When All Elite Wrestling burst onto the scene in 2019, it wasn’t just another promotion trying to carve out space in a WWE-dominated landscape. It was a movement. A declaration that wrestling could be fresh again, that talent could have creative freedom, and that fans could rally behind an alternative that didn’t insult their intelligence.
The company rode that momentum hard. From Double or Nothing to All In, from the surprise debuts of Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson to the rise of homegrown stars like Darby Allin and MJF, AEW looked like the future of the industry.
But here’s the truth: six years in, AEW doesn’t feel like the future anymore. It feels stuck.
This isn’t to say AEW is dying—it’s not. It still delivers fantastic wrestling. It still sells pay-per-views. It still has a core audience that loves it. But being good isn’t enough anymore. AEW has hit the point where it must grow up, shed its start-up identity, and evolve into a real institution.
That requires discipline. And discipline means making tough choices that AEW has avoided for too long. There are four areas that Tony Khan and his team cannot afford to ignore if they want AEW to still be standing strong in five, ten, or twenty years.
1. It’s Time to Make Peace with Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes’ departure in early 2022 remains the most defining “what if” in AEW history. One of the company’s founding fathers, Cody represented everything AEW was supposed to stand for—freedom, creativity, and a platform for talent who had been overlooked elsewhere. He wasn’t just an EVP on paper; he was a leader in the locker room and the face of the company’s early branding.
And then, he was gone.
The fallout has never been fully addressed. Cody has spoken in interviews about feeling disrespected, about AEW’s culture shifting around him. He has described his departure with raw emotion, painting a picture of being out of step with his own creation. But from the other side—Tony Khan, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega—we’ve heard almost nothing. Silence.
That silence is damaging. Wrestling fans may not know every detail of backstage politics, but they know when something feels unresolved. Cody’s exit still hangs over AEW like unfinished business.
History tells us unresolved stories linger like ghosts. The Montreal Screwjob haunted WWE for years until Bret Hart returned. Hulk Hogan’s messy WCW exit became part of his eventual WWE redemption. Even Bruno Sammartino, estranged from Vince McMahon for decades, eventually returned to the fold. Fans love closure.
For AEW, reconciliation with Cody doesn’t have to mean a return match or a Dynamite cameo. It doesn’t even have to mean Cody putting pen to paper on an AEW contract again. What it does mean is acknowledgment: recognizing his role, his departure, and the mistakes that were made on both sides.
That could take the form of a documentary, a podcast sit-down, or even a tribute package that openly says, “Yes, this man helped build AEW, and his story is part of ours.”
If WWE can mend fences with Bret Hart after Montreal, or with Ultimate Warrior after years of lawsuits and bitterness, AEW can certainly find a way to extend an olive branch to Cody Rhodes. And doing so would not just be about Cody—it would be about AEW proving that it has the maturity to face its own history head-on.
2. Stop Hoarding Talent
In 2019, AEW’s biggest strength was its deep roster. Today, that same roster has become one of its greatest weaknesses.
With multiple television shows, AEW signed and signed and signed. Every week seemed to bring in a new face—some veterans, some up-and-comers, some outright surprises. For a while, it worked. The debuts felt like electricity. But eventually, the company ran into a problem: there are only so many minutes on television, and only so many feuds a fanbase can invest in.
As a result, dozens of talented wrestlers are now adrift. Names like Britt Baker, Keith Lee, and others aren’t being used to their potential. They aren’t irrelevant—far from it. But without consistent booking, without plans, without purpose, they’re wasting away.
AEW isn’t the first company to make this mistake. WCW in the late ’90s signed every hot free agent they could find, stockpiling the roster until Nitro and Thunder were overstuffed with talent nobody could keep track of. WWE in the mid-2000s did something similar, keeping wrestlers under contract just to keep them away from TNA, only to leave them sitting in catering. Both companies suffered from it.
The reality is simple: if you don’t have a plan for someone, let them go. Fans would rather watch 40 wrestlers booked well than 90 wrestlers booked poorly. A leaner roster doesn’t make AEW weaker; it makes the product sharper.
