It's been a day or so since the April 10th edition of AEW Dynamite in which the company made the decision to dredge up the All-In London incident by showing the video footage of the Jack Perry/CM Punk fight. And I've been trying to really bring into words why I personally am frustrated by it, so I figured in lieu of doing one of my monthly recap blogs (might be a tester point for future blogs), I would get my feelings out in a full blog. Because I feel like, especially after the recent Dynamite, I feel like an AEW fan who finally feels fully embarrassed to be an AEW fan.
Since the company's inception in 2019, I have followed them through their first PPV Double or Nothing, and every week of TV and most (not all, especially with the larger yearly count of the past few years) of the PPVs. I honestly prefer AEW on most weeks, especially in the midst of the WWE's drain circling era of the late 2010s where the product had become so poorly managed amongst Vince McMahon's depraved megalomania, anything would have been a better alternative. And AEW offered that, opening me to more wrestlers who have become some of my favorites. Eddie Kingston, Hangman Page, Orange Cassidy, Willow Nightengale, MJF. And especially the career growth of Swerve Strickland, one of the best examples of how the WWE squandered and haphazardly fired talent.
I think an AEW existing is important for the business. And, while even the most stoic WWE defenders will never admit it, it's been beneficial for WWE. Without AEW, we likely never would have seen Jade Cargill. Without AEW, Cody Rhodes wouldn't be WWE champion right now, or at least his road back wouldn't be as prolific. Without AEW, WWE wouldn't put in more effort and we'd be trapped in the Vince cycle of ripped scripts and rudderless booking. And without AEW, we probably wouldn't have CM Punk back in the wrestling industry. The industry thrives when there's a larger market and not just one place. And having an alternative, especially when WWE was at their worst, was something that I am glad to have.
