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  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Bryan Danielson's rather abrupt Face–Heel Turn at the end of 2021 left a lot of room for ambiguity, especially considering how starkly his actions after Full Gear in 2021 contrasted his actions before it.note  Was Danielson always an arrogant and sadistic bully hiding under a superficial veneer of niceness, or did he just succumb to his worst impulses once the World Championship title was within his grasp? Did he originally challenge The Elite to end their reign of terror, or because he wanted their dominant position at the company for himself? Relatedly: did he pick his vicious feud with "Hangman" Adam Page because he didn't believe that Hangman was worthy of the championship, or was he motivated by his former association with his arch-rival Kenny Omega and determined to get Revenge by Proxy?
    • Is Cody Rhodes a genuinely good guy who only wants what's best for the company? Or do the expensive clothes, long and over-the-top entrances, hideous neck tattoo indicate him as a self-indulgent egotist who is only pretending to be a hero? One promo in particular even alluded to the idea that Cody may be a good person at heart, but one with great temptation to turn to the dark side. AEW seems to be somewhat aware of his morally ambiguity, as Cody doesn't come out of the Face or Heel tunnels, but instead arises from the middle of the two.
    • MJF is a hotbed of this. Underneath his callow, self-centered façade, does he genuinely want (on some level) to form real partnerships and find a real mentor—or is every single one of his relationships based on pure self-interest and a desire to manipulate others? His emotionally charged rivalry with CM Punk has particularly opened up new dimensions in his character. How many of his stories about being a bullied teen who sought solace in professional wrestling are actually true, and how many of them are just mind games to get his opponents' sympathy? And does MJF really resent Punk for disappointing him by turning his back on the business, or does he just resent him because he fears that he'll never beat him? The fact that all the anecdotes he gives about growing up are completely true out of kayfabe mixes things up even further.
  • Arc Fatigue:
    • A common criticism of AEW's pay-per-views are their sheer length, with their post-pandemic events usually clocking in at around five hours each including the Buy In pre-show. As an illustrative example, Forbidden Door featured thirteen matches, including four on the Buy In, and of the nine on the main card the average match length was around 17 minutes. Even as the PPVs are agreed to be of a consistently good quality, there is sometimes a feeling that they can outstay their welcome and be a difficult watch in a single sitting.note  This reached its peak at All Out 2022, which clocked around five hours, with fifteen matches on the card, plus four on the pre-show.
    • A noticeable part of Tony Khan's booking philosophy is that he is happy to put storylines on pause while waiting for an ideal time to pay things off, or to allow the wrestlers involved to be healthy and in a position to move things along. In certain circumstances, such as Hangman Page's journey to the World Championship or Wardlow's face turn, this long-term booking philosophy can create engrossing storylines, but for less essential midcard angles, it can lead to storylines being dragged out well past their peak.
      • The Best Friends had a habit of being involved in extremely long feuds from 2020 to 2021. Best Friends vs. Santana and Ortiz had a very silly premise (Santana and Ortiz wrecked the van of Trent's mom Sue out of pettiness) that went on for several weeks, at least cumulating with an instantly iconic Parking Lot Brawl. After that came Miro and Kip Sabian, with the former having a highly controversial gimmick in a simple rivalry feud that lasted six months, (of which Miro even acknowledged it was going on for too long and started shifting towards a more serious attitude near the end of it) though one that amusingly also ended with a well-received hardcore brawl in the form of the Arcade Anarchy match that had Trent Beretta, Kris Statlander and Sue return to the delight of many. The Best Friends then spent the rest of 2021 feuding with Matt Hardy and the Hardy Family Office, in an almost year-long feud that seemed to solely exist to provide filler matches on Dark and television cards and ultimately ended without a major payoff.
      • The House of Black and Julia Hart storyline started with Malakai Black hitting Julia Hart with the Black Mist and made clear he intended for her to join the House of Black. However, it took several months for the storyline to continue to the ire of fans, the only semblance of the storyline even going on being of Julia Hart having her eyepatch after being sprayed in the eye and slowly displaying a despondent and fierce side of herself. When it came time for the House of Black to try and recruit Julia, trying to have her strike Griff Garrison… She refused to, to the disappoint of a great many fans, even if it might’ve been justified. It would then take until Death Triangle fighting the House of Black for Julia Hart to finally make a proper Face Heelturn, implying they were waiting until Rey Fenix to recover for Julia Hart to make her move in helping the House of Black beat Death Triangle. At the very least, fans were just glad the Face–Heel Turn happened at all.
