Greetings. I’ve been beseeched with queries from my readers what my take was regarding my brother Bret’s surprise appearance at the recent AEW “Double or Nothing” event.
Like most of you, I was surprised to see The Hitman show up at a non- WWE gig, but since WWE didn’t appear to be doing much with him, I can see why he’d leave, especially since so many of his ex-WWE buddies, including Chris Jericho, Jim Ross, Arn Anderson and Billy Gunn have already joined AEW.
WWE continuing to fire blanks as of late, things are looking favorable for the new promotion.
I, nonetheless, would still advise the powers that be in the AEW to not go overboard on hiring WWE expendables, because imitation, as they say, is the most sincere form of flattery and the new promotion doesn’t want to come across as a tired re-boot of the WWE.
That was the case back in the day when WCW and TNA went out and hired a myriad of former WWE stars and tried to duplicate the WWE’s storylines and whatnot. If I were the AEW, I’d be striving, instead, to maximize the potential of stars like Kenny Omega and some of the dynamic Japanese and Mexican talent on their roster and would also have just one heavyweight title, one tag team title and one women’s title, as opposed to the WWE which, last time I checked, had over ten titles, which is counter-productive overkill.
Beyond that, the AEW should be striving to have most of their finishes in the middle, without contrived contingencies and a lot of the swerves and convoluted bullshit which have become the norm these days in the WWE and are one of the reasons for their present slump.
At this juncture, it’s important for the AEW to live up to its name All Elite Wrestling – which means that its wrestlers should primarily be “elite” wrestlers – not run of the mill jabroneys or recycled ex-WWE has beens.
As such, the AEW needs to be discriminating as to whom it has on their shows and it should be emphasizing athleticism rather than the show business element which seem to be so prevalent these days in the WWE.
I have no idea, at this point, what AEW’s ostensible game plan is, but if I were they, beyond offering a better brand of wrestling, I would also be endeavoring to re-sew the proverbial seeds at the grass roots level, by working interactively with reputable independent promotions, including talent exchange, interactive promotions and whatnot – which would help build their fan base and give them a bigger footprint.
It’s still way too early to evaluate whether AEW can give the WWE a serious run for their money, but if they follow some of the basic guidelines outlined above and have some perceptible method to the so-called madness, they could succeed where others have failed.
As for the WWE, the biggest threat to their domination of the wrestling scene doesn’t really lie with AEW, but from within.
In my previous occupation, as a high school history teacher, I came to find that virtually every great dynasty in the history of the world – from the ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, French, British, Russian and others, invariably collapsed from within, due to stagnation, complacency and internal rot.
That was the case, as well, I might add, in pro boxing, with Don King and others whose arrogance and inability to sustain the level of Ali, Frazier and Foreman enabled the UFC to overtake and supplant them.
As such, the WWE needs to get its proverbial shit together and to formulate a better strategy.
I’m confident that they can do that and if such proves to be the case, I think it would be great for the fans and for pro wrestling in general if both promotions were to thrive – much like back in the day when the AFL and the NFL or the ABA and NBA went head to head and the result was great for pro football and pro basketball.
Here’s hoping pro wrestling experiences a similar renaissance.
In any case, what transpires in the next year or so should prove to be interesting. Stay tuned. . .
