Identity Crisis
By Scott Keith on 4 February 2023
Is AEW currently struggling with an identity crisis? This is not a question asking if the matches are good every week, or if the promotion is in trouble, but who they are in the curent landscape. When it was first presented it was promised to be sportscentric where wins and losses matter, an alternative to everything else out there. Now alot of the stuff said at the start were buzz words thrown out by Cody, and clearly things changed once TK took full control and the pandemic hit. But in the last couple years I would say the biggest issue that plagues them, besides a bloated roster, is it doesn't seem like they have there own identity yet, which was supposed to be what was gonna make them different.
They tried to be black and gold NXT but with rankings at the start, which was something that made them stand out. Unfortunately it seems the rankings became an anchor to the booking process and they started to ignore them. They put a heavy focus on workrate, but thats also New Japan's thing, so it's not a very unique presentation in that regard. After the first couple years it seems like they werent happy being the US New Japan. So then there was a big change when Kenny's belt collector gimmick started and Tony's obsession with being a forbidden door popped up. Instead of focusing on his own product's growth, he instead relied on partnerships involving Impact and New Japan to grow, which I still don't see how they benefited from that period. If anything the exposure Impact and New Japan got dwarfed anything AEW gained from that scenario, and they gave up market share as a result.
Instead of realizing that, Tony doubled down on the New Japan Partnership and seemed even more intent on chasing million dollar gates with the Forbidden door PPV. While it was good for the short term profit, the weekly product took a major hit. If that wasn't enough, Tony started forcing ROH down everyone's throat, even though it was a dead promotion for a reason. So instead of establishing what makes AEW different to truly be an alternative to WWE, it's become even more of a mutt dog that was further away from its own identity.
Saw what you will about Bischoff and WCW, but when they were number 2 prior to the Russo days, they was a clear difference between them and WWE. I don't see that from AEW. When I watch their shows it goes from WWE, to New Japan, to Impact, to ROH, to GCW, to WCW, all in one show. Now there seems to be a dedicated audience of 900k people who are gonna watch every week, which profit wise has put them firmly as the number 2 company in America. But they gap is bigger than ever between them and WWE, who is clearly a sports entertainment company. AEW wanted to be Pepsi to their Coke, but I think they are more RC Cola or Dr. Brown's right now. There are plenty of wrestling companies, what is AEW?
“Living rent free in your head” if I had to nail it down.