AEW, Kris Statlander And Fan Expectation

AEW moves ahead after a well-received All Out pay-per-view, but what's seemingly a trend, the promotion's identity was called to attention.

The focus of this post is the reactions to Kris Statlander's shock title win in the four-way against Toni Storm, Jamie Hayter and Thekla. However, I did want to talk briefly about some of the other discourse that stemmed from All Out.

I didn't care much for the Cope, Christian Cage and FTR match. It reeked of MOMENTS, and it was borderline insulting to see Cope take FTR's big moves only to beat them with one spear. Another MOMENT was Jurassic Express reuniting and presumably starting a feud with The Young Bucks. I don't completely hate this since it seems like the end goal is to give the current AEW tag teams more fresh matchups while also working to build Jack Perry as a babyface. However, it is odd that this feud is partially being built on Being The Elite. The Bucks seem to be back to doing skits and building stories through BTE, but is that what the current AEW audience wants? What is AEW's identity? It remains a key question as long as AEW's TV ratings remain stagnant and WWE aims to hurt AEW's chances in its next media rights deal.

It is why I really liked AEW's decision to have Statlander pin Storm clean to win the AEW Women's World Championship. Tony Khan made the 30-year-old the first-ever wrestler to hold the TBS and AEW Women's Titles and put the strap on a potential future star who has zero connection to WWE.

I do understand the pushback on the decision. The four-way clocked in at 11:59, according to Cagematch, and fans felt Storm should have lost the title in a one-on-one match to make it more meaningful. That idea is what I find interesting.

It's something you often see in any form of media. For example, the Star Wars sequel trilogy was filled with countless fan theories. The Last Jedi, which, in my opinion, is one of the best Star Wars movies, went against many fan theories and, as a result, was viewed as bad.

In pro wrestling, we saw this with John Cena's heel turn. Cena aligned with The Rock (and Travis Scott), and WWE fans went wild speculating how things would advance following Elimination Chamber. It turned out to be a dud with Cena's Wrestlemania main event match against Cody Rhodes being universally reviled. However, the simple fact is that it was highly unlikely WWE could ever live up to those fan expectations.

Could Khan have booked a bigger storyline for Storm to lose the title in a one-on-one match? Yes, but against whom? The popular pick would have been Willow Nightingale. However, she's been kept on the back burner, feuding against the Triangle of Madness and other multi-person matchups. Storm also has already beaten Nightingale three times in AEW. She hasn't beaten Statlander, who has teased a future matchup in her post-All Out news conference.

However, a flaw of Khan's slow-burn booking style is that he sometimes never gets to that big match. Adam Cole suffered what likely is a career-threatening injury and wasn't able to give Kyle Fletcher his crowning moment as TNT Champion. Kenny Omega's battle with diverticulitis cut off many potential storylines, particularly a rematch against Bryan Danielson, who also had to drop potential dream matches due to injuries; it's unlikely we'll see Danielson give Wheeler Yuta the rub despite them teasing a potential matchup.

The randomness of pro wrestling means bookers must be firm in their choices when the time calls for it. Khan felt a four-way match at All Out was the right moment to crown Statlander. How he follows up on that will decide whether or not this was the correct choice. Statlander won using Yuta's advice that he gave before the match, so her connection to the Death Riders remains, as does a potential heel run. That could be what reignites her feud against Nightingale.

What this is an opportunity to do is to give the spotlight to an AEW original and make Statlander one of the company's top stars alongside Hangman Adam Page.

Thank you for reading until the end! I like to recommend a K-pop song or pro wrestling match at the end of every post. So, naturally, I'll recommend All Out, which can be watched on whichever PPV platform of your choice that offers the replay of the show. I'll also recommend TWICE Chaeyoung's debut album LIL FANTASY vol.1.