AEW Already Failed

By Chris Guest
Updated: July 1, 2020
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I Draw Wrestlers – AEW Already Failed

Contributor Chris Guest writes “I Draw Wrestlers – AEW Already Failed?” Each week Chris will discuss a topic, and do a drawing that represents that subject matter. This is all posted to his You Tube channel (embedded video below), but we’ve reproduced it here in written form. He would love to hear your reviews on the artwork he produces. If you draw, send him a link through the comments on his You Tube Channel . The best way to support him is by subscribing to his You Tube channel and connecting with him on Instagram at @IdrawWrestlers.

Tony Kahn

Let’ s start with Tony Kahn. Want to know what Tony Kahn‘s Wrestling management style is – Well I’ve created an easy formula for you to work it out:

(Vince McMahon + Dave Meltzer) ÷ (Dixie Carter +Eric Bischoff)!

That’s more than a few authority figures and you can check out my video on that topic over on our YouTube page, but it’s easy to see why Kahn fits this mathematical equation.

He’s got Vince’s Money if not more, Dave Meltzer’s knowledge of the product, which is so far so good. It’s when you sprinkle in the qualities of Dixie’s Carter and Bischoff that it goes wrong. There’s still some residual benefit from Dixie Carter; lots of people said she was one of the nicest people they had worked with in the wrestling business – Kahn seems to have a similar warmth about him and he seems to be a very chilled out, yet focused boss. He’s been brilliant for wrestlers in general, being able to offer them better working conditions, he’s even given them healthcare. They are also not on the road as much, which is another massive positive. But there’s one big negative of the Bischoff and Dixie characteristics…

“Money Mark” an age old term meaning someone with plenty of money or access to it who is indulged by the wrestlers and therefore pays them huge sums of money, and affords them opportunities that they wouldn’t ordinarily receive. This is the accusation many have lauded at Kahn. Kahn, just like Dixie Carter, Just like Eric Bischoff is too keen to be best friends with the talent rather than being the best boss.

Young Bucks and Kenny Omega

The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega were made EVP’s of AEW, which is bemusing as none of the Elite made any significant impact in America as wrestlers, so what would they know about getting over with a crowd they don’t understand? Yes they were successful in New Japan, but that was a different culture, and they had the rubber stamp of the Bullet Club – The most over, well established heel group ever in Japan. How can Kahn with any conviction expect them to succeed? How can he be so blinkered to believe their ideas will break through to a mainstream audience? Just look at the failure that is the women’s division it sums up Omega’s success perfectly.

Riho

Riho was a stupid decision to make their first champion, a sheer indulgence of Omega. In Britt Baker AEW had a perfect potential babyface to build their division around, but they botched her introduction so badly that she has only been able to get over as a heel. Nyla Rose then became champ, and in her they had a monster they could push, but oh no Omega was so impatient that he couldn’t even do this and instead had her beat after only 133 days as champ. Both Rose and Riho were hardly seen throughout their runs with the belt so how does any of this work in establishing a division? If AEW is to succeed, Kahn must take hold of this.

Sport’s Based Approach

The biggest failing is AEW’s “sports” based approach; Tony Kahn being a leader in sport analytics and saying publicly how he was going to introduce this to pro wrestling was a really exciting idea for someone like me who was sick of the “Sports entertainment” brand of wrestling. I was definitely up for this: I imagined AEW being something akin to the UFC or Ring of Honor with a bigger budget, and like many I put my hand in my pocket for their first PPV. I like many was really impressed. The presentation after the PPV was brilliant with the media scrum interviewing all the wrestlers, sure they borrowed from other sports like the NBA or even NJPW, but that was the whole point- if it’s sports based it should feel like sport so the press conference just made sense.

But which idiot told Kahn to veer away from this direction? Or why was Kahn stupid or insecure enough to steer away from this vision? AEW is nowhere near a sports based product and if recent PPVs had been put out by WWE, Internet wrestling fans would have torn them to shreds.

