Instead of Mike Tyson, AEW should focus on other talent

Mike Tyson getting the spotlight in AEW takes away from younger talent on roster. 

Professional wrestling is built in a way to draw fans into the content in hopes of keeping them coming back for more. Since the promotion’s launch in October, AEW has done an exceptional job keeping wrestling fans tuning in each week.

Mike Tyson made his presence felt at Double or Nothing and Dynamite this past week. It looks like Tyson is headed toward a story line with one of AEW’s biggest draws in Chris Jericho. Yet, for some the question is whether AEW’s creative direction is making the right decision in leveraging a major draw from the past.

Tyson is one of the most famous athletes in United States history. Whether fans loved him or hated him, his reign of terror in the boxing ring during the 80s and 90s made him one of the biggest box office draws in sports.

That led to him being featured in the professional wrestling world when he was involved in major storylines within the WWE. Tyson has once again drawn big headlines as an apparent return to competition in some form seems imminent.

AEW quickly garnered some level of attention when he was brought in for the PPV and the main event segment on Dynamite. Still, some are looking at this as another example of AEW leaning too heavily into names from the past and WWE fame.

Especially when there are so many individuals on their roster that would benefit from additional exposure and the attention that could come in an angle with Jericho.

AEW’s current World Champion is Jon Moxley. The first TNT Champion is Cody. One of the biggest angles from Wednesday’s show involved the debut of former tag team champions, FTR. Brodie Lee, Jake Hager, and Jericho has all been in the picture for the championship.

In Jericho’s case, he was the organization’s first champion. Tyson is the latest and probably not the last name that will join the promotion and move into a major slot based on his time in other places.

The need to build up new faces in the promotion

There is a need for time to pass to build up new stars in the way AEW is attempting to do. Positive steps were taken with the likes of Darby Allin, Britt Baker, Nyla Rose, Hikaru Shida – but that list is exceptionally short.

Plus, there is the fact that very few wrestlers of color on the men’s roster have received any type of consistent attention. The time and effort that is being placed into Tyson’s involvement could also be leveraged to give those individuals the time and space to grow into featured talent.

With Tyson promising to “kick Jericho’s ass” it is clear he is going to spend more time on AEW programming. If this helps the promotion gain even more traction as it continues to defeat the competitor in ratings each week, that is great. But it cannot be seen as much of an improvement in featuring new talent on their roster.

As the wrestling community slowly finds ways to reopen considering coronavirus, AEW will have the opportunity to use their expanding roster. Let us hope that usage includes more TV for those that have not seen previous exposure in the largest company in the industry.