5 Problems about AEW nobody wants to admit

Disclaimer: The views of the author do not necessarily reflect those of Sportskeeda.

All Elite Wrestling arrived on TNT with their smash-hit weekly TV show Dynamite in the fall of 2019. Ever since its inception, AEW has projected itself as a wrestling promotion that wants to bring professional wrestling back to the people. Over the course of almost a year, with a weekly TV show and several PPVs in its back pocket, AEW has put on some of the best pro wrestling in North America in recent history. As refreshing as the new promotion has been, that does not mean that they haven't had some missteps. AEW's honeymoon phase is definitely over, and they have started to display some notable weak spots.

It is clear that AEW is a welcomed alternative to the often-described "stale" product of WWE, and many vocal fans have been sure to make that clear on social media and in arenas across the country. The change from the norm is something that wrestling fans have been calling for for a long time. Vince McMahon's target audience resides within the casual fans, not necessarily the die-hards who WWE knows will be watching no matter what, as Monday night wrestling has been etched into the brains of many long-time fans. Of course while this approach has not been producing stellar ratings or big arena ticket sell-outs, the brand is still proving to be successful. Television money from broadcast partners USA and FOX is at an all-time high, and partnerships across the world are stronger than ever. WWE's approach to wrestling as "sports entertainment" and seemingly making "wrestling" a dirty word has left a bad taste in the mouths of all many long-time hardcore fans. As the number of dissatisfied individuals increased each week, AEW was essentially willed into existence.

Despite massive ratings victories overall and in key demographics on Wednesday nights agains the direct competition of NXT, AEW has had a few issues of its own that definitely need to be worked out.

AEW has been great and is a much needed respite from the cookie-cutter product that has been served up for so many years. Tony Khan's upstart promotion does not produce a flawless product, however. Initially, a lot of the mistakes made by AEW were forgiven by fans, as the company was in its infancy. Now, as AEW has had some time to settle down and has been producing shows for 10 months, it is susceptible to the same harsh level of criticism that WWE faces every week. Complaints of under-utilized stars such as Shawn Spears and Jimmy Havoc have been made. On the same note, the fans' disapproval of Brandi Rhodes' Nightmare Collective faction resulted in enough backlash that AEW was forced to end the storyline prematurely. Conversely, great wrestlers like Scorpio Sky, Jungle Boy, and Darby Allin have risen to superstardom.

With all of the above in mind, here are 5 problems that nobody wants to admit about All Elite Wrestling.

#5 Too much in-ring cooperation

To be fair, this is not just a problem with AEW. Too much of wrestling nowadays has been reduced to spot-fests where a lot of the moves are performed with an assist from a wrestler's opponent. Although every wrestling match in the industry does not have to be a tough battle between two aggravated opponents who want to hurt each other, a lot of the wrestling featured on AEW feels like a make-believe battle between two friends in a game of one-upmanship.

A lot of the product in 2020 is too different from the traditional mat-style of wrestling from previous decades that focused on realistic battles. AEW has been very keen on putting out performances to keep the audiences in awe rather than forming matches that look like true contests of physical competition. They lack a certain aggression and intensity that is the norm of traditional sporting events.

This is not a knock on the current spot-driven wrestling style or the traditional style of realistic offense or any hybrid of the two. In my opinion, the overall aim of a wrestling match should be to win, not just checking off a to-do list of spots. A sense of logicality is required for everything that happens in the ring. Each spot should be centered around a need to take home a victory. If a sense of importance can't be brought to winning a wrestling match, the idea of having the match itself becomes questionable.

AEW's wrestlers, particularly those featured in the tag team division, have been guilty of losing track of the desire to win matches. Instead of scratching and clawing to put out victories in a company that claims that wins and losses are more important than anything else, they have been putting too much effort into creating matches that will make for great highlight reels.

#4 An overbearing fan base

Ever since All Elite Wrestling started, it would be safe to say that a majority of wrestling fans have wanted to see it succeed. Due to a lack of competition, the wrestling industry in the United States had been monopolized by Vince McMahon and WWE for nearly two decades. McMahon had starting getting into a comfort zone with the quality of his product as there was no other major alternative for the fans to turn to. To promote this monopoly, WWE has amassed a large cache of popular independent wrestlers so that no other promotion can bring them in and utilize their star power tot their benefit.

In All Elite Wrestling, the hardcore wrestling fans have been provided a reasonable alternative which, like WWE, is backed by a billionaire. The product is accessible worldwide, though not on the scope that WWE's is at this time. This has created a "war" of sorts between the two promotions, specifically between AEW and WWE's NXT brand. Unfortunately, any war tends to bring out the worst in people.

There are a lot of WWE loyalists who believe that Vince and Co. can do no wrong, The reverse, of course, also exists. There are a lot of AEW loyalists who are so blindly in love with the promotion that they ignore all the flaws that are clearly exhibited on a weekly basis. It is understandable to want to see your favourite promotion succeed, therefore focusing on highlighting the positives, but there should be a willingness to stop pushing the narrative that a company can do no wrong.