    • Going back to storylines going on, even when wrestlers are healthy and Tony isn't pausing the storyline, his feuds still tend to go on for months such as Team Taz vs. Darby Allin going on for at least a good eight months. Likewise, a lot of people question why the feud between The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle continued to go on even after having a seemly feud-ending Blood and Guts match or why it continued as MJF kept beating Chris Jericho multiple times.
    • Opinions are mixed if "The Devil" storyline was ever good to begin with, but most agree that it became very long on the tooth after being artificially extended by Adam Cole's injury.
  • Badass Decay: After suffering a huge loss against the Young Bucks that also costed him his friend, Frankie Kazarian would go on to become the Elite Hunter, taking many opportunities to attack the Elite and prevent them from interfering in matches, which many found refreshing and cool… However, said coolness quickly dispersed when Kazarian ended up losing to Doc Gallows, whom while was a Tag Team Champion in Impact and had Karl Anderson interfering on his behalf, was still considered more likely to be beaten than Young Bucks and especially Kenny Omega. Heck, the only member of the Elite Frankie had beaten at all and even fought 1-on-1 for that matter was their associate stooge, Brandon Cutler whom can hardly be considered a member, let alone a capable fighter amongst them. For many, Kazarian’s run as the Elite Hunter was disappointingly underwhelming and silently ended, which fans found a shame, as Frankie Kazarian is considered a fantastic wrestler by a great many. Kazarian eventually left the company in 2023.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Marko Stunt. Some find him entertaining and skilled as well as the necessary pin eater for The Jurassic Express in trios matches, others find him to be way too small to be believable in the ring and shouldn't be wrestling for a major promotion. Others point out that, his own skill aside, a wrestler that tiny is great to throw around to make other guys look strong and brutal (such as the spot where Pentagón Jr. held Stunt above his head with one hand, then chucked him towards Rey Fénix who superkicked him in midair, which would be much more difficult if not impossible to do with a more conventionally-sized wrestler). Possibly an even better example was when he was chosen as the opponent for Lance Archer's debut match, and made Archer look like an apocalypse on legs as he tossed Stunt around like a half-sized rag doll, concluding by hurling his lightweight opponent from the ring apron into the crowd. Stunt was eventually let go by the company in 2022.
    • Orange Cassidy, a wrestler whose gimmick is that he doesn't care to make an effort in the ring, or in doing anything in particular. Some fans (who consider the age of kayfabe dead and buried) lauded his character as an example of a comedy gimmick that managed to convince a considerable portion of the audience to be on the joke, but others said that for a promotion that lauded itself on "sports-based presentation", a character with such a gimmick makes a mockery of pro wrestling being treated as a legitimate athletic competition, which runs completely contrary to that premise.
    • Riho as (the inaugural) Women's Champion. While no one doubts her skills, her not being constantly present in the shows despite being champion drew unfavourable comparisons to WWE's Brock Lesnar. On the other hand, her defenders would point that Riho still appears and defended her title more frequently than Lesnar, and Riho also has the understandable issue that she actually still lives in Japan and every time she appears on AEW she has to fly across to America... though, this still leaves open the legitimate criticism that the AEW booking team put their inaugural title on someone who would have availability issues.
    • Jade Cargill. While some believe she has potential to be a great worker (to the point WrestleTalk's reviewers expressed their wish that she could be the first TBS Champion), others think she's far too green to have the spotlight on her over other favored and well-developed female wrestlers, and find her catchphrase "I'm that bitch" obnoxious and nowhere near as cool as she seems to think it is (though she did eventually drop it after a while). Becoming the inaugural TBS Champion was just as polarizing, many believing she’ll step up to the plate with others groaning that the result was too predictable. Even her letting her AEW contract run out in favor of signing with WWE didn't stop this, as while supporters took this as a clear sign that she had become a star, detractors considered that her going to the WWE Performance Center for further training after her signing (with Triple H even stating that she hasn't been fully trained) was a vindication of their criticisms of her.
