5 Things AEW can do to improve in the company's second year on TNT

The fact that All Elite Wrestling is even around is a success in and of itself. AEW provided a home for many wrestlers, as an alternative to big promotions like the WWE, IMPACT or NJPW. While those promotions have stemmed the tide, the likes of Ring of Honor, Major League Wrestling and other independent promotions have seen a slight loss of their performers.

AEW is one of the companies that has been able to operate through the pandemic rather than being forced to stop all activities. IMPACT has also been able to continue while ROH and MLW have not been able to.

Even though it's been around since the beginning of 2019, AEW Dynamite, their weekly TV show, will become a year old this October. While simply having a product for TV is a success, there are still some areas where AEW could improve. The match quality is usually pretty good and any time Chris Jericho, Britt Baker or MJF cut promos is a plus.

But like every promotion, AEW has some work to do to get better. Whether it involves the characters, storylines or structuring of matches themselves, AEW can get even better by making a few changes. Here are five alterations that could help AEW improve in its second year on TNT.

#5 Tweak some characters, be consistent with others

A lot of what AEW has been forced to do in 2020 has been dictated by the COVID-19 pandemic. They've been able to continue with Dynamite each week, but like every other wrestling company, they've only been able to use talent in their state, or those that have been able to travel to it.

International talents, like all of the Joshi women and the likes of the Lucha Brothers, were unavailable due to travel restrictions. Some of those factors led AEW to release both Bea Priestley and Sadie Gibbs. Both women were working in Japan, but Gibbs had only been shown backstage a few times and was rarely ever used. Simply using some characters that have returned will do wonders as absence sometimes makes us miss or forget them.

Another thing involves tweaking some characters to maintain consistency. Brandi Rhodes appears to be a heel during most of her matches and promos but is a face when she accompanies Cody to the ring. Keeping her on one side or the other would make things flow more smoothly. Cody has previously said that he doesn't want heels and faces set in stone, but the dynamic makes things a lot easier.

Joey Janela is the "Bad Boy" but he hasn't been used much during his time in AEW. All he's done is lose big matches to Lance Archer and Jon Moxley and feud over his girlfriend. Maybe they could make him a heel loose canon after he is done hanging with Sonny Kiss. Small changes to characters or consistency when someone shows up on TV more than once would help the flow of Dynamite.

#4 Slow down the pace of matches and try to make them unique

If you've watched almost every episode of Dynamite and/or the PPVs, most of the AEW matches follow a similar formula. Most of the time, the face is in peril before going on a run to get back into the match. This usually includes using a suicide dive or tope con hiro to the outside. There are very few moments of rest. It's okay to use similar moves in a couple matches a night, but not every contest in a 2-hour show.

This isn't to say that AEW is the only company that has a formula for it's contests, but AEW's is often way too fast-paced. Moves often happen at such a rapid pace that it's easy to miss a few of them. A lot of that has to do with still adhering to the independent style of wrestling where stars hit move after move after move instead of slowly building to big spots.

WWE have been criticized in the past for its overuse of rest holds like a headlock, but that seems like it would be something good to use during AEW matches. Jon Moxley and some others do use them, but because they are often so fast-paced, a lot of the same moves (suicide dives, superkicks, tope con hiros, knee strikes, to name afew) get used. If they don't slow down the pace of their matches, then they could at least restrict the use of certain moves.

Every star that came from the indies has a suicide dive and superkick in their arsenal. Johnny Gargano also has those moves and with so many people utilizing them, they seem less special. Remember when Sweet Chin Music or the Last Call kick was a finisher? Now everyone from the Bucks to Cody to Marty Scurll to Dolph Ziggler, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens all use the superkick.

Cody is actually one of the few AEW stars to utilize a lot of storytelling in his matches which sets him apart from the rest of the roster. Perhaps it is because he came from WWE and is Dusty Rhodes' son. But in order to make all of its bout seem different, AEW needs to rethink its formula.

#3 Abide by the rankings or abandon them completely

When AEW first announced that they would be utilizing a rankings system for their stars, it made sense. Matches in WWE often just happened to build towards an eventual title match. The champion would lose a non-title contest to a potential challenger but then the champion would win the actual title match.

By having rankings in AEW, it should mean that every match counts and that those that empirically won more of their bouts would get a shot at the champion. For the longest time, however, MJF had been undefeated and at the top of the rankings. But for whatever reason, he didn't get his title shot until All Out. In his stead, the likes of Brian Cage and Mr. Brodie Lee have joined AEW and had shots at Jon Moxley. Cage did win a ladder match but the point remains the same.

Regarding the TNT Championship, rankings don't matter at all. Whichever star confronts Cody seems to get a shot like Jake Hager or Scorpio Sky. It was a nice way to debut Ricky Starks and Eddie Kingston but they weren't even ranked. He did claim that he was open to defending the belt against everyone, but shouldn't an established member of AEW like Jungle Boy, Darby Allin or Shawn Spears have gotten shots instead?

