Is Miro in AEW not working, or should we give it more time?

I was one of the many wrestling fans that were excited to see Miro debut on AEW. After that horrible storyline WWE did with Miro (known as Rusev at the time), Lana, and Bobby Lashley, fans couldn’t wait until his departure became a reality. With so much fuel brewing thanks to the way he was being presented on WWE television, the wrestling community was hopeful for him when he was released at the start of the pandemic.

AEW seemed like the perfect fit for Miro. Not only was given the opportunity to reinvent himself, but he could also have fresh opponents and interesting potential stories. I was really looking forward to seeing what would be new from Miro after his debut. But his gamer persona is not translating well to TV.

Miro has underwhelmed early in his AEW career.

I am a huge video game person going back to the early 90s and even I cannot buy into his gimmick. Billy Mitchell appearing with Miro on AEW Dynamite only made matters worse. For those that do not know, Billy Mitchell is not well-received in the gaming community after allegations of him cheating on his world records were discovered. There is a great video embedded below explaining the controversy.

There is always a “wait and see” approach when it comes to gimmicks in professional wrestling, but it has now been nearly a year since Miro signed with AEW and I have seen enough to say that it is not working. The way Miro is being showcased on AEW gives me the vibe that he is just another guy there. His matches alone have not been good or memorable, just mediocre at best. It did not help that Miro’s debut match was a sloppy, terrible, and mistimed mess. He has had better matches since then, but none to the level that I expected out of him.

AEW does have creative freedom and that is one of the major benefits they have over WWE. But that does not mean that every idea is a good idea. The gamer/best man gimmick is just not working nor having a positive effect on how the casual viewer looks at Miro.

I did not want to have that thought run through my mind because Miro is a great wrestler. But Miro was a far bigger star in his first year on the WWE main roster than he is here on AEW. I do think that there is time to do a complete 180 with Miro. But how much time does he need? In today’s world, patience runs thin and you have to do something to keep the fans interested in what you are putting on TV. There has to be a reason for the fans to stay in the room to see his match before they change the channel, or scroll on their phones.