By Colin McGuire, ProWrestling.net Staffer
“We had a lot of great moments for the fans tonight. … The fans were really behind Swerve in the arena. You had two of the greatest world champions having this match. And obviously, the return of the Young Bucks spoiled what was a really great world championship match. On a night where there were a lot of great fan favorite moments, that was not necessarily the outcome that a lot of people were hoping for.”
Oh, that’s right. The fans are still buzzing about Adam Cole winning the TNT title in hour four of a six hour pro wrestling extravaganza. Oh, and that Anthony Bowens return that happened three hours before Cole’s moment? Man, anyone who purchased a ticket still can’t stop smiling. I mean, who cares about that dumbass finish to the show anyway, right?
For those who missed it, AEW is feeling the brunt of the proverbial tomatoes being thrown at them as they sit on stage after the ending to last night’s Dynasty PPV. It felt like it had to be Swerve’s night when it came to dethroning AEW World Champion Jon Moxley not only because the Death Riders are universally derided by fans, but also because Swerve is red hot. As such, it felt inevitable that Swerve would leave Philadelphia with the world title around his waist … until, of course, he didn’t.
Instead, we got the return of the Young Bucks, a smoz of a finish that would even make the main event of WrestleMania 40 blush, and Jon Moxley heading into Monday morning as the company’s top guy. This all came after midnight EST … despite the pre-show starting at 6:30 p.m. EST … despite it being one of AEW’s B-Show PPVs … despite it being a Sunday night. The wrestling world let out a collective groan as the wee hours of Monday morning carried on. More Moxely? More Death Riders? No Swerve?
It appears so. And while you can count me among the many who are disappointed with that reality, I don’t necessarily begrudge Tony Khan for making the choices he makes as a booker. I mean, we’ve been chopping at that tree for years all across the board, no matter the company, no matter the matchmaker. We can’t agree with everything The Man decides to do and if pro wrestling was only ever designed to give fans exactly what they want, all the time, it’d be too boring to digest.
What I do keep having problems with, however, is the way these people at the top justify their decisions. Case in point: The quote that opened this column that came from Khan at the post-Dynasty press conference/media scrum/waste of time. “We had a lot of great moments for the fans tonight.” Oh? Is that so? You had almost a half hour dedicated to two TV matches in the Owen Cup Tournament bouts. A tag title match with zero mystery when it came to the outcome. An FTR heel turn that we all saw from a million miles away. Oh, and then that universally despised finish to the night.
Yeah, man. Lots of great moments for the fans, bruv.
Khan isn’t the only offender here. Paul Levesque’s explanations for his booking decisions aren’t much better. The next time I hear “Just let it play out” in a pro wrestling context will be much too soon for my liking. We get it. You think you’re six steps ahead of us at all times and you know what’s best for business, best for the product, best for the fans’ wishes. You get to play God in a made-up universe; if only we meager spectators understood your brilliance, we’d never have to complain or question your judgement. Chess. Checkers. All that bullshit.
Whatever.
It’s one thing to make a decision that isn’t liked by the majority of your customers; it’s another to justify it in ways that are blatantly insulting to said customers. “Guys, we still did a bunch of stuff that should make you happy because I’m telling you that it should make you happy! Forget about Swerve losing! Toni Storm wrestled!” Nope. To quote The Kids, “That ain’t it.”
Does this mean I think he should have walked to the microphone after the show last night and said, “You know what – yeah, we’ve had this plan for months, but I know it sucks and I’m really sorry I had to keep it moving. I should have just pulled the plug on everything, made Swerve the champion and head in another direction. Sorry, guys?” No, of course not. But there’s a lot of space between “We did so much to please you tonight!” and “We let you all down.” Sometimes, people like Khan and Levesque need to find it and live in it for a little while.
As for what’s next, we’ll have to see. It’s kind of hard to think Swerve will have that belt draped over his shoulder anytime soon now, and it’s also hard to believe that the Death Riders might go away in the near future. Those are two tough realities to swallow, but if TK says he knows better, then it’s up to us to reserve judgment (unless some or all of us are out of patience and have had enough of this nonsense, but that’s a different conversation).
In the meantime, I beg of you, Big Time Pro Wrestling Bookers, stop trying to sell us a sack of shit each time your genius ideas aren’t universally lauded the moment they are executed. There actually is a point when fans will turn away and investment in your characters becomes extinct. It’s easy to explain your shortcomings away these days because the industry is in somewhat of a boom period, but it won’t be this way forever.
Respect is a shared experience. If you don’t give it, don’t expect to receive it – despite how much you might want to convince us otherwise.
WHAT?!?! MCGUIRE HAS NEGATIVE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT AEW?!? NO WAY! (OH, and in other news, water is wet)
excellent article, I always enjoy your writing. I’m also glad that you pointed out that both companies are guilty of this which is very true, but it is the advent of storytelling wrestling which by most reviewers accounts needs to be a part of any build to important matches these days.
I don’t think tony was exactly wrong in his comments because they did have many creative moments in many good matches however most the card was overly predictable(based on the sories they were telling) which in my mind makes the main event stand out on its own (even though i wanted swerve to win and I don’t really like convoluted booked matches that both companies seem to be doing these days) and seperates it from the rest of the show.
TK is technically following Kevin Sullivan’s Booking 101 mentality of heels to keep adding and building heat into a balloon until it is ready to explode. This has to be done at All In Texas, so it feels predictable and dragged out.
Mox is just so in character as a detestable heel (by the way, so is Jericho) that the smarks have no desire to see non-cool heels anymore.
I don’t think it is justifiable to attack TK for building back Swerve as a viable contender in what turned out to be a filler PPV.