Think about it. If you streamline the roster:
-
Storylines tighten.
-
TV time becomes more valuable.
-
Characters feel more important.
-
And talent not being used gets the freedom to reinvent themselves elsewhere.
AEW has avoided roster cuts because Tony Khan doesn’t want to be the bad guy. But avoiding tough decisions doesn’t make you a nice guy—it makes you an indecisive leader. And indecision is poison in wrestling.
3. Take Development Seriously
Perhaps AEW’s biggest missed opportunity has been its failure to establish a true developmental system.
AEW Dark was, at its peak, one of the most innovative platforms in wrestling. It wasn’t just a YouTube show—it was a place where unsigned talent could shine, where veterans could try new ideas, and where fans could discover the next breakout star. It made the company feel alive with possibility.
Then, AEW bought Ring of Honor in 2022, and the opportunities doubled. ROH could have been AEW’s equivalent of NXT: a proving ground for talent, a place for stories to breathe, and a space for wrestlers to evolve without the pressure of primetime. Instead, ROH has become an afterthought.
This lack of a clear developmental structure hurts AEW in two ways. First, it wastes potential. Young talent either gets thrown onto Dynamite before they’re ready, or they disappear into the ether. Second, it keeps the main roster bloated. Without a proper pipeline, there’s nowhere to stash wrestlers while they grow.
The fix is obvious: commit to development. Bring Dark back as a true showcase. Use ROH as a legitimate feeder brand. Create a system where wrestlers, referees, managers, and even announcers can cut their teeth before stepping onto AEW’s biggest stage.
Look at WWE. Love or hate their product, their NXT system works. Wrestlers debut in NXT, build their fanbase, and when they hit the main roster, the audience already knows who they are. That’s how you get stars that matter.
AEW doesn’t need to copy WWE. It needs to use its own DNA—indie grit, creative freedom, authentic storytelling—and funnel that through Dark and ROH. That way, when someone debuts on Dynamite, it feels earned, not random.
Without a system, AEW will keep repeating the same cycle: sign talent, use them once or twice, then leave them in limbo. With a system, AEW can build stars that fans invest in for the long haul.
4. Build a Real Support Staff
Let’s be honest: AEW feels too much like “Tony Khan’s show.” And that’s a problem.
Khan deserves credit for creating AEW in the first place. His passion and investment made it real. But running a billion-dollar sports entertainment company is not the same as fantasy booking on a message board. AEW has reached a size where one man cannot handle everything.
Right now, Khan books the shows, negotiates contracts, manages talent relations, and runs the business side. That’s too much. And the result is a product that often feels scattered, reactive, and inconsistent.
AEW needs infrastructure. A real creative team that can map long-term arcs. More agents to help wrestlers fine-tune their matches. A deeper medical and wellness staff to protect wrestlers from burnout and injury. A stronger PR and marketing team to improve how the company communicates with fans and media.
Delegation isn’t weakness. It’s maturity. Every major sports league, every successful entertainment brand, every serious company has structure. AEW has resisted that because Khan wants to control everything. But if AEW wants to survive, Khan has to let go of some control.
Imagine if AEW had a true booking committee, a medical staff equal to WWE’s, and a production team that could elevate its presentation. That’s how AEW evolves from “a really good indie with money” to a legitimate long-term competitor.
The Bottom Line
AEW doesn’t lack talent. It doesn’t lack fans. It doesn’t lack television deals. What it lacks is clarity.
The company can’t rely on surprise debuts and five-star matches forever. Those things matter, but they’re frosting, not cake. The cake is discipline: fixing the Cody situation, trimming the roster, committing to developmental, and building a support staff that can handle the weight of a national promotion.
Right now, AEW stands at a crossroads. It can keep coasting on what it’s already done, or it can evolve into something greater.
Because make no mistake: fans want this company to succeed. Wrestling is better when AEW is strong. WWE is better when AEW is strong. The whole industry is better when there’s a true alternative.
But being an alternative isn’t enough anymore. AEW has to be sustainable. It has to be disciplined. It has to grow up.
