All Elite Wrestling might’ve found a formula that works.
The common criticism of All Elite Wrestling, especially after its initial launch and the novelty of a new product worn off, was that the slapstick approach by Tony Khan doesn’t fully utilize the talent or the opportunity the company has. We’re five years into the All Elite experiment, the organization will flourish or flounder on its own merit. Unfortunately, for nearly half of its existence, the latter was the case more often than not. Those “dream matches” that Khan put on national television without any build up or a way to introduce athletes only known to the most diehard fans didn’t generate a boost for the TBS audience.
Many of those problems have and will continue to remain a part of the Tony Khan project, it’s just the nature of his E-fed approach to pro wrestling. If Tony wants to see it, regardless of if it makes sense for a national organization in the United States on cable television, he will book it. It’s one of the perks of the job, Tony’s billionaire family allowed him to start a pro wrestling promotion with enough cash behind it that he can pay for his favorite wrestlers to work the matches that he wants to watch in AEW. That’s not even meant as a knock, but rather a realistic evaluation of the product. Ask yourself, when has Tony Khan truly booked for a national television audience? More often than not, he books for himself, which caters to the most diehard demographic of fans. If there were enough of those fans for a national group to be successful, the niche independent leagues would be on a bigger stage instead of being just independent leagues. Khan structures so much of his product around charts, graphs, or minuscule details that only the most diehard fans that dedicate a skewed amount of time to professional wrestling could follow the references, which completely clashes with the mission statement of a national organization.
However, the conclusion of Dynamite last week was more or less the opposite of the usual Khan booking methods, it was based on emotion, and perhaps that’s why it worked so well.
Ironically, it was during the course of the Owen Hart tournament, a booking troupe that Khan enjoys using as much as possible with the Continental Classic, or any other tournament format because it eliminates the logic behind why a match should take place, as it’s simply the winners that advance, the women’s division had its best angle in at least the past few years.
Mariah May, who was praised by The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer for her work in Stardom in Japan, was cast as Toni Storm’s lackey. Usually, that’s where a talent flounders for an extended period of time until any momentum they have completely dissolves, with Wardlow and Takeshita being prime examples of the failure to follow up on talents that the have potential for a bigger role in the company. Wardlow has been on the roster for five years and somehow is still running in place as the heel bodyguard, playing second fiddle to a bigger star. Truth be told, in the role that she has been placed in so far, Mariah May hasn’t had the opportunity to show much more than secondary skills as her premise on the show was to be a sidekick to Toni Storm. If she has the ability to go further than that, remains to be seen, but the angle that took place at the conclusion of Dynamite at least opens the door for that to be a possibility.
Different from the Wardlow and Takeshita, both of whom plateaued because Tony Khan got distracted with his latest signing at the time, Mariah turned on her mentor with a dastardly angle to give the storyline a meaningful purpose going forward. Considering that Toni Storm continued to be booked as a heel, despite the baby face reaction she gets from the crowd because of the gimmick, it made sense to turn Mariah May heel for this storyline. In some ways, it allows for more organic development and spontaneity within the product since the audience ultimately decided that Storm was a baby face.
The way the turn was done stood out because it’s rare that you see women bleeding in professional wrestling, especially in the United States. Don’t get me wrong, I think women can main event a pay-per-view, be presented as the biggest stars in a particular company, be the CEO of a major corporation, or president of the United States, but the visual of a female bleeding can be somewhat unsettling. Look at it this way, Bruiser Brody or Abdullah The Butcher wear scars much better than some of the beautiful female athletes that are some of the biggest stars in the industry today. Perhaps, that’s too much of a traditional mindset, but I could promise that it’s not meant with any misogynistic intent. I think we can all agree that Toni Storm is much prettier than Abdullah the Butcher, right?
Still, the fact that females bleeding is a rare occurrence, even for AEW, gave this angle, a specific level of intensity that often lacks within most AEW storylines, let alone, the often disjointed female division. Granted, All Elite Wrestling uses way too much blood and way too many gimmicks on their programming, which muddies the waters in terms of this particular presentation, but given how popular the “Timeless” character is, there could be some business to be done with this angle. Sure, part of the popularity that Toni has is some of the wackiness that the persona brings to television, but for this storyline, there’s also a chance for her to evolve some aspects of her character.
On the flip side, a few months ago, Willow Nightingale and Skye Blue had a pointless hardcore match with barbed wire and thumb tacks on the Rampage, the C-show, and it accomplished absolutely nothing. At least this violence was used to further an angle and had a purpose, Mariah May brutally ambushed her mentor. It elevates Mariah and makes her more than just a sidekick on the show. There was progress for her character and the angle itself, instead of the Willow/Blue example that had dangerous bumps for no reason or purpose in the organization.
However, it’s doubtful that Tony Khan sees the different between those two scenarios. One segment had bumps on barbed wire and tacks for a “feud” that most of the fans probably didn’t recognize as one or can barely recall that the match even happened on the lowest-rated show of AEW’s weekly line-up. The other took one of the more over performers with the All Elite audience and used a heel turn against her to elevate the status of a talent that was deemed to have potential. The Toni Storm/Mariah May storyline has the ingredients for a successful pro wrestling angle, but again, if Tony recognizes that is a completely different situation.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
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