5 big problems AEW's creative should address soon

Ever since AEW came into existence, the company has received some much-deserved praise for their work, be it from fans or wrestlers from fellow companies. The company has been able to maintain a steady viewership, along with providing intriguing storylines. AEW has done an exceptional job in such a short time, and their creative team deserves credit for the same.

But then, no show is perfect. As AEW projects itself as the alternative to the world's biggest wrestling company, WWE, they are bound to receive as much criticism as WWE, along with questions about their promotion.

In this article, we will try to present some big problems with the Tony Khan-led promotion, which, if addressed by the company, will help AEW grow.

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#5 Multiple storylines for every superstar

But isn't Dark Order feuding with Cody and Matt Cardona?

Chris Jericho is feuding with Orange Cassidy, but he also had a brawl with Mike Tyson. Hangman Page has FTR protecting him from beatdowns and drinking beer with him. FTR, on the other hand, is disrespecting Kenny Omega (who seems to be turning heel) and even building up to a feud with The Young Bucks. But then, The Elite and FTR seem to be on the same page in their fight with The Dark Order, who themselves are feuding with Cody and the recently debuted Matt Cardona (fka Zack Ryder). Quite straightforward, isn't it?

Satire aside, it would be a pain for a new fan to get upto speed with all the storylines that are taking place in AEW. With AEW, that issue gets compounded, which could put off new viewers.

Pro-wrestling, be it WWE or AEW, is a business after all, and every promotion's target should be to increase its audience by entertaining them, not confusing them.

#4 The Dark Order

Join Dark Order - But Why?

The Dark Order, for me, is a faction that had immense potential but has failed to deliver. While AEW did an exceptional job in building interest around the ultimate reveal of the group's leader, things have been downhill since then. The group's intensity has died down quickly, courtesy of the vignettes that portrayed Brodie Lee as a parody of Vince McMahon.

Even if we take into consideration the fact that Lee was bringing something new to the table and not mimicking his boss, those mannerisms certainly did no favor to the faction.

Secondly, The Dark Order has many recruits, but has even a single member of the Dark Order benefitted by joining the faction? Why would any wrestler from the AEW roster join the stable, if he isn't guaranteed success?

The entire concept of using Ten, or Five, or Seven every week makes no sense, as there is no story behind the Dark Order representative. Perhaps, using them in a capacity similar to Wyatt's druids will be the best way forward.

Finally, the faction and their leader have done nothing worth bringing the attention of casual fans upon them, apart from being chased away from the ring, which certainly isn't a good sign for the group.

AEW have tried something new with this stable, but the issue is that they aren't coming across as the dominant faction like they should, which is something AEW should work on soon.

#3 Stables not part of prominent storylines

The only time an AEW stable was in a prominent storyline

AEW has done an exceptional job in building up stables and has even given them enough screen-time, but the problem is that none of them have had an impact on the show. These stables deliver every time they step into the ring, but that is all they do. Instead of plotting memorable storylines around these groups, the company instead chooses to go forward with short-term programs that ultimately culminate in a multi-person tag match on an episode of Dynamite.

The Elite, Jurassic Express, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy have all been at odds with The Inner Circle, but there has been no blow-off match to these feuds. Sure, there was the Stadium Stampede match that pitted The Elite against The Inner Circle, but a lot of fans were excited for the match because of the talent involved, and not the story surrounding them.

The result is that even though AEW boasts a plethora of factions that are capable of main-eventing any PPV, the tag division of the company is lacking fire. The tag team champions being a makeshift team doesn't help things either.

Perhaps AEW should consider introducing the 6-man tag team championships, even if it leads to replacing the current tag titles. That way, not only do these stables get something to fight for, but it also allows AEW to show that they really are different from WWE.

#2 The ailing women's division

The women's division hasn't exactly set the stage on fire

Most passionate AEW fans agree that AEW's women's division is way behind any other division on the show. While the company has done a great job in building up Britt Baker as the heel of the show, one who can carry the company on her shoulders, an injury could derail all of AEW's plans for the women's division

Gimmicks like that of Kris Statlander being an alien didn't exactly help the division either. As of this writing, the AEW Women's Championship is the one to have had the most number of champions till now, at three (them being Riho, Nyla Rose, and Hiraku Shida).

While all of them have worked hard to elevate the title, none of them have had the same impact as Chris Jericho had on the AEW World Title. The introduction of the women's tag team tournament was supposed to give more screen time to these women, but AEW moving it to their YouTube channel shows the further neglect of the women's division. The talent is there, but star power and exposure is missing.

IMPACT Wrestling made a good move of signing Deonna Purrazzo and building her up as a dominant wrestler, before eventually putting the title on her. AEW should take a page out of Impact Wrestling's book by possibly hiring Tessa Blanchard to carry the division on her shoulders.

#1 Timing of storylines

Nice idea, bad timing

'Strike while the iron is hot' is something that AEW has failed to do on many occasions. AEW's content has shown that some of the storylines, or some parts of a particular storyline, are mistimed.

Take, for example, the big storyline surrounding the reveal of the leader of The Dark Order. This storyline kept going on for so long that even fans grew tired of it. However, it was Matt Hardy's misleading tweets that revived fan interest in that reveal.

If AEW was willing to go the Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens route for MJF and Cody, why did they not project MJF as Cody's friend since the very start? Wouldn't that have made the feud better? When considering a more recent example, if Brian Cage was supposed to lose his match against Jon Moxley, why was he presented with the FTW belt before the fight? Didn't it tarnish the reputation of a belt that hasn't even found its footing yet? Also, wouldn't it have made more sense if Taz had presented the FTW belt to Cage a week or two after the AEW Title match, to make up for interfering in the World Title match and proving that he values his client?

While AEW's approach of having stars write their storylines is commendable, perhaps some changes can be made to make the storylines intriguing and logical.