Pro fight in 2021: looking at the highs and lows of the year for AEW and WWE

While there is no shortage of wild and unique years in the history of professional wrestling, 2021 will remain one of the most interesting of all. Over the course of the year there were constant shots of changing landscapes as WWE and AEW tried to navigate a global pandemic.

With the return of talent that had long since been withdrawn from the talent jump ship, the most important U.S. professional wrestling roster was constantly changing, though perhaps most surprisingly, many of those changes came when WWE made several massive cuts to its roster.

There was also the return of live fans, and finally the tour schedules. While uncertainty remains prevalent, as COVID-19 shows no signs of slowing down or developing more contagious variants, the fight business is progressing, in constant waves.

Let’s look at 2021 and the ups and downs of the world of struggle.

Good

The big events delivered the goods: No matter what your feelings are on WWE’s weekly TV show, the promotion continues to shine at major events. There’s no denying that the WWE list is as full of talent as ever, even though they released a bunch of skilled actors throughout the calendar year. It wasn’t often that a WWE pay-for-event event left you in the ring.

If the big WWE events were good, the AEW ones were awesome. Twice in 2021, AEW offered events that are among the best paid views in the history of the fight. All Out and Full Gear professional wrestling were nights that reminded us of what they can do at their best: full of surprises, excitement, and nail polish. AEW also did well in its biggest TV specials with Bryan Danielson with 60 minutes with Kenny Omega and 90 minutes with Adam Page, and of course with moments like the return of CM Punk.

Big E finally reached the top: For years, WWE fans have highlighted him as someone with the full potential of being a Big E “boy”. When it came to winning Money in the Bank, it looked like Big was going to be a world champion. WWE did not drop the ball, although Big Ek announced on Twitter that it intends to release its title on Raw on September 13th. He did just that, beating Bobby Lashley to become the WWE Champion. among the best moments of the year.

CM Punk is back in action: AEW did not officially announce that CM Punk would return to the fight, but it was still sold out at the United Center in Chicago due to a rumor that Punk would appear on August 20th. effectively like video.

Return of fans: WWE and AEW did their best to navigate the pandemic, especially in difficult situations where fans were unable to attend the events live. However, there is no such thing as a live crowd at a wrestling event, even if the WWE certainly loved the ability of the ThunderDome era to control people’s reactions at the push of a button. WrestleMania saw the WWE’s first real push to bring the fans back, even though it took until July to get the full tour back. AEW also welcomed fans in a limited sense before returning to tour in July.

Bad

AEW still has a problem with women: While the AEW women’s gap is in a better place than at any previous time, it seems that the promotion still has a hard line on the amount of time women can spend on television each week. Each show gets a women’s match alone a women’s match. Interestingly, since September, the average women’s game in the AEW has been almost one minute longer than the average women’s game in the WWE. Women have time to shine when they are in the ring, they are not enough in the ring.

Setting a record by cutting large talent groups: Cuts are expected in the fighting business. Sometimes they are the result of talent problems and other times creativity has nothing to do with a fighter. But WWE had several massive cuts from development talents to top superstars, such as Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. Almost without fail, these cuts were the result of budget decisions. This excuse didn’t go well for the fans, as WWE has repeatedly reported winning records. While WWE raises money in a global pandemic, they have discarded talent that claims financial needs. It didn’t look good.

This exploding wire death match: Although the AEW stepped on the ring in 2021, the Revolution paycheck didn’t end with the coup – literally. After a great death match of the otherwise exploded barbed wire between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega, Moxley stayed in the ring while the clock counted down for the final explosion. Eddie Kingston threw his body terribly above Moxley as he recounted the countdown to zero, a gentle spark show, and a few sparks outside the ring at one of the flattest moments of the year. The AEW was going to become part of the “explosion” story, but for the time being it was a shame.

WWE is creatively in the wrong place and hurting the business: Here and there, WWE gets a good grade creatively. But much of the work that is done week and week in WWE programming has become obsolete, where ratings are declining and attendance is in a very bad place. You can try to blame many of these problems on the pandemic, but it’s hard to feel motivated to donate your time and money to a promotion while you’re forced to put two paid opponents you’ve seen together 20 times while WWE asks. “Can they live together?” Even Roman Reigns, who was a brilliant character in the second half of 2020 and in the first half of 2021, has run out of steam as the WWE has not created a credible opponent, ruining some of the most interesting potential foils of interest to wait for Brock Lesnar’s return.

The rise of the AEW and the fact that WWE put on compelling television and is struggling to attract large live crowds will make 2022 an interesting year. Can WWE direct the ship and continue on the scene of the main battle, or will AEW continue to close the gap while WWE faces real competition for the first time in decades?