Should AEW's Creative Be a Concern?

Omega's "losing streak" is the biggest among AEW Creative's red flags so far
Photo via Extra Mustard

One of the most prominent talking points at Fight for the Fallen was how Kenny Omega was distraught looking for his first singles win in the company. It's not an uncommon angle to run. WWE runs it into the ground, and a losing streak angle is what launched All-Japan legend Kenta Kobashi's career. If you'd have tuned into FftF, you might have thought All Elite Wrestling was running its fifth, seventh, or even tenth show with Omega looking to get off the schneid. It was their third show. The first show, Double or Nothing, featured Omega losing to Chris Jericho. Fyter Fest featured Omega in a six-man with the Young Bucks vs. the Lucha Bros. and the Laredo Kid. They won that match, with Omega getting the pin on the Kid. The talking point made no sense, indicative of creative rot that you'd expect from WWE from the last 20 or so years.

Much like running with a story about a one-match losing streak based on a small sample size is problematic, it might be shortsighted to gauge AEW's creative direction off three shows. That being said, I might not be so worried if the Omega losing "streak" was the only thing they rolled out. However, over the two free shows since Double or Nothing, AEW has:

• Made MJF the guy who made the save for Cody after Shawn Spears cracked him across the head after allowing him to ROAST the crowd before his own match.
• Shoved Darby Allin, who was made by a time-limit draw against Cody, Joey Janela, who was made in a brutal war against Jon Moxley, MJF, and Spears in a nothing opening trios match instead of in prominent positions later in the show.
• Showed a syrupy vignette for Brandi Rhodes about how she has to "conquer her demons" only to have her become a dollar store Stephanie McMahon villainous overlord with her own muscle in a match against her "friend."
• The main event's stakes and drama were pretty much nullified when the Jacksons told Cody and Dustin Rhodes "lol j/k."

That's a lot of flubbing for two shows you're putting out for free to charm a new audience. That's WWE bad. Hell, that's Dixie Carter-era TNA bad. I've been pretty lenient on the two shows because I legitimately enjoyed them for the wrestling. If you're a wrestling company, and the matches are good, congratulations, you've won half the battle, possibly more. That being said, what should separate a good promotion with a passionate following for the actual wrestling from a corporately-funded wrestling promotion that has millions of fans because it has things that cater to those attention spans that aren't German suplexes and armbars, well, it's not good enough.

It's clear to me that the fact that the creative team isn't doing its work early on. I'm not sure who among the people making the decisions has experience booking a promotion or writing for television. It certainly isn't Tony Khan. It might be Cody or the Jackson Brothers or even Omega, but it's clear from this output they came into it unprepared at best. If they're saving their "best" for All Out or the beginning of television, well, why would you withhold ALL the good stuff? You should want to give people a taste of what you're all about with the free shows, correct? I truly believe that the wrestling side did that, but you know who else had great wrestling and incoherent creative? 2004-07 TNA.

Following that path is not a good idea, because TNA could not survive as a nationally-televised promotion with corporate backing on its wrestling alone. They never changed up what they were doing creatively, staying with the same rotating cast of Jim Cornette, Vince Russo, and Terry Taylor, and their booking and angles made them a laughingstock. I would hope that the All Elite gang know they need to have a hook. It doesn't have to be Shakespearean, but man, it can't feel like it was limply ideated and rushed into production with no ear for continuity or emotional punch. It's the difference between being the cutesy Internet fave and being a contender to the megalith dominating, choking even, the current wrestling scene.

IN other words, AEW has to be better going forward. You can't try to frame a one-match losing streak as a thing, and you can't be bouncing back and forth on which parody of Stephanie McMahon you want Brandi Rhodes to be. Even though it would amount to a shortsighted decision not to take advantage of the free shows to build strong creative rapport with your burgeoning audience, one can only hope that they were phoning it in for Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen. They can't afford to do the same with All Out and television on TNT, that's for damn sure.