For you professional wrestling fans, AEW All Out on Sunday night has to be considered one of the best PPVs top to bottom in wrestling history. Not only did the show feature great performances and the return of CM Punk it offered the reveal of two big stars at the end of the night with Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson making their appearance for the first time after leaving WWE.
The PPV pulled out all the stops and while you can’t expect something like this to occur for every event, AEW has done a great job of giving fans what they want. It does feel like the Monday Night Wars are returning. With the addition of the AEW talent mixed with the young talent from the independents, the company has depth. The only concern is if it can maintain a healthy balance of ensuring its young talent progress from ‘enhancement’ talent to main card superstar. A lot of that will have to occur with the blessing of a lot of the older, WWE talent to allow this to happen. The trick is easier said than done, as we can see from the WWE, Goldberg’s reemergence is not moving the needle for most viewers. But, the company is pushing him ahead of others. In AEW, the idea of 62-year-old Sting still making appearances is nice, but the rub he’s giving Darby Allin is what makes this work. Allin is sort of a one-trick, undersized stunt guy, but he’s learning under Sting to add more to his character…as well as the daredevil stunts. What I don’t want is a 62-year-old Sting to carry the main event.
On the other hand, guys like CM Punk and Bryan Danielson can still be top-tier guys but how much are they willing to put their ego aside to be a team player for AEW. One of the reasons they both left WWE was wanting to wrestle and direction with their character. Will they have creative control and the necessary humbleness to allow them to put over another performer. Last night’s Punk’s win over Allin didn’t seem to address that although you can argue that they didn’t want to take away Punk’s hot start.
The Young Bucks continue to put on great performances and have re-invented themselves once again from the makers of the movement to self-important narcissists. But the list of former WWE performers flooding the shores of AEW means less time for those that started with the company. While a portion of that is beneficial for the young talent, there comes a time when the passing of the torch will have to happen. If AEW can continue to find a balance and produce a team aspect of their promotion, it will have longevity.