The Phantom Rant: AEW’s Storytelling Problem

Greetings everyone to the show that never ends. It is I the one and only “Phantom Lord” Joseph Davis and this is The Phantom Rant. As always I am coming to you from New York City and I am sorry for the delay since the last column. Honestly I’ve been a tad burned out and add to that a solid dose of writers block…it’s not a good combination. I started and stopped this column a couple of times all ready so let’s just get to it.

AEW’s Fright Night was last night and we had a decent four way match quality wise for a shot at the AEW World Championship. I can’t hate on it for the quality of the match. What I can hate on is WHY did we have this match at all? Hangman vs. Samoa Joe is the current feud for the World Championship. Why did Joe have to jump through these hoops to get another title shot? Hangman should have just been like to Tony Khan on tv…”I DON’T CARE WHO’S NEXT, I WANT JOE AGAIN…GIVE ME JOE”. I mean after the last PPV, that was the only solution after Joe and The Opp’s turned heel on Hangman Page.

Since Joe is getting the title shot, I hope he ends up winning the damn thing. Honestly, Hangman as champion is boring me at this point. It was a great win when he won the title back at All In: Texas. But now there just feels like something is lacking in his run as champion. Perhaps it’s because he hasn’t had a hated rival until now. Well they have a little less than a month to make Hangman/Joe II interesting so they better get on it. Last night was an interesting start with Hangman dressed up as Tony Schiavone. I guess in the coming weeks we’ll get Hangman vs. Hobbs and Hangman vs. Shibata (which would be a match I’d be interested in seeing).

Wrestling quality is not the issue as I said. Stories that matter are the issue and AEW does not have any stories that matter at the moment. The only story they at the moment that they have put any effort into it Darby vs. Mox and The Death Riders…but does that really matter? Are you tuning in just to see Darby vs. Moxley and by extension the rest of the Riders? I really wish Moxley would take that extended vacation he’s been so desperately needed for what seems like years now. Moxley being gone from tv for a while would do wonders for him.

The Death Riders as a whole unit are played out. Yuta Wheeler is the only one who gets genuine heat from crowds. No one cares about Daniel Garcia. Pac just shows up when he’s not hurt. Claudio should be the AEW Unified Champion or something. It’s a shame AEW won’t go full on for intergender wrestling because Marina Shafir is the only one of the whole group I honestly like and she would have some interesting mixed matches if they would do it. Her matches in DEFY Wrestling have been really good. But the Riders as a whole single unit…meh. Of course AEW are doubling down on The Death Riders and they are giving them a Blood & Guts match against The Conglomeration and Darby Allin. If AEW has any sense this would be the end of The Death Riders.

I still stand by the very first column I wrote here on NODQ.com Tony Khan should step down as the head of creative for the good of the AEW. The reliance on The Death Riders as the top heel group proves that Tony’s vision for the company is not a good one. If you need further proof, just look at the damn ratings for oh I don’t know…the last year or so. Struggling to break half a million viewers each week just isn’t good. To be fair those ratings each week don’t factor in how many people are watching on HBO Max. No one knows those numbers because they are a closely guarded secret.

You’re probably asking yourself “why should I care about the ratings”. Well, if the rumored Time Warner sale goes through they will be looking to cut the fat so to speak. Under performing shows would be the first thing on the chopping block and to say AEW is under performing would be an understatement. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to see AEW lose their tv spot. But drastic changes are needed for them to survive. I would start right away with ending The Death Riders and after that having Samoa Joe win the AEW World Championship at Full Gear.

AEW almost made a good choice in the four way this week, but for some reason instead of having Bobby Lashley win they had him get punked out by Ricochet once again. I’m all for never ending feuds…but I thought this one was finally done at the last PPV. I’m not saying Bobby Lashley in a world title match would solve things, but The Hurt Syndicate are pretty over and you should go with what’s hot. I’d take The Hurt Syndicate over The Death Riders any day of the week.

The only angle AEW really has going for them right now that is actually hot is the brewing feud between Takeshita and Okada in the Don Callis Family. Takeshita just won the IWGP World Championship and Okada is being a jerk to him at every chance he gets. I just hope it continues to slow boil. The last thing AEW should do is rush to have a match between these two. Have them be at each other’s throats for the next month going into World’s End. Plus it’s been rumored I think that Takeshita vs. Okada could be the main event for the NJPW Tokyo Dome show on January 4 th.

Right now Takeshita and Okada are being forced to be reluctant tag team partners by Don Callis to prove their loyalty to the family. On Collision they are taking on another reluctant tag team in the former Acclaimed…Max Caster and Anthony Bowens who also are being forced to tag together. Only they are being forced by Jerry Lynn because he just wants them to be friends again. I have hope for the Takeshita vs. Okada feud. It might even lead into the Continental Classic where we could see a Takeshita vs. Okada final. I think that would make more sense than them fighting at the Tokyo Dome.

So AEW has a story with potential. But they need to really focus as I said on the main event one with Hangman vs. Samoa Joe. I feel like this month could be a make or break for them and they need to start trending on the upward. All the great wrestling is fine…but what does it matter if no one is watching.

On that note I am done for this week. I once again apologize for the delay and I shall be back at a more regular interval. We’ll have a new WWE World Champion this weekend so that should be fun. So until next time thanks for reading and as always you can leave feedback here, on twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com