If backstage drama is what makes a wrestling company big time then AEW is suddenly a bigger promotion than even WWE. The fallout from AEW All Out – a show held just outside of Chicago that is one of the four major AEW PPVs each year – was as swift as it was shocking.
Titles were stripped. Wrestlers were off of TV. The family/buddy-buddy image of the company was shot to bits.
Realistically, we should have seen it coming. Pro Wrestling is Real (this tee shirt says so), but so is the drama that comes with the business over time.
AEW Problems
The clues were there. Big Swole was very unhappy (rightfully so) when she left the company. The roster has been getting more and more bloated to the point that many talented wrestlers have seen less and less TV time over the course of the past year.
The clinching factor, however, should have been when Cody and Brandi Rhodes returned to the WWE, leaving the organization that they – more than anyone else – helped create.
Yes, Cody had unfinished business in Connecticut, but if everything were going well with AEW, it is hard to imagine he would have left the company.
The roster continued to expand post-Cody. AEW was no longer a bunch of Indy/NJPW darlings playing on the main stage. It was becoming more and more of a business, and a constantly expanding one at that.
At its genesis, this is a good thing. AEW is the most legitimate competition that WWE has had since peak WCW. However, that sudden climb to national (mainstream) attention isn’t easy. AEW is finding that out the hard way.
CM Punk
The two biggest names AEW has added to the roster regarding wrestlers still working at their peak are Bryan Danielson and CM Punk. They are two wrestlers on opposite ends of the drama scale, with few (if any) having a bad word to say about Danielson. Punk, on the other hand, brings baggage, controversy, and opinions that completely changed the dynamic of the locker room.
The fallout of the backstage altercation (or fight or possibly even brawl) that happened after All Out is still being processed. We know that Punk and The Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) were the main culprits and the leading names involved.
Punk is a legitimate national draw. He is also never one to hold back an opinion. Giving him an open mic at a press conference is as likely to result in the world burning down as it is for him to stay on the topics at hand. Laying into the wrestlers mentioned above, along with Hangman Page and Colt Cabana, should almost have been expected.
Suspensions were handed out, and many expect to never see Punk in an AEW ring again. Again, anyone surprised by the direction this has gone simply hasn’t been paying enough attention to AEW over the last year.
What’s Next?
This is the most important question in all of this. AEW has lost its innocence – if a professional wrestling company can ever claim to have such a thing. This is an incident that will seismically change the way the company is booked over the next few months, simply because the suspended wrestlers are main event level guys,
It is also ironic that this is all happening again a backdrop of the WWE getting some of the best reviews for its product that it has in years. Maybe some of this is the pressure that AEW feels to stay relevant as a challenger, or maybe it was just inevitable from the moment that Punk hit the entrance ramp for the first time.
One certain thing? There is never a dull week in the world of professional wrestling.
Always remember, folks. Pro Wrestling is Real.
