With All Out and their TV premier coming up, All Elite Wrestling is ready to hit the mainstream ground running.
With established stars like Cody, Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, The Young Bucks, and to a degree Adam Page, AEW has the makings of a strong roster. But after these known names who else is there?
Yes there’s SCU, Shawn Spears, Allie, The Lucha Brothers (Penta and Fenix), Best Friends (Trent Barretta and Chuck Taylor) and Adam Cole’s Fiance Britt Baker, but again who else?
There are known indie stars and potential breakout talents like MJF, Darby Allin, Joey Janella, and Luchasaurus, some unique talents like Sonny Kiss and Nyla Rose, GLOW’s Awesome Kong (Kia Stevens), and even Hollywood offspring like Jungle Boy, son of the late Luke Perry.
Oh yeah Cody’s wife Brandi is there as well. Oh yeah part 2, Jim Ross is there also. Oh yeah part 3 Dustin Rhodes and his blood spot is there as well.
Do you know about Angelico? Why should you care about Private Party? What’s the deal with Brea Priestley? Who is CIMA other than a guy who put on a good match with Kenny Omega but still lost?
Tell me why Frankie Avalon and Leva Bates matter other than being a gimmick that eventually will get more “go away” heat than Baron Corbin.
In a time when WWE gets criticized for its lack of character development, AEW is making the same mistake ten times worse. They say wins and loses will matter, but if I know nothing about Michael Nakazawa why should I care if he wins or loses? Who is Brandon Cutler? Why is Jack Evans still relevant? Why does it matter that Sammy Guevara is facing Cody in AEW on TNT’s first ever show?
Make me understand AEW!
Cody is on record with his hate towards the term “casual fan”, and maybe that’s why after three shows the lesser known part of AEW’s roster is still just that, LESSER KNOWN.
It’s a big risk using Orange Cassidy and Marco Stunt to cater to the smark base, rather than trying to lure in the casual fan who flips to TNT one night and sees this new wrestling show.
Being The Elite introduced us to SCU, it made us hate MJF.
But since then no one has benefited from the web show. You have six weeks until the TV premier, go back to what worked, it will only help your show and YOUR company in the long run.
Don’t wait on PAC or dare I say it CM Punk.
Build your base, give people to care about matches that don’t involve the Elite guys. This is an important part of the puzzle AEW, don’t mess it up.
JCD