In 2024, Why Does AEW Exist?
With the business having changed so much in five years, why does AEW still exist and what is its mission?
Cross-posted at
When All Elite Wrestling was launched in 2019, the need for a "major-league" alternative to the WWE was obvious and apparent.
IMPACT Wrestling was, as it is today, a floundering organization with a bad television deal.
New Japan Pro Wrestling was hot but did not have major American television distribution.
Ring of Honor was hot but was only available on Sinclair Broadcasting.
Any of those three companies above could have taken the next step with the right financing and the right television partner.
Based on the success of All In, The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes were able to collaborate with Tony Khan to both launch AEW and to get a television rights deal befitting a major national promotion.
The world, however, has changed in five years. WWE was sold to TKO. Vince McMahon was ousted from the company. Paul Levesque now has full rein over the company's creative direction, as the buildup to Wrestlemania and the post-Wrestlemania RAW made extremely apparent.
AEW was supposed to be the professional wrestling antidote to "sports entertainment." But the sports entertainment era is dead in the WWE as the company moves forward with a more combat sports-oriented presentation.
After five years, AEW itself has a complicated legacy and one that leaves us with a simple question: has AEW gotten anybody over?
Let's look at the list of champions in AEW right now. Of their singles champions only two, Hook and Julia Hart, were not stars before signing with AEW. Honestly, I'm not even sure how over Julia Hart is compared to the rest of the women's roster. Four singles champions are former WWE talent, while Okada was a megastar in Japan.
But how many people have AEW truly made into bonafide stars in any promotion they walk into? Not many.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman
Hook
The Acclaimed
Darby Allin
Sammy Guevara
Orange Cassidy
Britt Baker
Eddie Kingston
That's no disrespect to those folks. They did the hard work themselves and put themselves in a position to get over. But it's hard to argue that those folks were made by AEW; they could have gotten themselves over in any company, but they were given the opportunity for national exposure by AEW.
But that's it. In five years. The WWE builds more stars in NXT in a year than AEW has in its history.
Beyond that, who has AEW developed as an in-ring talent? While QT Marshall was doing yeoman's work as a trainer and got several folks on the main roster, he didn't really make anybody.
The two major talents out of AEW who signed with WWE so far without prior WWE experience are Lexis King (Brian Pillman, Jr.) and Jade Cargill. King is more over than he was in AEW (which isn't saying much, because he is not over in NXT) and Cargill needed six months to practically learn how to wrestle despite being TBS Champion for well over a year.
Then of course is all the drama surrounding everything with CM Punk, the Young Bucks, Jack Perry, et al.
The only real common denominator in the leadership of the company these days is the owner and President himself, Tony Khan.
The problem, of course, with Khan is that he is a mark for himself. Why else the almost comical level of "TONY KHAN WILL MAKE A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT" teases that we get on the regular from Khan? But also, look at some of the bizarre decisions that are made by Khan and some of the things that are allowed on TV.
The Young Bucks have always been very wink-and-a-nod with some of the things they do and some of the material they broadcast. That was (and probably still is) great for their "Being the Elite" YouTube show. But their obtuse references to Jack Perry in responding to a CM Punk interview were pointless. And that led to the bizarre decision to promote the broadcast of the "All In London" footage on this week's Dynamite.
And what did that “footage” amount to? Little more than an angle for their upcoming match with FTR.
So what was the point of it all? Or is Tony Khan just, as he is often accused of being, little more than a money mark who wants to get a kick out of hanging with the boys?
Look, I'm not a billionaire with spare money to burn. But that question that Tony Khan (and his dad) need to answer is this: with the business having changed so much in five years, why does AEW still exist? What is their mission statement? What are they all about? And why are they following the model that so many failed companies have used before if their purpose differs from today’s product?
Until Tony Khan figures that out, AEW will be anything but must-see TV.