've seen above, WWE's actual product is its lineage. It's a never-ending throwback to the past. The idea that you can take your kids to see the same things that you enjoyed when you were their age. The performers themselves are immaterial.
No matter who leaves, new folks will debut into those same spots in those same stories, and to paraphrase Triple H after Wrestlemania last year, the story never ends.
This is why every WWE fan thinks that their favorites are suddenly washed when they leave WWE. Their so-called favorites never mattered in the first place. Not as individuals. It's the stories, the legacy, all the fucking nonsense and hoopla associated with the brand itself.
"Then. Now. Together. Forever."
I mean, that's legitimately genius marketing right there.
This very clearly works for a lot of folks, though, as I wrote last week, I find myself wondering how many of those folks "never lettered in shit" back in the day. Not that it matters. Folks are gonna like what they like, and that's fine. I will say, though, that for those of us who care about performers -- and about the game itself -- need something different than all that fucking hoopla.
Maybe there are fewer of us, at least in the pro-wrestling space.
That's okay. I still just like the wrestling.
What's ironic in all of this is that WWE has, in fact, just started rolling out a legitimately new idea with a new presentation. It doesn't speak to me personally, but as a piece of marketing, I can admit that it's absolutely in touch with the modern times in which we find ourselves.
WWE announces that the WWE Speed Tournament starts on April 3. The winner gets the WWE Speed Championship.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) March 27, 2024
3 minute limits, and airs on X
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I liked Dynamite this week, but I don't know that I have anything pithy to say about it. Kind of a lot of video packages for my personal taste, but then, I personally have always prefered Collision. Take that for whatever it's worth.
#AEWCollision returns THIS SATURDAY LIVE at 8/7c on TNT!
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 29, 2024
• AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament Quarterfinals!
- FTR @daxftr @cashwheelerftr vs. The Infantry @shawndean773 @carliebravo
- @starkmanjones @thecazxl vs. @TopFlight612
• TNT Champion @RatedRCope Open Challenge pic.twitter.com/69RBRZEaiF
Have a good Friday, friends, and enjoy the weekend. Happy Easter!
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