    • Dan Lambert, owner of American Top Team and the manager for the Men of the Year, is intended to be hated, as a loud mouthed blowhard mocking and tearing down AEW and its audience, whose promos are a very thinly-veiled sendoff to those of Jim Cornette, who is infamous for his hatred and unending criticism of AEW (with much of Lambert's promos being ripped from Cornette's AEW reviews verbatim).note  In fairness to him, he brings a lot of fire and energy to his promos, reacts and plays along to the fans' reactions quite well and is actually a fan of pro wrestling - but there also are some who feel he's arguably too good at playing his character and is far too obnoxious to get much satisfaction in watching him get humiliated, with some even feeling he's actually genuinely disrespecting the company, its roster and its fanbase. Not helping matters is him being a mouthpiece for the Men of the Year whom just about everyone agrees they have no need for, especially Ethan Page. There's also the fact that, rather than the Elite, Orange Cassidy, or other acts who tend to work a crazier, less-psychologically sound style that Lambert's (and Cornette's) criticisms usually target, Lambert's feud has been with elder wrestling statesman Chris Jericho, whose wrestling bona-fides are above reproach.
    • Before leaving for WWE in 2022, Cody Rhodes was probably one of the biggest Base Breakers in the company; he spent most of the company's first year being one of the hottest faces in the world, and used his fame to try to make new talents look good in a series of title challenges... but as time wore on, and he kept winning big feuds against opponents fans generally agree he shouldn't have, arguments began to break out about whether he was "NXT Triple H" or "Reign of Terror Triple H." Whenever he came out, mixed crowd reactions were generally to be expected, which Cody himself acknowledged and even went on to mess around with. At the very least, few, if any, doubted he wouldn't do ANYTHING for the company, as shown by his match with Andrade where he ended up setting his own back on fire to win the match or receiving 10 lashes from MJF.
    • Max Caster of The Acclaimed has become one of the most divisive wrestlers on the AEW roster as of 2021. Many fans enjoy him for his loud, charismatic persona and the scathing personalized diss raps he delivers to his opponent during his entrance. Others find his raps to be corny at best, and downright tasteless at worst. This does not seem to extend to his tag team partner, Anthony Bowens.
    • Andrade El Ídolo has split opinions on how his AEW run has gone so far and whether AEW has been using him/he has been living up to his potential that he showed in NXT and even on the WWE main roster. Curiously, Andrade was at his most well-received run right before he left the company in 2023.
    • Brian Cage came into AEW with much fanfare and an applauded pairing with Taz as his manager, but as his run has gone on — with Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks and Taz's son Hook added to/overshadowing him in Team Taz, him being kicked out of the group entirely, and fiery remarks from his wife Melissa Santos on social media about his place within the company — AEW fans have become much more critical of him, his abilities and value to the company as of now. He spent a good chunk of 2021 and 2022 not being used, but made a comeback in 2023.
    • When Brian Pillman Jr. was first brought in to fill up the roster during the pandemic-era, he immediately grabbed attention among fans for his throwback look and the connection to his legendary father. Over time however, opinions on him began to sour thanks to his controversial social media antics and a general feeling that he was a Flat Character without much going for him as a wrestler aside from the family legacy. It's very common for people to express that the other members of the Varsity Blondes, Griff Garrison and Julia Hart, have much greater upsides than him and have shown far more development as both wrestlers and characters in AEW.
    • Danhausen. His appearance in AEW has caused a loud reaction from the fans, but what the reaction was actually differs from person to person. One group finds his off-kilter antics and zany persona entertaining and charming, the other camp considers him an even bigger mockery that the already divisive Orange Cassidy and points at him as the sign that pro wrestling has become a shell of its former self. There is also a third group that doesn't exactly know how to react to him, finding Danhausen to be a wrestler who doesn't exactly appeal to everyone's tastes. A good amount of fans do enjoy his team up with Hook, though.
