Last year at this time, AEW was in a wonderful spot. CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole all debuted and the future was looking very bright for the company. Over the last year, however, things have taken an unpredictable turn and there is a lot of drama within the company. What caused this? I have written prediction articles for WWE for years, but this year, back in January, was the first one I ever wrote for AEW. I’ll attach a link to the article, but in it, I always give my take on the current state of the company. I do this for WWE as well, but my take on things back in January were very positive. “AEW is the coolest wrestling product available at the moment and things aren't likely to change in 2022” were my exact words. In just 9 months, things have taken a 180. AEW is seen as a toxic and unbearable place to work and we all see the dirt sheets, but what has caused this turn?

Was CM Punk a good acquisition?

I guess I’ll not waste any time. CM Punk’s return to wrestling was the biggest moment of 2021 and possibly the biggest wrestling moment of the last decade. His return to the ring was eagerly awaited and he definitely has brought more attention to AEW. With that being said, CM Punk made a complete moron of himself at the post-All Out press conference. He aired out his personal disputes with AEW talent and made Tony Khan look like a fool. He and The Elite were apparently in a physical altercation after the press conference and all involved have been suspended. For those saying that this is a work, I can't see that. I can buy into a work for a lot of things, but this is a dumb way to work a storyline if that is true, so I don’t believe it.

The full CM Punk portion starts at 12:15.

Despite Punk’s star level and what he means to wrestling, he clearly has an ego issue. He’s had it since WWE, but fans were quick to dismiss it when he made his return. I’ll admit, that I’ve never been a fan of Punk, but I will admit that he means a lot to wrestling. I know that he is a star for a reason. He put in a lot of work to become who he is, but that doesn’t dismiss the fact that he is a narcissistic jerk. He has always said what is on his mind and that in itself can make enemies. Not only that, but he constantly runs his mouth. That precisely is what landed him in trouble over the last couple of weeks and who knows when, or even if, he will be back.

So, looking back, was it worth the risk of bringing Punk back? It’s too early to tell, but if you need an answer now, I say no. Punk brought a lot to the table back in 2021, but now, he is more of a distraction than an attraction. He was brought in to boost the number of eyes on the product and you could argue that aside from the first couple of weeks of his return, things haven’t been much different. From a backstage standpoint, it sounds like he isn't making friends, so not only is viewership not rising, everybody he works with hates him. It doesn’t sound like a good acquisition to me, but he has plenty of time to redeem himself if he is given another chance.

Why Did Cody Rhodes Leave?

Fans have been trying to figure this out for months, but with the drama of the last couple of weeks, reasons as to why Cody Rhodes departed AEW are potentially being brought to light. I don’t have a clear-cut answer here, but things have been clearly off since his departure back in February. Don’t get me wrong, the action has been still great, but the vibe has been different since he left. The product feels like it isn't as “must-watch” as it used to be.

Was Cody the glue that held everything together? I think it is pretty evident that this is the case. Sure, they have plenty of guys in the locker room that are held in high pedigree, but Cody was a big reason why fans started to watch AEW. I know for me personally, he was the reason why I was interested in it in its initial stages. I knew very little about Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks and when Chris Jericho jumped on board, I knew that it was going to be something special. It was definitely something special when things were starting out, but here lately it is apparent that things aren't sunshine and roses anymore.

Did Cody have a problem with Punk? Tony Khan? The Elite? Or was it a simple contract dispute? Maybe it was a mix of all or a combination of a couple of those? None of us fans will know the answer to this for quite some time and I respect Cody Rhodes even more because of his professionalism. The difference between Punk and Rhodes is that one is a true professional and the other is something else entirely.

What is AEW going to do to fix their bloated roster?

AEW only has 3 hours of TV time per week and that only allows so much time to feature their talent. I will say that they have made the most of the time that they do have each week, but they have such a huge roster that only a fraction of their talent is on TV each week. Compared to WWE, at one point, they did have a larger roster. I don’t know if that is the case now considering the talent that WWE has brought back, but having too much talent can be a big issue. AEW utilizes their talent as well as they possibly can but having too many mouths to feed with a limited amount of food is an issue.

AEW has a massive roster right now and things aren't going to change apparently. A lot of the bigger names that came from WWE received long-term deals and aren't going anywhere. In a way, having depth on the roster is a positive, but the majority of talent that jumped ship from WWE thought that they would be featured more and that isn't the case for a lot of talent, especially now. They signed way too many disgruntled released talents from WWE and tried to make it seem that they would “treat them right”, but they simply don’t have the resources to feature that much talent. Not now anyway. There for a while, fans anticipated a new person debuting each week on Dynamite and it started out like “WOW, ____ IS ALL ELITE!” and then the reaction was “Oh great, another person on AEW.” AEW is simply going to need to have more time to feature talent or they will be forced to get rid of talent. With that being said, they probably won’t be getting any more TV time anytime soon.

Final Thoughts

This year’s All Out was the first AEW PPV that I didn’t purchase. Not that I didn’t think I would get my money’s worth, because that simply isn't the case. I really didn’t care to watch it. When AEW first started, the movement was unlike anything I’ve personally witnessed. I was too young to realize what WCW vs. WWF was like. In the initial stage, it felt like in some ways, we were going to get a taste of that again, but as time has proven, that simply isn't going to be the case. AEW will always be an alternative of WWE not a competitor. If Tony Khan wanted to, he could have started another wrestling war, but he chose not to. Only time will tell if he will pursue that in the future, but I’m not expecting it. There are still a lot of WWE fans that have no clue about AEW and I don’t think they have what it takes to go toe-to-toe with WWE.

With all of that being said, here lately, AEW isn't as must-watch as it used to be. The action on TV is good and they keep fans entertained, but a lot of the matches and content is monotonous. It’s difficult to describe, but it feels too scripted. Everything seems too well planned. I know that seems like a dumb comment and I’m going to try and elaborate a little more, so I don’t sound like a complete idiot. The shows seem very blocky. With WWE, I feel like things aren't as stiff when they air their shows. AEW isn't very spontaneous when it comes to TV production. You know what kind of match that you’re getting, and you know approximately how long to expect a match. It almost feels like a wrestling checklist is being aired each week.

Hopefully I have explained myself well enough, but I still want to say that AEW does put on entertaining shows despite their many flaws being more evident now. AEW is only 3 years in and they have accomplished quite a bit in such a little span. I think a lot of fans expected things to be different in a lot of ways, but it is clear that AEW isn't going to surpass WWE any time soon and honestly, I don’t want them to. AEW was founded as an alternative and it should stay that way. Not that I don’t want AEW to be successful, quite the opposite. AEW is successful because of WWE’s success. When WWE thrives, AEW thrives. Impact thrives. NJPW thrives. GCW thrives, NWA thrives. All companies thrive when WWE thrives. AEW isn't as special as it was back in 2019, but it definitely isn't too late to get back to what made them special in the first place. They’re in a funk right now without a doubt, but I know they’re capable of returning back to their old form. They just have to get back to the things that made them special initially and cut out the excess.

Yacs

What Happened to AEW?