AEW’s locker room is brimming with a multitude of unique, interesting characters. Across the spectrum, AEW offers the traditional wrestling archetypes, new twists, and sometimes unique novel characters that break new ground.
AEW has comedy and cartoony personalities, like MxM Collection. AEW also has serious, grounded individuals, from the Death Riders to Samoa Joe. Clever parodies of traditional wrestling, The Outrunners, exist alongside the complex, long lore-driven sagas of The Elite, Kazuchika Okada, and Swerve Strickland. Others blur the lines. FTR and “Timeless” Toni Storm dominate their divisions while being hilarious. AEW women are openly sapphic. Other male characters are willing to be vulnerable about mental health and struggle.
Personally, emotional investment in the character aids my awe and love of the in-ring craft. Will Ospreay’s reminding me of the lads I went to university with, or Hangman Adam Page’s internal fights with imposter syndrome reflecting my own battles, elevates my love for these characters to the sky. They provide healthy parasocial bonds that make me care deeply for the in-ring action.
AEW’s philosophy framework rewards innovation. It also exposes weaknesses and amplifies stagnation. Weaknesses in characterisation in AEW can/do hinder fan perceptions and emotional investment in some wrestlers. Yet nothing is set in stone. Changes are always possible. Sometimes it’s about timing.
We’re looking at six wrestlers and five common ways wrestler characters in AEW (and wrestling generally) become stunted. We’ll also discuss how both the booking and these performers could seek to add new layers, directions, or motivations to their characters. Not because I or any other fan thinks we know how to book wrestling better. More because we want to emotionally invest.