    • Adam Cole. Many were hoping and excited to see him join AEW with his past work alongside Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks and indeed can get the fans riled up, especially with his entrance and Catchphrase. However, he soon got the ire of many when a majority of the matches he’d win would involve him cheating in some way despite constantly boasting how great he is over others, on top of viewers, even his own fans, feeling he’s taking up too much time on screen. Not helping is him being the winner of the first Owen Hart Tournament alongside his girlfriend Britt Baker of which most fans had dreaded and were disappointed to see when he already has enough star power, having wanted just about anyone else, especially fellow tournament members Dax Harwood or Kyle O’Reilly, to win instead.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
    • Jurassic Express appeared during the Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara match at Revolution 2020 to... do nothing. They don't interfere in the match, and afterwards are never seen nor spoken of again.
    • Danhausen's debut took the form of this: during the Unsanctioned Lights Out match between Adam Cole and Orange Cassidy on the January 26, 2022 episode of Dynamite, Cole goes under the ring for a steel chair, but struggled to pull it out as Danhausen was holding onto the other end, leading to Cole dragging him out. After standing up and posing at Cole for several seconds while the crowd went bananas, Danhausen simply walked away without interfering further and Cole went back to fighting Cassidy (although some joked that Cole went on to lose the match because Danhausen put a curse on him).
  • Broken Base: The notion of referee discretion, or rather their hesitancy to DQ or count-out wrestlers save for the most blatant of cases. One side argues that this allows for more creativity and prevents cheap, screwy finishes. The other side argues that referees are too lenient, resulting in things like frequent outside interventions, table spots in normal matches, and tag partners staying too long in the ring despite not being legal.
    • Tony Khan's "there's only room for one Khan in wrestling" promo from Dynamite which was a Take That! to WWE Chief Financial Officer and President Nick Khan (no relation). Some felt it was okay, especially since the latter Khan has been responsible for a lot of bad things.note  However, others feel that if the company wants to establish itself, the owner making WCW-style potshots about the competition is probably not the way to go about it, especially since WWE rarely, if at all, does the same, making him look bush league.note 
    • Jon Moxley utterly squashing CM Punk in three minutes at their title unification match on Dynamite is up there in terms of moments no one saw coming. It also has left people very divided in terms of what they think. One camp says it worked as a great shock that no one saw coming and likewise worked to what seemed like a predictable outcome of Punk beating Mox for the belt. The other camp was critical of it for the fact they felt it was a completely dumb decision to give arguably AEW's biggest money match away for free on TV (with two weeks before their All Out PPV no less) and then turning it into a squash match. The latter point wasn't helped by the fact they would just end up having a rematch at All Out with Punk winning the belt back. This further made the latter camp question why they did this as it came off as pointless in the long term.
  • Continuity Lockout:
    • AEW Dynamite is primarily a vehicle to showcase wrestlers' in-ring abilities, while storylines and character development are generally built on social media or YouTube. Figures such as Jim Cornette (one of AEW's biggest critics) and even some who support the product have criticized this approach as excluding casual fans who don't obsessively follow wrestlers' online presence.
    • If there are significant events that occur in The Elite's web show Being the Elite which carry over into Dark or Dynamite, don't expect to get explanations. One instance in 2020 occurred at the beginning of a Dynamite episode which involved The Dark Order walking out while there were multiple motorized lawn mowers spread out across the stage. In BTE it was stated that they were bought with money from a Chili's sponsorship the Dark Order got, but you wouldn't know that by just watching the episode. They're just there.
    • As of 2022, the tendency to place storylines and character development on YouTube and Being The Elite has been phased out and are regularly built on the main television shows. However, between Dynamite, Rampage, Dark, and Elevation, AEW has a large volume of programming each week, and storylines are started and built on all of them. A storyline that begins and advances on Dark may have a segment on Dynamite weeks later, and vice versa. Therefore, anyone who only keeps up with the happenings of Dynamite and not the rest of the shows is still probably going to find AEW a bit confusing.
