Written By All Elite Gino (Gino Lewis)
Let me start by saying I’m a big fan of AEW. I always enjoy the product even when it isn’t at its best like last night at Double or Nothing. They have the biggest stretch in the company's young history coming up this summer. I think they are still well positioned but there is definitely a lot of negative buzz surrounding AEW that Tony Khan shouldn't ignore. There is no denying the crowd at Double or Nothing was quiet most of the night. The go home Dynamite crowd was as well. There are reports ticket sales for the Canada tour to launch AEW Saturday Collision are very poor. CM Punk would help with a lot of this. AEW needs more than just Punk to make Forbidden Door, All Out and All In better shows than Double or Nothing. With their new TV deal, it’s important for AEW to put forward their best product with as hot of a crowd as possible. Here are 5 ideas I think would help.
A big angle to make us hate MJF again - I really enjoyed the Pillars 4 way and all the build up to it. It was a good program. I think it was successful to elevate Jungle Boy, Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara considering how great the match was. I don’t think it necessarily elevated MJF or put more heat on him. In fact, he was getting a lot cheers during the match. There doesn’t seem to be a natural fit from New Japan to go against MJF at Forbidden Door. It may have to be someone from the AEW roster. Either way a dastardly act would heat up MJF headed into this important stretch of his title reign. I heard an idea that could accomplish just that. An attack on Tony Schiavone would fit seamlessly with the current story.
Tony is really shitting on MJF in his commentary. A top heel in the wrestling business should not stand for that. I doubt Tony can take a bump. Maybe they would need a stunt double. It would be best if we were able to see the beat down take place. Tony would be on the shelf for a couple months. MJF would have massive heat with Britt Baker and therefore Adam Cole which could lead to a good program. The other top contenders to MJF would seem to be Hangman Adam Page and Kenny Omega. They will most likely be tied up with Blackpool Combat Club for at least another month or two.
Turn Jungle Boy heel against Darby Allin – The 4 Pillars feud opened the door for a rivalry between Jungle Boy Jack Perry and Darby Allin as we gear up for Forbidden Door. They could leave them both as faces. The table is definitely set for a heel turn that would make the feud a lot better. I think Jungle Boy would be the better wrestler to turn heel. There were slight boos for Jack during the Pillars 4 way. AEW might be wise to get ahead of that. A turn from Perry would also be a lot more shocking as he is such a wholesome babyface. The main reason I think a heel turn from Jungle Boy makes sense is the part of the match at DON where he teased using the belt on Darby then couldn’t do it.
He could realize MJF is right that he can’t get to the top without having more of a killer instinct. Jack could turn on Darby because of this. Sting could be involved in the feud in what starts the run to his last match whenever that may be. Jungle Boy could start to backup MJF or even go back to Christian and Luchasaurus. There are a lot of ways they could do it. He could be on his own. A lot of guys do better on the mic as heels. It would lead to a fresh character for Jungle Boy which could help his character long term. This would keep the momentum from DON going for both guys as well.
Move Chris Jericho down the card – Jericho is one of my all-time favorites. I understand how important he is to AEW and in the locker room. There are a lot rumblings about his feuds not helping his opponents. The proof really is there right in front of us. Ricky Starks certainly isn’t more over after beating Jericho at Revolution. Action Andretti has hardly been on TV since what is possibly AEW’s biggest upset ever. Adam Cole was barely drawing a reaction last night. That isn’t a good sign as it seems Cole might be next in line for a title shot. He’s the only one talking about it anyway. The fans' reaction last night would indicate this feud isn’t helping Adam Cole get over either. It might be smart to move on from the Cole/Jericho rivalry after Wednesday.
Jericho has been in a prominent spot on almost every episode of Dynamite. Many Rampage’s as well. A little time off would probably help his character. I don’t see that happening leading up to All In nor do I think it should. However, a little less of a spotlight on him would be a good thing. The tricky thing is that I think Jericho’s segments are still very good for the most part. Filling that time won’t be easy. The booking just doesn’t really make sense either. Jericho lost to Starks but kept a top spot while Ricky fell down to the battle royale. After losing another big match to Cole it would make sense for Jericho to get a little less TV time.
More wins on TV – And make the wins matter. AEW is getting another 2 hours of TV time in less than 3 weeks. I hope they use some of that to get more wrestlers on TV getting meaningful wins. There are so many quality wrestlers who are directionless or do very little. Jay White, Ricky Starks, Juice Robinson, Swerve Stickland, Keith Lee, Dustin Rhodes and Brain Cage are involved in long running rivalries where very little happens. AEW Saturday Collision should put AEW in position to use guys like that better. Doing that would give the fans more reason to care about the matches when we see them on Pay Per View. More upsets would be nice too. I thought Claudio could have lost to Penta or Fenix recently. It wouldn’t have hurt him since he was in Anarchy in the Arena. It also would have set up an ROH title match that Claudio could have won.
I mentioned it when writing about Jericho. Winning a big match should mean something, especially on PPV. Double or Nothing didn’t have a lot that. Fans want to see decisive victories at big shows like DON. There was so much interference in almost every match. While I don’t mind that and it did work a lot the time, it didn’t seem like much was settled at the PPV. With a new TV deal and 3 of AEW’s biggest shows ever coming up, it might a good idea to book more one on one battles that end a big rivalry. I get not every match can be like that. I don’t think every match should have interference either. The Owen Hart Tournament could be a good start to that. It would be nice to see those matches treated like a big deal and the talent giving a lot of time to deliver great matches with clean finishes.
Open the Forbidden Door wider – This pertains more to the next Pay Per View Forbidden Door. It’s only 4 weeks away. TK needs to get going on setting it up. It’s going to be a similar struggle to book All Out and All In so close together. Even with all the chaos AEW didn’t manage to put anything in place for Forbidden Door. There was no involvement from anyone in New Japan. The show really wasn’t mentioned at all. It would be nice to see the wrestlers from New Japan on AEW TV leading up to the show. We need to know a little bit about the combatants to care about the matches. Seeing them in action would help. There wasn’t enough of that last year.
I would love it if they built up some of the matches on New Japan shows. That would only work if they show us what happens on AEW TV. It looks like there could be the possibility that is happening. Okada and Jon Moxley went at it at NJPW Resurgence and are scheduled to face off again in a 6-man tag match for the Never Openweight Championships at Dominion. Okada vs Moxley is truly a dream match. It should be given proper TV time to hype it up. Having an extra 2 hours should help. There is more time for video packages, replays and mic time for everyone now. There is time for everything to breathe. I don’t know if they are doing the match. I would love to see it! The same concept would go if they wanted to use New Japan talent like Will Ospreay or Mercedes Mone’ at All In.
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