Last year, I wrote about how I was “done” with AEW, and I committed to that promise for a long time.
However, I suppose absence makes the heart grow fonder, because quite recently, I've found myself going back to watching what is arguably the number two wrestling promotion in the world. I can't believe that I've avoided it for so long, because just like I always felt before I stopped watching it, AEW is awesome!
So awesome, in fact, that I regret that I've gone so long without watching it on a regular basis. I tuned in once I found out that Andy Williams passed away (he was once a member of one of my favorite AEW tag teams), and now I'm here to stay. Here's why.
Firstly, It Was Kind Of Silly Why I Stopped Watching AEW In The First Place
Honestly, it's kind of embarrassing that I stopped watching AEW due to violence. I mean, I used to watch ECW, which once featured Tommy Dreamer, whose moniker was “The Innovator of Violence,” for crying out loud! So, for me to stop watching AEW for pretty much an entire year over a spot where Jon Moxley got impaled, well, I think it says more about me than it does about the promotion.
That's fine. I'm no longer a teenager who doesn't understand the pain that these performers go through just to entertain us. Nowadays, while I might cringe at Darby Allin for seemingly putting his life on the line during every match, I have to acknowledge that he knows what he’s doing, and if he wants to put himself through that kind of pain, so be it. I’m always free to just turn my head.
That said, I definitely wasn’t turning my head at the most recent taping of AEW Dynamite and Collision, since they continue to impress. In fact, because I have an HBO Max subscription, I can actually go back and watch older episodes that I missed. And, let me tell you, I wish I hadn’t stopped watching because…
There Are All Of New And Interesting Wrestlers, And I Regret That I Missed So Many Great Returns And Entrances When They Happened
I once wrote about the ten most impactful former WWE wrestlers who made the jump to AEW, and yeah, it was great seeing Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, and Mercedes Moné become All Elite. However, ever since I stopped watching AEW, many more wrestlers have made grand entrances that I didn’t even get to witness, which bugs me.
Like, I would have loved to have seen Tommaso Ciampa make his AEW debut, or Andrade El Idolo, who was here, then left, and is now back again (HOW YOU KNOW?). That would have been really cool, since I’ve been following him for many years, and kind of lost track of him once he left for WWE.
The biggest entrance that I WISH I saw when it happened was when Kofi Kingston and Austin Creed (Formerly Xavier Woods) arrived in the promotion and are now here as The New Level. I feel like I’ve missed so much, but thankfully, I’m now catching up.
In The End, It's Good To Be Back. Also, WWE Has Been Getting Stale As Of Late
Lastly, a while back, I was already thinking of bailing on AEW for WWE. So, with Moxley’s impalement spot being the final straw, I made the jump and was happy about it…for a little while anyway.
But, boy oh boy, is WWE hard to watch now. None of the matches interest me. I don’t enjoy watching either SmackDown! or Raw, and don’t even get me started on Main Event, because you couldn’t pay me to watch that.
It’s a shame that Andy “The Butcher” Williams’ death is the thing that brought me back to AEW, but now that I’m here, I’m staying. Joon Moxley's impalement spot, notwithstanding.