    • The Casino Battle Royale was also criticized for this in some corners. The participants were predominantly made up of internet favorites, indie darlings or people who had made their name overseas, so if you were a casual American fan, it was possible you didn't know who many of the participants were, or know about the various feuds and angles that were tied into the match. The format of the match, in which wrestlers, based on poker cards they draw, enter the match in groups rather than individually — with the exception of the wrestler who pulled the Joker, who enters alone at #21note  — does not help matters, as it has been noted that such a format does not allow for any wrestler who is debuting for the promotion or had spent time away from the ring to stage a grandiose (re-)introduction (as is often the case in WWE's Royal Rumble) since they get lost in the shuffle.
    • Similar to the Casino Battle Royale issue, it has been noted that the promotion has a problem with debuting wrestlers or factions in a way that looks like the promotion assumes that the casual fan already knows about them beforehand, despite the vast majority of said wrestlers coming from the indie scene or having made their name overseas, meaning that unless one had followed them religiously beforehand, a fan will probably have no idea who they are or what their motivations are. Examples of this include the Dark Order (although AEW would later fix this by releasing a series of vignettes to further develop their origins and characters), The Butcher, the Blade, and the Bunny; and Nightmare Collective associate Dr. Luther, among others. The Butcher and Blade's debut was notorious, as Jim Ross was completely in the dark about who they were and continuously asked Excalibur who they were, with Excalibur only offering a context-free "The Butcher and The Blade, JR!" in return. JR's repeated attempts at getting a more detailed answer grew audibly exasperated, in between awkward bouts of long silence as Ross couldn't fill the audience in on what was going on.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Max Caster's raps are Ripped from the Headlines and thus reference real-life events, many of which are controversial. Depending on the subject matter he is still able to make the raps amusing as well as offensive. One apparently crossed the line thricenote leading to Max's suspension for a month.
  • Designated Hero:
    • Though it came from her having been treated badly and even attacked by an old ally, many found Kris Statlander noting it's no wonder Leyla Hirsch's parents abandoned her far too awful of a thing to say and going too far. Leyla herself was understandably pissed off by this.
    • In Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti's feud with American Top Team, many felt Sammy's "now we live in your mouth" statement to Dan Lambert was too gross and disrespectful to the TNT title for anyone to root for the pair.note  This, on top of many finding the couple obnoxious and them getting together not long after Sammy had publicly proposed and soon broke up with his ex-girlfriend, had led to many turning on the pair; it's not helped by how the pair seems to have taken over the roles of Cody and Brandi for a feud they'd be in if the two had stayed in AEW. Thankfully however, AEW, as usual, eventually noticed the fan reception and had Sammy turn heel by cheating to win back the TNT Championship.
  • Designated Villain: Eddie Kingston not tagging Ortiz in their match against the House of Black and then striking Ortiz after being called out by him in a later segment seemed like it was meant to be a Face–Heel Turn for Eddie, giving into the House of Black making it sound like Ortiz is against Eddie. However, Ortiz, instead of trying to calm down a clearly irate, chair-wielding Eddie, he not only never allowed his friend the chance to speak during their confrontation, he proceeded to throw provocation after provocation at him, first by accusing him of going to strike Julia Hart in the match when in truth, he grabbed the chair from Buddy Matthews interfering in the match and was clearly not going to strike Julia when he saw her with Julia, herself, clearly interfering by being in the ring, not even being at ringside untilthen and grabbing at Eddie, making his reaction to holding the chair at her a knee-jerk reaction of self-defence than anything malicious. On top of that, Ortiz proceeded to mention Eddie’s parents when he knows full well, better than most, they’re personal topics for Eddie and say that Eddie’s mentor, Homicide, would call him a coward and a fake tough guy, neither of which many would call Eddie Kingston, not to mention know would absolutely piss him off. It’s quite telling when people could be heard moreso cheering than booing and even seen clapping after Eddie attacked Ortiz with a chair for what he said, whether because they take the Mad King’s side or he’s just that over with the crowd, if not a mixture.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Predictably, there are a few standout talents among an already extensive list of exceptional workers.
    • Kris Statlander is arguably one of the hottest addition to the women's roster for her athleticism and strength as well as great energy.
    • KiLynn King is beloved for much the same reason as Kris, with many clamouring for her to be signed.