The question now is simple: will Tony Khan let it?
. It was a movement. A declaration that wrestling could be fresh again, that talent could have creative freedom, and that fans could rally behind an alternative that didn’t insult their intelligence.
The company rode that momentum hard. From Double or Nothing to All In, from the surprise debuts of Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson to the rise of homegrown stars like Darby Allin and MJF, AEW looked like the future of the industry.
But here’s the truth: six years in, AEW doesn’t feel like the future anymore. It feels stuck.
This isn’t to say AEW is dying—it’s not. It still delivers fantastic wrestling. It still sells pay-per-views. It still has a core audience that loves it. But being good isn’t enough anymore. AEW has hit the point where it must grow up, shed its start-up identity, and evolve into a real institution.
That requires discipline. And discipline means making tough choices that AEW has avoided for too long. There are four areas that Tony Khan and his team cannot afford to ignore if they want AEW to still be standing strong in five, ten, or twenty years.
1. It’s Time to Make Peace with Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes’ departure in early 2022 remains the most defining “what if” in AEW history. One of the company’s founding fathers, Cody represented everything AEW was supposed to stand for—freedom, creativity, and a platform for talent who had been overlooked elsewhere. He wasn’t just an EVP on paper; he was a leader in the locker room and the face of the company’s early branding.
And then, he was gone.
The fallout has never been fully addressed. Cody has spoken in interviews about feeling disrespected, about AEW’s culture shifting around him. He has described his departure with raw emotion, painting a picture of being out of step with his own creation. But from the other side—Tony Khan, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega—we’ve heard almost nothing. Silence.
That silence is damaging. Wrestling fans may not know every detail of backstage politics, but they know when something feels unresolved. Cody’s exit still hangs over AEW like unfinished business.
History tells us unresolved stories linger like ghosts. The Montreal Screwjob haunted WWE for years until Bret Hart returned. Hulk Hogan’s messy WCW exit became part of his eventual WWE redemption. Even Bruno Sammartino, estranged from Vince McMahon for decades, eventually returned to the fold. Fans love closure.
For AEW, reconciliation with Cody doesn’t have to mean a return match or a Dynamite cameo. It doesn’t even have to mean Cody putting pen to paper on an AEW contract again. What it does mean is acknowledgment: recognizing his role, his departure, and the mistakes that were made on both sides.
That could take the form of a documentary, a podcast sit-down, or even a tribute package that openly says, “Yes, this man helped build AEW, and his story is part of ours.”
If WWE can mend fences with Bret Hart after Montreal, or with Ultimate Warrior after years of lawsuits and bitterness, AEW can certainly find a way to extend an olive branch to Cody Rhodes. And doing so would not just be about Cody—it would be about AEW proving that it has the maturity to face its own history head-on.
2. Stop Hoarding Talent
In 2019, AEW’s biggest strength was its deep roster. Today, that same roster has become one of its greatest weaknesses.
With multiple television shows, AEW signed and signed and signed. Every week seemed to bring in a new face—some veterans, some up-and-comers, some outright surprises. For a while, it worked. The debuts felt like electricity. But eventually, the company ran into a problem: there are only so many minutes on television, and only so many feuds a fanbase can invest in.
As a result, dozens of talented wrestlers are now adrift. Names like Britt Baker, Keith Lee, and others aren’t being used to their potential. They aren’t irrelevant—far from it. But without consistent booking, without plans, without purpose, they’re wasting away.
AEW isn’t the first company to make this mistake. WCW in the late ’90s signed every hot free agent they could find, stockpiling the roster until Nitro and Thunder were overstuffed with talent nobody could keep track of. WWE in the mid-2000s did something similar, keeping wrestlers under contract just to keep them away from TNA, only to leave them sitting in catering. Both companies suffered from it.
The reality is simple: if you don’t have a plan for someone, let them go. Fans would rather watch 40 wrestlers booked well than 90 wrestlers booked poorly. A leaner roster doesn’t make AEW weaker; it makes the product sharper.
Think about it. If you streamline the roster:
-
Storylines tighten.
