AEW got me excited to watch wrestling again back in 2019. I used to get excited to watch every week but now it's to the point that I don't care what happens on the show.
Breh...I legit got giddy when friggin Darby went through a fukking Cracker Barrel barrel
What made AEW special during the early years was the fact that the OGs were the mentors (with the exception of Jericho because mentors got to be a family man), the events felt larger than life despite the roster being a bunch of unknowns to the casual market, and the storylines made somewhat a lick of sense. You can easily tell who had the book and who didn't.
The rank system actually had a toe before the shyt went left field to lmao.
Hell, the stables actually had some leverage for storytelling. What went wrong is the idealogy of a wrestling promotion being run by a wrestling mark. Yes, Vince was an out of touch, senile, miserable, heman knuckle dragging, alpha mate stuck in a fratboy with a soul of a toddler, redneck cosplaying as a up north business man...but dude knew the game and the book.
Look at majority of the ex guys. Majority of them are proving Vince and em right, because who in their right mind want to hear Keith Lee on a stick

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Khan has homegrown talent from Starks to Wardlow, but they are in limbo. Hell, that demonic thick jawn had next but lmao!
It reminds me of what my son used to do, before he got a tablet to do art. Dude used to create pictures of some of the dopest pieces of art I have ever seen. By the time I want to show my wife what he did, he balls up the shyt and works on another picture

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This is AEW right now. Constant unfinished booking that looks good on paper, but ends up getting balled up.