There’s a bit of a revolution going on in the wrestling world right now. At one time, WWE was the only “main” wrestling out there even with “competition” like Impact and Lucha Underground being on various TV channels. But now, with the bigger spotlight on NJPW, the rise of indies like never before, and the birth of All Elite Wrestling, there’s now a LOT more wrestling for people to enjoy. Just as important though, many fans have been vocal on social media that creatively, WWE is severely lacking right now.
Which is why many are hoping that AEW will be better (and so far have proven to be just that as we noted in the latest episode of The 450 Wrestling Podcast), because they want to enjoy wrestling in its purest form without being bashed over the head by what they’re “supposed” to like. After the latest AEW event Fyter Fest, the company’s financial backer and leader Tony Khan spoke about how the creative process works, and it’s a far cry from what WWE does:
“Since inception, it’s been a committee,” Khan said. “I think it’s like a lot of wrestling companies probably function with one person who’s at the end of the day has to make calls and go over everything. But with a bunch of people working together, we have a system. We have a group of coaches that go through each match and every match has a coach. And then we have the EVPs [Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson], who creatively are working together on everything. But not everybody is necessarily working the same amount of everything.”
So what exactly are the individuals working on? He went on to elaborate:
“For example, Kenny Omega. [He’s ] super involved and personally coaching the women’s matches,” he continued. “But me, I’m going over everything with everybody to some degree. The Young Bucks are super involved and what goes on in tag team wrestling and our company and Cody, not just in the singles but with so many people throughout the roster and our production and every one of them comes up with things that you wouldn’t believe, like little elements to the show.”
As you can see, AEW feels like a true team effort from start to finish, and fan response to Fyter Fest and their first event from May (Double or Nothing) has been incredibly positive. We’ll find out if they can keep this going in two weeks when their next event, Fight For The Fallen, arrives.
