AEW boasts a supremely stacked roster, but will that become a problem

All Elite Wrestling has a crazy stacked roster. Some have openly called it the best roster under one brand in wrestling history. And while that is a debatable point, it’s still clear that this group of talented performers are some of the best available. But three months into 2024 there’s also the rising question around whether AEW’s roster is getting “too” deep. Could AEW find itself in a situation where they have too many stars and not enough time to feature them effectively across the shows? That time may be closer than one thinks.

Take a moment to think about AEW’s roster. This group features performers like Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Darby Allin, MJF, The Acclaimed, Jack Perry, Eddie Kingston, HOOK, and several others who were with the organization when it started or fairly close to that date. Then there are the names that have been added since. Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Adam Copeland, Christian Cage, Swerve Strickland, Miro, FTR, The House of Black, and plenty more.

And don’t forget about a women’s division that features Toni Storm, Thunder Rosa, Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida, Riho, Nyla Rose, Ruby Soho, and multiple others who could thrive if given the opportunity.

Tony Khan has built quite the roster. And with Big Business on the horizon, there are more names to come. But is this going to get to a point where it becomes a problem?

Take, for example, Ricky Starks. Starks hasn’t had a match in AEW since February 7 when he and Big Bill dropped the titles to Darby Allin and Sting. He was someone many expected to remain a top threat as fans continued to rally behind him. Miro’s last match was on December 30 when he picked up a victory over Andrade, and he hasn’t had a match since. Since joining AEW in 2020 he’s had only 37 matches to date. Malakai Black is another one. His match against Bryan Keith on February 24 was his first singles match in AEW since January 5, 2022.

These are just 3 examples of top men’s performers who were expected to have more of an impact when they joined AEW. Each one has the potential to be a singles standout, even the AEW World Champion. But they’ve found themselves in middling positions for much of their tenure. Criticisms of Jay White’s booking is another example that has bubbled up in recent weeks.

Turning the attention to the women’s division, the long string of calls for Khan to give the women more time has been well recorded. AEW has put more effort into the women’s division in anticipation of Mercedes Mone joining the roster. But will the time dedicated to her take away from the time dedicated to others? Will more time be given across the women’s division for more stories, segments, and matches? Who does that take time away from? These are all excellent questions to ask as AEW continues to carve out its place in wrestling.

AEW has five hours of television across three shows. The company’s social media following is approximately 5 million combined on Twitter and YouTube. It will be interesting to see how this company leverages those platforms to give everyone time in the spotlight. As the company continues to increase the number of PPVs each year, there will also be a need to keep those cards packed with engaging matches featuring several of the top names on the roster. Either way, this is a challenge that hopefully the fans will enjoy watching, because there are so many reasons to be excited to watch this company’s content.

This is an excellent time to be a fan of professional wrestling. There’s so much to like across major companies and independent promotions. All Elite Wrestling is the go-to company if you enjoy professional wrestling. With this roster, there’s no way they can miss that mark. But here’s to hoping that fans get to see the names that mean the most to them over time.