Pro wrestling fans have always had a certain "tribalism" about them. When this mentality is demoted to avoiding any questions regarding their preferred product or downplaying -- even completely ignoring -- the idea that the "other guy" can produce a good segment, problems start appearing. This is why some of the essence of All Elite Wrestling has been destroyed. There's a lack of a policy promoting all-acceptance. Instead of wanting wrestling to succeed, many fans have become disallusioned to the point in which they believe that AEW should be the only game in town and that WWE needs to be shut down.

#3 Lack of effective heels

I will make this statement before we get started. Chris Jericho is a legend. His title reign as the inaugural AEW Champion helped elevate the company and immediately made the title feel like an important championship to chase. Jericho's loss to Jon Moxley at Revoultion helped solidify Mox on the top of the food chain.

AEW certainly has various characters who are heels and are portrayed as such. Like many wrestling promotions nowadays, it is extraordinarily difficult for a heel to get the kind the heat that is expected. Nearly all top heels are unable to garner significant, continuous heat.

One of the best examples of this problem was with the first appearance of MJF on Dynamite after Full Gear. He had screwed Cody over by throwing in the towel, thus ending his championship match, resulting in Cody losing the chance to ever receive another shot at the AEW World Championship. His entrance to the ring reflected the results of his betrayal, as he arrived to a chorus of boos. Within a few minutes, however, the crowd had performed a 180 degree turn and was laughing along with him and "Le Champion" Chris Jericho. They were even outright cheering the two heels.

Similarly, Chris Jericho is one of the company's biggest bad guys, probably the absolute biggest. Even a legend like Jericho finds himself being cheered. His entrance always triggers a sing-along to his popular self-performed "Judas" theme song. This behavior is expected for a top babyface like Cody, but it is not expected for the man who should be hated for his words and actions.

This is not a fault on the part of the wrestlers or the booking. It is rather a drawback of having an audience which largely consists of hardcore wrestling fans who know a lot, maybe too much, about how the business functions. They appreciate the hard work that goes into creating a character and ultimately end up applauding the tactics of villains because of perfornances done well. Due to this, it is almost impossible to generate sustained heat.

#2 Not enough focus on the Women's Division

One of the biggest letdowns regarding AEW has been the underperformance of the Women's Division. It is plagued by a number of issues from below-average booking, too much focus on the wrong people, and a general lack of big stars (or the absence of attempting to create any).

There are some popular female stars in AEW like Kris Statlander, current Women's World Champion Nyla Rose, Britt Baker, and, the first-ever champion, Riho, but they have nowhere near the drawing power that the men possess. On the contrary, WWE has successfully built 4 big stars in the form of the group of women formerly known as the Four Horsewomen of NXT (Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Bayley). They have also created stars like Alexa Bliss and Asuka, who have produced brilliant stories and matches when given the opportunity.

Even if we compare AEW to its Wednesday night competitor NXT rather than WWE's main roster, the Women's Division pales in comparison -- possibly by an even bigger margin. NXT has one of the best rosters of female wrestlers on the entire planet, with so much starpower that they can feature a number of them on one show yet still have a litany of popular women backstage. It features some of the newer generation's biggest names like Rhea Ripley, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, and Mia Yim. On the contrary, the women's division of AEW sometimes can't even properly fill a single segment.

The only long-term storyline that AEW attempted to put forth was the Nightmare Collective, which was questionable to begin with. After being met with harsh criticism, the angle was dropped and the group was disbabded and taken off television.

AEW droped the ball by not securing big stars like Tenille Dashwood, Tessa Blanchard, and Mercedes Martinez. This has resulted in a lack of star power at the top of the women's card. Due to this, AEW has to take some long strides to make the women's division better and provide the outstanding roster of young ladies that was promised over a year ago.

#1 Too many stables

There is only one problem in AEW that is biiger than the underwhelming utilization of the women. That would be the company's reliance on an excessive amount of stables.

Let's count down every stable in AEW. There are: SCU, Jurassic Express, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy, The Dark Order, The Inner Circle, the newly-formed Death Triangle, and finally, The Elite. What's next? The Malicious Square? In my opinion, more than half of these stables belong on a low-budget indie show, not in AEW. The only definite stable which has elevated its members is the Inner Circle. All of the other stables have struggled to even stay afloat, much less elevate their members.

Almost every episode of Dynamite involves a clash between two or more of these stables. It is conclusive evidence that AEW relies a bit heavily on these groups in an attempt to make sure that their individual superstars succeed.

This is further demonstrated by the fact that as soon as the likes of Matt Hardy and Brodie Lee debuted, they were immediately aligned with existing factions. Lee was revealed as the much-anticipated Exalted One of The Dark Order while Matt Hardy joined The Elite in their battle against Inner Circle.

Although they had logical reasons for joining these stables -- Hardy being a friend of the Young Bucks and Lee joining a cult of "overlooked" people -- it doesn't discredit that I believe there here are simply too many groups. AEW favors them over keeping wrestlers on their own, which can certainly be beneficial. Poor mic workers can be shielded, a single charismatic leader can raise the stock of the others (like the aforementioned elevation of Inner Circle members thanks to Chris Jericho), and the eventual "gang fights" will be exciting.

These "gangs", however, have infiltrated the product to the point that they are hurting individual wrestlers more than they are helping them. In conclusion, AEW should avoid perpetrating the same mistakes made by WCW, it's spiritual ancestor. It made WCW nearly unwatchable during the company's final couple of years, which in part led to their unfortunate demise.