The point to be made here is that while it's good to have every match mean something, it doesn't work if the system isn't adhered to. Certain challengers are obviously kept in waiting until big PPVs, but the rankings system has clashed with AEW booking storylines.

The rankings system has hurt the women's division with such an inconsistent booking history in year one. While the pandemic has kept part of the roster out of the US, most of the other women are hurt. The former Champion Nyla Rose is the top-ranked woman while Britt Baker, who has been out for a few months, is still ranked fifth. It was a good idea but if AEW continues to use it, they need to put it to use in a better manner.

And as a random aside, the Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall) are ranked (4th) and have a better record (6-2) than both the Lucha Brothers (1-3) and Santana and Ortiz (4-4). Let that sink in. It's true that the Lucha Brothers may have been restricted by travel due to the pandemic, but they still struggled to break into the tag team rankings all year. Weren't they supposed to be some of AEW's bigger stars?

#2 Make the villains mean something

To me, this is one of the biggest spots where AEW has failed to truly build monsters. When the company first formed, Chris Jericho was obviously the top heel. Most of the roster wasn't physically big like Braun Strowman or Kane but were instead dangerous because of reputation and the group they ran with (Inner Circle).

When both Brodie Lee and Lance Archer joined AEW, the promotion had a huge chance to create one of their first monster heels. Lee would be more of a cult leader type but one that is physically larger than most of the AEW roster. He did have the Dark Order backing him up most of the time, but he failed in his bid to dethrone Moxley.

In order to truly make the Dark Order and Lee seem utterly dangerous, he needed to win a title at some point, or at least Evil Uno and Stu Grayson could have captured the AEW Tag titles. Had they won the those belts, all of their posturing would have been justified. Instead, they are just an annoyance feud for any group like SCU or the Elite.

Archer should have been the first TNT Champion, in my opinion. It would have established a new giant heel and obstacle for babyfaces in AEW to overcome. Had he won the title and then cut a swath of destruction through most of the roster, he would have been catapulted into the stratosphere. Think about how Rollins and Drew McIntyre came off after beating Brock Lesnar.

Once again, the opportunity was missed so that Cody could win the title and defend it every week. Archer, on the other hand, beats jobbers and throws people around backstage just in order to get noticed. By not building up these monster heels in AEW, it doesn't lend much credence to them being the true danger that they are presented to be.

The building of The Fiend was done well, although losing the title to Goldberg did hurt his momentum. WWE has still built both Wyatt and Randy Orton well as diabolical heels over the last few months.

Instead of taking the ball and running with it, some of the Elite need to push other stars so that the monsters can rule the yard. That would eventually set the stage for a triumphant face to overcome them.

#1 Shine more light on women

Penelope Ford gave Shida all she could handle

The problem with the women in AEW has been two-fold. While not many people could have predicted the COVID-19 Pandemic, most of the women's roster has been stuck overseas and/or released. A big part of the initial formation of AEW was that it had a strong Joshi presence in its women's division, including two of its first three AEW Women's Champs (Riho, Hikaru Shida).

In addition to those two, Yuka Sakazaki, Emi Sakura, Sadie Gibbs and Bea Priestly were all members of Stardom and competed sporadically for AEW. The latter two women were released last week. The women of AEW have also been hit hard by the injury bug as Kris Statlander, Shanna and Britt Baker are all currently out with ailments. Baker seems to get hurt once every three months. She's had a concussion, broken nose and leg injury in her first year with AEW.

The promotion did sign more women (Big Swole, Anna Jay, Statlander) along the way after tryout matches on AEW Dark, but it still needs more women to round out the division with good depth. That could happen if they reach deals with any of the following women - Ivelisse, Diamante, Lil Swole, Rachel Evers, Tay Conti - unless they were just brought in to fill out teams for the women's tag tournament.

There are also the likes of Kelly Klein, Priscilla Kelly and many other talented women who are unsigned. And fans have also questioned why Allie has been more of a manager/tag wrestler than a singles star when they are hunting for challengers for Shida?

Another problem that could have helped the entire roster was that episodes of Dynamite rarely have more than one women's match. Sometimes, there's only a segment for the women and no matches. People can criticize WWE all they want, but the last few months of programming have at least had multiple feuds/matches/segments featuring women.

By allotting a few more minutes or ring time to the women, it would have kept all of the match-ups available to AEW fresh. Instead, all of the tag teams seem like they have already faced each other (except for newer ones). Since most of the tag teams have already squared off, it means that AEW will have to dip into the well again since not every match had a storyline/angle attached to it. Giving more TV spotlight to the women would help the entire show out.