    • Of all the tag-teams currently signed, Jurassic Express (especially Jungle Boy) is extremely over with fans for their gimmick, fantastic ring work, and relationship. Once AEW began giving wrestlers Real Song Theme Tunes, Jungle Boy was the first wrestler to benefit (being given Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy"), something that paid off handsomely once crowds returned when they chanted the song along.
    • Female referee Aubrey Edwards is probably the most popular non-wrestler in the entire promotion for her enthusiasm and take-no-crap attitude. Forbes even did a Portrait video about her.
    • John Silver has become one of the main attractions on Being the Elite, especially after being given the rub by Mr. Brodie Lee. In the ring, he is loved for his seamless blend of comedy wrestling with a surprising level of athleticism and strength for a wrestler of his size; think Orange Cassidy.
    • Anna Jay is well-liked for quickly becoming an impressive worker despite haven't been wrestling for long and being a hilarious Only Sane Man, er, woman to her Dark Order brethren.
    • -1 (a.k.a. Mr. Brodie Lee Jr.) of the Dark Order is also loved by most fans despite being a kid, mostly due to having quite a bit of confidence in his promos and becoming an unofficial part-time leader of the Dark Order after his father's passing.
    • Hook had a semi-ironic following on r/squaredcircle prior to his in-ring debut in December 2021, despite (or because of) his limited role at the time as a background member of Team Taz who took part in the occasional beatdown. Even then, he had his own Fan Community Nickname (Hookers), members of whom simply referred to Taz as "Hook's Dad", and counted down the days until his eventual in-ring debut. His following just got more enthusiastic when his in-ring debut was met with near-universal acclaim.
    • Fuego Del Sol is undoubtedly one of the most over unsigned talents from the vlogs and Dark shows due to his plucky attitude and impressive aerial moves. It says a lot when the crowd reaction to his matches rival that of main eventers despite having a massive losing record, and the debut episode of Rampage included a segment where he got his official AEW contract, to a thunderous ovation.
    • Out of the members of QT Marshall's The Factory, Anthony Ogogo quickly stood out and gained the attention of the fans due to his background as a former professional boxer, past commentating beside Taz and Excalibur in Dark and natural charisma. It went to the point that his feud with Cody Rhodes resulting in him losing to Cody at Double or Nothing 2021 was greatly disliked, with many considering a misstep in Cody's otherwise well-received string of matches in AEW and that AEW should have let Ogogo shine and get the win.
    • Fellow member of The Factory, Nick Comoroto is also looked upon fondly by fans for his classic Monster Heel look and moveset.
    • Top Flight proved to be quite popular with their incredible and innovative high-flying moves and were quick to be signed in return. While his brother, Darius Martin was out from injury, Dante Martin went on to gain even more adoration from fans in his singles run, showing that he can wrestle just as well on his own.
    • While already an incredibly popular wrestler on his own, many fans quite enjoy Eddie Kingston's commentary on Elevation, being hilarious while also informative and clearly enjoying himself, on top of providing a Heelish commentary to contrast Tony and Pauls’ more Face. It seems that the company have picked up on the fans’ positive response with Eddie becoming a regular on the commentary since his first outing.
    • Alex Abrahantes, the translator for the extremely popular Pentagón Jr., proved to be quite a joy for many with him clearly having a ball with translating for the lucha libre and playing along with his antics.
    • "Legit" Leyla Hirsch, an amateur wrestler who can easily clean house and bring it to her opponents, even those twice her size.
    • The Wingmen, being a Heel group that brings in a good blend of hilarity and strength.
    • Tay Conti, now Tay Melo, was adored by many for being as endearing as she is deadly, starting and ending many matches with a smile on her face while also capable of delivering stiff shots to the face. Being good friends with Anna Jay, who herself has quickly developed into a strong competitor in the short time she's been wrestling, and -1, who she's a Cool Big Sis to, definitely helps. However, the reveal that she was Sammy Guevara's girlfriend (and later his wife) has made her lose the fondness of many fans.
    • Julia Hart. She was initially seen as what Varsity Blondes needed to get over, but her popularity increased further after she got hit by the Black Mist from Malakai Black, displaying a fiercer side over time. Her inclusion to the House of Black made her even more popular, to the extent that some consider her to be the second main attraction of the group after Malakai himself.
