AEW: Well, what wasn’t a ‘boom’ for Feb. 26, 2020?

Boom: planting the seed over six months ago pays off with patience and coherent storytelling

Cody-MJF has basically been a year-long angle. The Bucks’ quest to gain the Tag Team Championships goes back to their loss to Private Party in October, and that’s coupled with Page not necessarily feeling like he belongs in The Elite and his character transformation the past few months.

Jericho has been the only World Champion for AEW, and Moxley has been on a months-long quest to gain respect and what he feels he deserves: a title match. Everything from Jericho trying to recruit Moxley to the eye stabbing of Moxley and Santana have just been well done, culminating in the last few minutes of Dynamite.

PAC and Omega started at All Out, continued on Dynamite in November, and has seen PAC do everything outside of criminal acts to have his rubber match with Omega. The first person Hager attacked in AEW was Dustin Rhodes. Orange Cassidy continually steps to PAC only to get kicked or punched in the face, and now he has his match with PAC.

IT’S NOT THAT HARD! When you have long-term vision, it is much more difficult to muddy the stories and angles on a week-to-week basis. The opposite usually leads to too much hot-shotting, incoherent stories, and displeasure from fans. One needs to look no further than WWE since the Royal Rumble with their planning and booking for two PPVs, I mean Network events, within a two-week span (today’s event and Elimination Chamber).

It’s also rewarding as a fan when you can call back to the genesis and catalysts for angles. It’s much better than wondering how, say, Bobby Lashley is wrestling one week after Braun Strowman tackled him through the staging area with sparks flying everywhere without selling and showing any damage.

Yes, having four to six PPVs a year helps, but so does competent storytelling. Here’s to the long-term booking of AEW.