AEW = WWE from five years ago

When I started writing columns, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t write an anti-AEW column. To be totally honest, outside of reading the results and watching clips on YouTube, I’m not really following AEW as faithfully as I follow TNA and WWE, but there’s something I read yesterday on several websites that made me want to talk about AEW, and here’s what I read:

Bryan Alvarez mentioned on his podcast that Tony Khan told his roster that he’s not going to book long-term anymore and is now booking week by week.

If that’s true, then AEW, and especially Tony, has completed its transformation into Vince McMahon’s old WWE style of booking and mentality.

When AEW first arrived on the scene, what were fans complaining about in WWE?

* Vince had no plan and was booking week to week.
* Vince only booked the top guys and those he liked, leaving everyone else lost in the shuffle.
* PPVs were too long and had too many throwaway matches.

Now, just look at those three statements—how many can you apply to AEW right now? If you said all three, then you’re right.

So here’s a serious question to the die-hard AEW fans: why aren’t you complaining about this right now in the same way you did when Vince was doing it? That’s the question of the hour. For some reason, because Tony gives you what you want, you’re ready to forgive him for everything, which is nice and all, but it’s not going to help the company in the long run.

Yes, AEW is going to get a really strong deal with WBD, and I will comment on it once it’s finally announced because I feel there will be some good and some bad that come with that deal. But until Tony realizes that you need serious long-term booking and can’t leave your talent and fans guessing about what’s going to happen or whether they’ll even be used next week, you’ll be stuck with the same fanbase you’ve always had. Nobody else is going to be attracted to your product because right now, to casual fans, it looks too much like the product they hated when they first stopped watching wrestling, and that’s not good for anyone.