    • Willow Nightingale endeared herself to many with her sunny disposition and strong moveset. Dozens of fans were clamouring for her to be signed and much joy was had when it was confirmed she did get a contract.
    • Dalton Castle and the Boys were quick to charm many with their colourfulness, energy and quick-pace fighting.
    • Konosuke Takeshita is adored by a fair number of fans for his ridiculous athleticism, and his Adorkable social media presence, including his love of Cinnabon.
  • Epileptic Trees: When Malakai Black began promoting The House of Black, many began theorizing who would be the first to join his faction. As Brody King became a free agent in late-2021, he was expected to be a member since Black and King were the tag team "Kings of the Black Throne" in Pro Wrestling Guerilla, to which Brody would appear on AEW in early 2022 and the team would be reformed. However, who among the AEW roster was still in question, but some speculate that the seeds were already sown via Malakai's "Black Mist", which is seen as a corrupting influence that will eventually lead its victim into joining The House of Black. Some of these individuals include PAC and Julia Hart, particularly the former's cryptic promo and the latter wearing an eyepatch, which may be hiding the corruption from the Black Mist. This would become true with Julia, who interfered in Death Triangle's match against The House of Black at Double or Nothing 2022, giving the latter the victory.
  • Evil Is Cool: The promotion has its fair share of awesome heels.
    • MJF: He's better than you, and you know it.
    • Wardlow: one of the few wrestlers whom regularly knocks his opponents out and looks awesome, either way. His "Powerbomb Symphony" would even be promoted by AEW. He's since turned face, but his coolness factor hasn’t degraded.
    • FTR: a duo with an old-school tag team moveset who are as willing to use dirty tactics as they are technically sound, with many fans agreeing they rarely, if ever, have a bad match. Being managed by Tully Blanchard, a classic Heel himself, definitely helps. However, they also turned face and are no longer managed by Blanchard, but they, too, are still seen as awesome as ever, if not moreso.
    • The Butcher and the Blade, a pair of two strong, burly men who will kick anyone’s ass, whether if you’re in their way or for some good pay. Their valet, the Bunny (f.k.a. Cherry Bomb/Impact Wrestling's Allie) is also quite popular.
    • TH2, a pair of smug jerks with incredible dance moves, best shown by Angelico as he struts his way over to the ring while Jack Evans hand-stands and backflips out of the entrance.
    • Ricky Starks: not only can he talk the talk, but he looks stylish while doing so.
    • Miro boasts himself to be God's Favorite Champion and has both the strength and words to cut down just about anyone who stands in his path to prove it. After he lost the TNT Championship, his personality and promos weren't neutered as many proclaimed that this made him far deadlier and dangerous when he's not a champion.
    • Eddie Kingston as a heel cuts people with words as hard as he swings at them.
    • Malakai Black, a ferocious fighter with a Creepy Awesome entrance and theme that fits his demeanour. It also says a lot that in his second bout with Cody, the crowd were actively booing Cody, who was supposed to be the Face, while cheering for Black, hoping he'd win. His teammates in the House of Black, especially Julia Hart, get this too.
    • Bryan Danielson. An absolutely savage fighter whom sees himself as the best wrestler out there, which's hard to argue against when he puts out some incredible matches.
    • Christian Cage after he turned on Jungle Boy proved once more he's still got it when it comes to being Heel, getting heat on the levels of MJF.
      • At that, Luchasaurus' Face–Heel Turn alongside Christian proved quite popular aswell, taking on a darker appearance with an even more lethal-looking moveset and theme.
  • Fandom Rivalry:
    • Aside from the obvious one between the company and WWE, there's also a contingent of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Bullet Club fans who view The Elite contentiously, feeling that their exploits in 2018 compromised NJPW's booking, specifically its championships and Bullet Club's overall strength as a group, whilst they were in the process of building the platform and buzz necessary to ultimately create AEW.
