Drip Feeding Nirvana
Creatively, AEW has started 2025 by delivering strong but, more importantly, consistent weekly programming. There are still issues. Some are old and systemic, like the restricted spotlighting and time given to the women’s division. Some growing pains might become recurrent. A handful of wrestlers have left, but others seem likely to join an already-stacked roster. Bloating is a real possibility again if history is forgotten.
Regardless, that fabled “Feeling,” which I described as nirvana-like euphoria when profiling AEW’s fifth anniversary, is returning. Last year, it was nearly PPV exclusive. Available primarily in-ring. Occasionally, it oozed through the story beats of feuds like Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Adam Page’s feud. But before, it dripped through every aspect of AEW. In ring, in promos, video packages. Possibilities lingered in fans’ brains between episodes.
Demystified, it was the creative detail, care, and interconnectivity that made wrestling tropes and cliches feel authentic. Characterization and motives formed connective tissue that made wrestlers feel new and real. It gave feuds a pulse. Attention to every small detail created a feedback loop. Our discussions and excitement seemingly fuelled each Dynamite. In terms of that, we received bursts of Nirvana.
That process of wrestling respiration is slowly regrowing. Tony Khan is back in the weeds to clear space. Green shoots of progress are visible. Yet they’ll be ignored by grifters and detractors. When outrage is currency, those dealing in it will retain their perception to maintain a narrative, especially when they aren’t watching the week-to-week developments that have made many AEW feel like the corner is being turned.
1) Collision’s Growing Equity
At its inception, Collision was a creative burden and a plaster on a festering wound. The soft roster split to keep CM Punk and The Elite separate only emphasized the unresolved problems of Brawl Out. The additional two hours of AEW risked oversaturation. Five hours of TV was a lot. A pecking order emerged.
Although Collision frequently contained great matches and angles, there were also squash matches and storylines that were ignored on Dynamite. It had its unique elements, but so did Rampage. Great, must-see matches some weeks, yes. However, despite lacking a storyline or promotional synergy, Collision became perceived as the B show.
Greater strides have been made to link Wednesday and Saturday nights. Events from one show bleed into the other. The matches have significance beyond a Saturday night. “Hangman” Adam Page’s heinous Texas Deathmatch with Christopher Daniels altered both characters and the current AEW landscape. Mariah May and “Timeless” Toni Storm’s feud saw some of its best moments on Collision.
Finally, Collision is receiving some equity. Despite competition from WWE and other sports and cultural events, AEW is booking meaningful cards. If it continues, we’ll soon have to start asking if it is Saturday yet.
2) Main Characters Fleshed Out Again
AEW is already meeting its New Year’s Resolutions in February. In both re-energizing our favorite AEW characters and giving wrestlers across the roster purpose. Across the card, AEW originals feel like people who, over five years, have grown and changed with experience. As the main character, Adam Page’s fantastic depiction of a mental health relapse risked becoming Flanderized if he remained eternally angry. Instead, retiring Christopher Daniels was a buckshot that made Page realize that he had to confront the consequences of his wrath.
Elsewhere, Swerve Strickland’s feud with Ricochet saw the former world champion repeat his cycle of self-destruction. Again, Strickland created his nemesis in Ricochet. Like Page, Swerve pushed Ricochet’s insecurities to breaking point.
MJF is becoming the version of the devil fans have craved for after his AEW World Championship reign. I’ve given The Devil his due for that reign, but subsequently, fans didn’t want the MJF, the wrestler who could put on the best matches with Will Ospreay. We wanted this insecure character who was better than us but also needed us.
Even Chris Jericho seems to be changing again!
3) Interconnected Locker Room
This fleshing out of characters is facilitated by world-building and attention to detail. It’s making the AEW locker room feel like an interconnected universe again. This was seemingly promised at the start of The Death Riders’ takeover but failed to materialize fully. It most effectively started with The Hurt Syndicate and their business cards.
Those golden tickets helped launch the re-invention of many. Strickland into his Hangman-like arc of self-discovery. Ricochet to embracing his true self. Splitting The Acclaimed so Antony Bowens and Max Caster may break out as singles stars in 2025. Taking the tag team championship from Private Party might allow a more interesting follow-up on their potential split.
Now, it’s increasingly present week to week. Backstage interactions tease future matches. Wrestlers are talking about the AEW World Championship. Resistance to the Death Riders is growing. Billy Starkz’s Dynamite appearance teases the possibility of Athena.
AEW is feeling once again like a dynamic ecosystem with foreshadowing and surprises.
4) Matches With Meaning
The laziest and stupidest criticism that remains leveled at AEW is a lack of storytelling. However, AEW was guilty of over-relying on being the place “where the best wrestle” to compensate for storyline deficiencies. AEW is imperfect, and that’s fine; I pointed out how the company can lean too much on the sports-orientated framework of wrestling to do the heavy lifting of emotive, personal storytelling. That balance is shifting. The variety and range are good. So is unpredictability.
Some matches are and will be predictable, and not always for the wrong reasons. Increasingly, big matches are happening where the result is uncertain. Other possibilities seem plausible. Although the Death Riders story arc remains divisive, some fans are wondering if Jon Moxley doesn’t walk out of Revolution with the AEW World Championship. Could Cope and/or Christian Cage will swoop in to screw his old friend and take the belt?
It seemed obvious Mercedes Mone would retain the TBS championship over Harley Cameron at Grand Slam. Still, fans (including me) pondered what if Cameron could win. Or regardless, what would happen next for both the winner and loser? How will this inform their characters? What’s next? The losses are, once again, for some wrestlers, starting to have as much meaning as the victories.
5) Changes All At Once
Personally, what gives me the most hope is that many of these changes are occurring at the same time. In 2024, it sometimes felt like problems were being with one at a time while other big-picture issues lingered. For example, AEW started promoting exciting matches without clear storyline reasoning or developments. Right now, things are happening in unison.
The AEW trios championship and division are being spotlighted. The Hurt Syndicate is propping up the AEW Tag Team division, while The Murderer Machines and The Outrunners are being positioned as challengers. The rebuilding will be slow but it’s happening. The AEW women’s division has a range of storylines across the card. New and returning wrestlers are being drip-fed into the rotation, and when some are removed, storyline reasons are being given.
It’s a unified effort rather than a piecemeal change. Attention is given to the whole garden rather than selective patches.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – AEW – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on AEW Revolution and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their YouTube