AEW Roster – Downside

Another thing is the roster, if it was a sport you’d imagine athletes took part in that sport. When I grew up watching the WWE and WCW, the wrestlers looked like athletes. And before anyone says “Steroids”, we’ll discount the Hogan era of wrestling and just look at what came after. Bret, Shawn, Razor, Diesel, even X – Pac made most of the AEW roster look minuscule. Some don’t even look like they’ve gone through puberty!

Marko Stunt is not the next Rey Mysterio, despite Chris Jericho drawing such a parallel. Rey Mysterio would look like a giant in comparison and the difference between the two since AEW have made that comparison is that Rey Mysterio had and has exceptional talent, pioneering lucha wrestling in north America. Without the likes of Rey Mysterio, Luchadores in America would never have been taken so seriously. None of that applies to Marko Stunt. Can you imagine the WWE ever giving him a tryout? No! Not one bit. Evil Uno, Michael Nakazawa, Orange Cassidy, Peter Avalon, Brandon Cutler the list goes on and on of wrestlers on the AEW roster who do not look like athletes, carry themselves like athletes and yet as a fan I am supposed to discount all of this and cling to the lie that AEW is still even attempting to be sports based brand.

Keep Them Away From a Sports-Based Product

Now I am perfectly happy them being in wrestling, if you have a dream hey that’s great – pursue it; who am I to say you can’t. I don’t blame them for pursuing a passion that’s natural, but I do blame Tony Kahn. They should be nowhere near a wrestling product that is trying to position itself as ‘sports based’ and by their inclusion it makes the product a joke. Kahn is ultimately responsible for their acquisition and being on the AEW roster.

If I bought a Nike trainer I would become increasingly skeptical of their sport credentials if they kept offering me Nike high heels or Nike flip-flops! Keeping with the shoe analogy If Nike constantly offered up a beaten shoddy sneaker, it wouldn’t be long before you were picking up a pair of Adidas on your next shop, and that’s exactly what you have with AEW. It’s so hard for a fan to keep believing that it’s going to be different when time and time again you get given something so far removed from the notion of sport you originally had.

AEW Roster – Upside

It’s such a shame as there is tons of potential in the AEW roster. MJF is brilliant, in Derby Allen and Jungle boy they have stars that they can build a promotion around, Rey Fenix is the best Luchador I have ever seen and either as a single or as a tag team with his brother Pentagon Junior he is a merchandisers dream. There’s also absolute quality that have done it at a high level: Pac, Moxley, and Jericho. They even have veterans who have oceans of experience to pass on – Dustin Rhodes, Arn Anderson, Jake Roberts. How an earth can you not get it right with talent like that? But as a fan we have to wade through utter rubbish to unearth such diamonds.

Part of the problem is how it uses heels and faces. Take for example Double or Nothing and the TNT championship match. In that match Arn Anderson, the faces coach pushed the heel off the top turnbuckle, only to hide from the referee before being ejected. He is meant to be the face so why the hell is he doing this? Jake the Snake, the heel manager then got ejected for no reason at all. Why is the heel being treated like a face and the face being treated like a heel and why have we got two veterans (apparently some of the best thinkers in wrestling) agreeing to it in the first place!

It’s all so confusing and it happens over and over. It doesn’t get anyone over and instead of having hot heels and faces you have a glut of average! Meh!

My Disappointment

My disappointment and anger comes from wanting AEW to succeed. I remember WCW and loved it, I also liked WWE when it had regular competition, it was more exciting, wrestlers could join the opposition and for the wrestlers themselves, they had more places to work. Some will argue AEW is beating NXT in the ratings, but the WWE isn’t even trying to compete. NXT is the WWE’S developmental brand and will see it as exactly that, a developmental show, that is marginally losing to a fully fleshed out, AEW roster, of so called top tier talent.

AEW shouldn’t be an indulgence, a plaything for a millionaire. WCW died in many ways because it became a joke on and off screen; wrestlers politicked for huge contracts and the ability to have creative control over storylines, ultimately killing a company that should still be in existence. How is any of this different from the situation we have currently in AEW?

I want AEW to succeed as the company it set out to be when it started – a sport based product. Going back to the equation that started this whole debate, Vince does have one quality Kahn desperately needs to show … A ruthlessness to succeed and create his own vision of wrestling.

AEW Already Failed

I Draw Wrestlers – AEW Already Failed