Recently, legendary wrestler Booker T made some very interesting comments that got my attention when he said, “does The Khan family really know what they are jumping into with professional wrestling as well as the circus atmosphere of the professional wrestler?
He also went on to say “"Pro wrestling is a different animal than pro football and pro soccer. There is going to be a lot of money going out before the bulk of the money can come back in. It is a huge gamble for someone to take upon themselves, but I commend them and give them big props. This is something that the pro wrestling world has been looking for since the demise of WCW in the early 2000s." & “"Of course, everybody out there, all of those young guys are trying to get to NXT," Booker stated. "I mean, there are a few independent guys that can write their own ticket, but the majority of these guys are trying to get to NXT. But AEW coming into the fold, there's a lot of guys that are going to be able to make their way into AEW. They are going to need talent. A lot of these guys aren't going to become stars right away, they have to create stars. Everybody is not going to be a Cody Rhodes or a Hangman Page or The Young Bucks."
He finally said “"I am pushing for [Khan] and pushing for those guys to make it," said Booker. "Cody Rhodes is obviously a visionary. To come up with Stardust and then drop it to say that he is going to do his own thing with "The American Nightmare," trying to fall into the footsteps of Dusty Rhodes, a guy who I respected and admired so much. A guy who had done so many things for my career. I hope for the best for these guys and I hope AEW fulfills their dreams and becomes that one company to compete for the number 1 spot here in America. I am really looking forward to it."
I actually agreed with several key statements that he made about AEW because 1) Not everybody is gonna be Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, and The Young Bucks 2) New stars must be created an build them up to become even bigger stars with the new promotion.
Here are top 5 ways in which All Elite Wrestling can be different from WCW.
1. Build Homegrown Talent - One of the biggest mistakes that WCW did back in the mid-to-late 1990s was their refusal to make any new stars because they were solely focused on building up the former WWE stars to the moon like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair that even though it worked from 1996-1998, but during the end of their lifespan it became more of a detriment and overkill that it made many wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero frustrated with their position with the company and chose to leave and became bigger stars in The WWE. The only four stars that WCW actually created in the late 1990s were Goldberg, Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, and Sting. AEW must definitely avoid the temptation of signing and overbooking too many former WWE stars and focus solely on building up their homegrown talent. From the looks of it, they’re doing a good job so far in signing a lot of talent from the indie scene that doesn’t get much exposure, but with AEW, they will have even bigger exposure once they finalize a TV deal.
2. Avoid Having A Three Hour Wrestling Show Every Week - Another one of the biggest mistakes that WCW did from 1998-2000 was having a three hour Nitro that was successful in 1998, but starting in 1999 and continuing in 2000, it would become overkill as it led to increase overexposure of certain wrestlers like Hogan and Nash taking time away from the younger more talented wrestlers, storylines and concepts becoming full blown asinine like “Judy Bagwell on a pole”, and just certain things that kinda insulted the intelligence of fans like “The Fingerpoke Of Doom”. AEW must at all costs avoid the urgency to have a three hour weekly wrestling show every week like The WWE is currently doing with the three hour Raw that’s polluted with too much filler garbage that’s killing their current product. AEW can have a one or two hour show that will have very good storytelling and feuds that will make fans become emotionally and personally invested in and not doing things that could insult the intelligence of fans like WWE is currently doing.
3. Have A Very Strong And Talented Women’s Division - One of the things that I remember not liking about WCW that bothered me back in the day was the fact that they didn’t have much of a women’s division that was focused on athletic talent. The women from The WCW era that I remember like Torrie Wilson and Stacy Kiebler were valets mostly and not wrestlers. AEW recently signed Britt Baker who wrestled in that fatal four way women’s match at last year’s “All In” which basically tells me that they will indeed have a strong women’s division that’s based on athletic prowess in the ring and not on eye candy. I expect them to sign more women from the indie scene who are just as if not more talented than overrated female performers that are currently in The WWE like Alexa Bliss and Ronda Rousey.
4. Not Having Active Wrestlers Have Too Much Power Backstage - Another one of the biggest mistakes that WCW made was when Hogan, Hall, and Nash had way too much influence over the booking and creative direction of the company and this was clearly evident when Kevin Nash was named head booker of WCW back in 1998 and made some of the worst booking decisions in wrestling history such as booking himself to end Goldberg’s legendary streak and the infamous “Fingerpoke Of Doom” which later led to the demise of WCW. When I first heard that The Young Bucks were head bookers for AEW, I became very concerned because they should not be having that much booking power but one of the main reasons why “All In” was wildly successful last year was the amazing way that Cody and The Young Bucks booked that event. I personally feel that they should bring in people that live and breathe wrestling that can not only write good compelling storylines, but can also book matches better than the garbage Hollywood writers that The WWE currently has because I have seen that letting active wrestlers have too much power backstage breeds favoritism, greed, and corruption like with Hogan, Hall, and Nash back in WCW.
5. Avoid Bringing In Vince Russo Style Writers - Another one of the biggest mistakes that WCW made was bringing in Vince Russo as head writer in which I saw some of the absolute worst storyline ideas which insulted the intelligence of fans like myself such as David and Stacy’s “wedding”, viagra on a pole, and booking non-wrestlers such as himself and David Arquette to winning The World Heavyweight Title. AEW must at any cost avoid bringing in these Vince Russo style writers who absolutely know nothing about wrestling to write the weekly shows because one of the biggest killers of the current WWE product is the lack of storytelling and creativity that these Vince Russo style writers (Hollywood writers) force and shove down the throats of fans on a weekly basis that insults their intelligence.
Note: One of the biggest criticisms of WCW and The Old TNA back in the day were that they let’s be honest were dumping grounds for former WWE stars such as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. But with Chris Jericho’s recent comments on social media saying AEW doesn’t really need former WWE wrestlers to grow into a major player in a few years, it’s safe to say that AEW will not be a dumping ground for former WWE wrestlers like WCW and The Old TNA were back in the day.
Note: In terms of potential writers for AEW, Cody had this to say, “the talent will be working off loose bullet points, not lengthy scripts. Let’s be honest, it’s extremely difficult to thrive in a toxic environment like WWE nowadays where everything is so micromanaged from the horrendous scripted promos, garbage segments, and meaningless filler matches on the main roster. Also, the people on the current WWE main roster are heavily restricted from showcasing their full abilities in the ring due to the watered down PG rating they currently have.
A wrestler is a man or a woman who uses their amazing in-ring ability to tell a story which is something I’ve always been a fan of far more than sports entertainers like Hogan & Cena who did the same stuff in the ring and cut the same promos. Wrestlers > Sports Entertainers
The Conclusion - If AEW can be different from WCW in these top 5 ways that I mentioned above in this article, then in 3-5 years, they’ll become an actual player in the wrestling industry.
By Kwame Shakir