-
TV time becomes more valuable.
-
Characters feel more important.
-
And talent not being used gets the freedom to reinvent themselves elsewhere.
AEW has avoided roster cuts because Tony Khan doesn’t want to be the bad guy. But avoiding tough decisions doesn’t make you a nice guy—it makes you an indecisive leader. And indecision is poison in wrestling.
3. Take Development Seriously
Perhaps AEW’s biggest missed opportunity has been its failure to establish a true developmental system.
AEW Dark was, at its peak, one of the most innovative platforms in wrestling. It wasn’t just a YouTube show—it was a place where unsigned talent could shine, where veterans could try new ideas, and where fans could discover the next breakout star. It made the company feel alive with possibility.
Then, AEW bought Ring of Honor in 2022, and the opportunities doubled. ROH could have been AEW’s equivalent of NXT: a proving ground for talent, a place for stories to breathe, and a space for wrestlers to evolve without the pressure of primetime. Instead, ROH has become an afterthought.
This lack of a clear developmental structure hurts AEW in two ways. First, it wastes potential. Young talent either gets thrown onto Dynamite before they’re ready, or they disappear into the ether. Second, it keeps the main roster bloated. Without a proper pipeline, there’s nowhere to stash wrestlers while they grow.
The fix is obvious: commit to development. Bring Dark back as a true showcase. Use ROH as a legitimate feeder brand. Create a system where wrestlers, referees, managers, and even announcers can cut their teeth before stepping onto AEW’s biggest stage.
Look at WWE. Love or hate their product, their NXT system works. Wrestlers debut in NXT, build their fanbase, and when they hit the main roster, the audience already knows who they are. That’s how you get stars that matter.
AEW doesn’t need to copy WWE. It needs to use its own DNA—indie grit, creative freedom, authentic storytelling—and funnel that through Dark and ROH. That way, when someone debuts on Dynamite, it feels earned, not random.
Without a system, AEW will keep repeating the same cycle: sign talent, use them once or twice, then leave them in limbo. With a system, AEW can build stars that fans invest in for the long haul.
4. Build a Real Support Staff
Let’s be honest: AEW feels too much like “Tony Khan’s show.” And that’s a problem.
Khan deserves credit for creating AEW in the first place. His passion and investment made it real. But running a billion-dollar sports entertainment company is not the same as fantasy booking on a message board. AEW has reached a size where one man cannot handle everything.
Right now, Khan books the shows, negotiates contracts, manages talent relations, and runs the business side. That’s too much. And the result is a product that often feels scattered, reactive, and inconsistent.
AEW needs infrastructure. A real creative team that can map long-term arcs. More agents to help wrestlers fine-tune their matches. A deeper medical and wellness staff to protect wrestlers from burnout and injury. A stronger PR and marketing team to improve how the company communicates with fans and media.
Delegation isn’t weakness. It’s maturity. Every major sports league, every successful entertainment brand, every serious company has structure. AEW has resisted that because Khan wants to control everything. But if AEW wants to survive, Khan has to let go of some control.
Imagine if AEW had a true booking committee, a medical staff equal to WWE’s, and a production team that could elevate its presentation. That’s how AEW evolves from “a really good indie with money” to a legitimate long-term competitor.
The Bottom Line
AEW doesn’t lack talent. It doesn’t lack fans. It doesn’t lack television deals. What it lacks is clarity.
The company can’t rely on surprise debuts and five-star matches forever. Those things matter, but they’re frosting, not cake. The cake is discipline: fixing the Cody situation, trimming the roster, committing to developmental, and building a support staff that can handle the weight of a national promotion.
Right now, AEW stands at a crossroads. It can keep coasting on what it’s already done, or it can evolve into something greater.
Because make no mistake: fans want this company to succeed. Wrestling is better when AEW is strong. WWE is better when AEW is strong. The whole industry is better when there’s a true alternative.
But being an alternative isn’t enough anymore. AEW has to be sustainable. It has to be disciplined. It has to grow up.
The question now is simple: will Tony Khan let it?
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