AEW’s Creative Control problem – Tony Khan has got to start reigning in the wrestlers

Theory and reality are two words to describe opposite ends of an outcome no matter what the event or topic. One is what is possible if everything works in a perfect scenario while the other is what the result will be based on facts and experiences. In pro wrestling, that perfectly sums up creative control and having a wrestler have it without checks or balances. In theory, creative control is a wonderful thing for a wrestler as it allows him to be the master of his career and treat him like an adult.

But as we have seen in the past with guys like Hogan, DX, Triple H, Young Bucks and others, creative control is a blight that harms everything because nobody can make someone do anything without their say so.

After watching WrestleDream this past weekend, one of the biggest problems is that too many wrestlers have creative control and Tony Khan is not checking their power.

It’s been a long-standing problem since the start of the company as Tony used it as a way to recruit talent. Sign with us and you can have creative control and full IP patents on your characters and ideas. We will be the nice promotion and not the “evil” WWE who holds wrestlers down and tells them what to do was the premise

But the problem with that is that when too many wrestlers have power, then everyone else suffers and that is what has been going on.

The Young Bucks are the perfect example as their reign with the tag titles has bordered on obscene and cringe. Each match is the same ending as they beat their opponents cleanly after hitting all their signature moves. Despite fans wanting and begging for a title change due to the staleness of the Bucks, they have creative control over their matches and results.

You want to see a new rising tag team like MXM or the OutRunners dethrone the Bucks? Sorry pal that isn’t happening nor is dropping the titles to Private Party or The Acclaimed who have been over with the fans. Creative control rules dictate that only the Bucks will determine when and who they lose to when they are good and ready.

But it’s not just the Bucks as the Main Event of WrestleDream was another instance where creative control reared its ugly head.

And boy was the ending of that main event horrible and cringe due to Moxley’s creative control.

The main reason Moxley left WWE was due to wanting to do his own things and not be tied up with WWE’s scripts and silliness. In theory that was a novel idea as most felt that Moxley would thrive being more serious and more what he was in CZW. And for a while it did work as he was one of the better things in AEW and his early reign as World Champion helped elevate the company.

But his character that is based on a Neo-Nazi skinhead played by Russell Crowd in the Australian movie Romper Stomper has drawn groans and been controversial to say the least. But the other issue is that AEW seemingly has Multiple heel groups that are trying to take over AEW or invade with all of them having some form of creative control.

From the Blackpool Combat Club, The Patriarchy, The Elite, The Learning Tree, The House of Black to the Don Callis Family, all of them have some form of creative control and get to turn down angles or matches that they don’t want to do.

It’s the reality of the issues with creative control when you let “the inmates run the asylum”, you have chaos without any order. And any plans that you have, has to be approved by them or else they will have the power to turn it down and you’re at square one..

Take the main event of WrestleDream for perfect example; according to many wrestling sources and insiders the plan was for Bryan Danielson to eventually drop the title to a younger star as a way to make him. Candidates were rumored to be either Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy, MJF or someone that was not an ex-WWE star but rather one AEW could claim as their own.

But instead thanks to Danielson and Moxley’s creative control and their friendship, Moxley defeated Danielson for the title and then beat him down to a muted crowd. What could have been something better between a beloved champion going out to a rising star and serenaded by the home crowd, was an angle that has been met with disgust and apathy.

All because Tony Khan did what Eric Bischoff did in WCW and allow the wrestlers to be able to call the shots and use creative control.

Tony’s problem has been that too often he treats that he likes as if they are his friends and his partners. He wants to be their pal and their friend instead of a mean boss and has let wrestlers reject ideas too often.

It has to stop because at the end of the day, Tony Khan is the head of AEW and their boss which means that he is the only one who should dictate what happens. If the wrestlers don’t like it, then they can leave for something better instead of getting creative control

The problem with any wrestler is that by nature they will look out for themselves due to the unwritten law of the industry. That its every man and woman for themselves and there is nobody who is going to back you up if you lose your job or can’t make ends meet.

And as we have seen, when wrestlers are allowed to have creative control, they abuse it and hurt the product. This isn’t opinion but fact as history has shown that everyone from Harley Race to Ric Flair to Hulk Hogan to Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart to even the Young Bucks have abused creative control. It is understandable as the old proverb is that “Absolute power will corrupt absolutely” and anyone who argues against, has never had power.

But this is where Tony has to take control and start putting his foot down as the product has suffered and become stale due to the creative control. Wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, The Young Bucks and even Mercedes Mone have become “TV toxic” due to their cringe characters and the creative control they influence.

It’s time for Tony to take it back as he has them over a barrel because at the end of the day, what can they do.

Do you think Mercedes or Jericho are going to give up the big pay days and go back to WWE? Fat chance as the company has shown an unwillingness to pay big money for older talent or talent that isn’t invested full time in the company.

Do you think the Young Bucks would walk from AEW and go back to New Japan or join TNA? No on your life as they have contracts that are probably triple what they could get anywhere and neither man has good standing with either company.

Even Moxley and Danielson wouldn’t go back to WWE as both men enjoy not being scripted or having to follow the “WWE rigid script” that comes with working for the company.

AEW is living proof that you can’t give creative control to everyone or else the product becomes stale. Angles are dropped at a second’s notice almost because someone has the grand notion that their idea is great. Creative control has become like a drug in which everyone seems to want it and eventually abuse it.

One of the biggest positives of Paul Levesque is that he has given WWE wrestlers more input with their character but not handed over full reigns. It allows there to be more harmony with the wrestlers but also establishing that the buck stops with management

Tony Khan has got to start reigning in the wrestlers and becoming more of a boss and less as a friend or else nothing will change. Creative control will end up drowning this company because the wrestlers want to go their own ways.

And right now, creative control is nothing more than out of control chaos with the company’s direction in the ring.

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