    • Jim Cornette fans due to numerous potshots he has taken at AEW during his time as commentator on NWA Powerrr, referring to their roster as "little boys" and "cosplay wrestlers" while claiming the NWA's roster has real men and women. Insulting AEW, its roster, and its fanbase is a regular occurrence on Cornette's podcast.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • The "Forbidden Door" is usually referred to as the supposed barrier that seemingly prevents a partnership between AEW and NJPW - one which has its support from fans and talent from both ends. Its origin hails from a quote provided by Hiroshi Tanahashi as the build-up to his match against then-AEW World Champion Chris Jericho at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 14, with the stipulation that Tanahashi would receive a title shot against Jericho if he won the bout. Subsequently, nods towards anything being "open" are used whenever the two promotions do cross over; the first salvo was KENTA attacking Jon Moxley over the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship, which went on to be acknowledged and even defended on AEW TV.
    • While AEW officially has "Four Pillars", the fans have named Lee Moriarty, Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta and HOOK as the "Four Killers" due to their shoot-style wrestling.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: Even within the first few days after it happened, many fans just chose not to acknowledge CM Punk being the first (and only) AEW wrestler ever to cleanly pin Jon Moxley in a singles match without resorting to cheating or interference. It doesn't exactly hurt that Punk's victory in that match was pretty quickly overshadowed by his now-infamous public tirade at the media scrum after the event and the subsequent backstage brawl with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks afterwards (which led to him being suspended), while Moxley reclaimed the World Championship within a few weeks after winning the Tournament of Champions—making it easy to just forget that the brief interruption in Mox's championship reign ever happened.
  • Fight Scene Failure: At one point during the December 18, 2019 show, one of the Dark Order's creepers ended up attacking Dustin Rhodes with head punches that were clearly landing nowhere near Dustin's head or face. It became an almost overnight point of mockery for the IWC as many, many people had fun mocking it (eventually including the Dark Order themselves), but Randy Orton had what many consider the best response. AEW later referenced the botch in two vignettes; first in a comedic way on Being the Elite, but then the second one featured the Dark Order punishing the offending creeper for his failure.
  • Friendly Fandoms: Most of the fandom have this with NXT. Despite Dynamite airing directly opposite, fans of both enjoy the "Wednesday Night Wars" for being the first true rivalry between two of the most exciting wrestling shows in the modern wrestling landscape. Figures from both sides, like Matt Jackson and Mauro Ranallo, have never shied away from paying compliments to the other. Not to mention real-life couple Adam Cole (a WWE NXT wrestler) and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. (an AEW wrestler), with the latter even attending NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019 (where the former competed) and being acknowledged on-camera, which was then Played for Laughs with a nod on the December 4, 2019 episode of Dynamite.

  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Continuing the trend set by previous "runner-up" promotions like WCW and TNA, AEW holds a much bigger market share in the United Kingdom than it does in the United States, where Dynamite even draws bigger ratings than Raw and SmackDown, combined. Part of this is because AEW has a better television deal than WWE,note  but even so Dynamite airs in a sub-optimal time slot (midnight on Fridays), and it comes after WWE created a region-specific brand with NXT UK.
  • Growing the Beard: It is generally agreed that AEW found their footing at the very start of 2020, which is when Tony Khan, besides being the company's CEO, also became its booker, replacing the EVPs (Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks). The main criticism of the EVPs' reign is that they tended to book shows in an "indie style" more suited to promotions with smaller crowds and with less importance placed on continuity, which did not gel with a major promotion with a national television show; one example of this is that they tended to use their fame to put over new talent, which while a noble goal, had the result of causing the promotion's top talent to suffer major Badass Decay when they kept losing to far less experienced wrestlers. Their booking style was also a bit more comedy and Spot Monkey oriented, when mainstream audiences appear to prefer a more sports-oriented product. Tony Khan getting the book was right after the infamous "Dark Order beatdown" and "Nightmare Collective" segments episode of Dynamite at the end of 2019 exposed the worst traits of the EVPs' booking style, while Khan's style of booking is frequently praised for being much more in-tune with the needs of a major promotion.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • Sammy Guevara acting like a Casanova Wannabe towards Brandi Rhodes during the Inner Circle's feud with The Elite became this after an audio from a radio show where Guevara made certain inappropriate comments regarding Sasha Banks during his 2016 WWE tryout surfaced in 2020. As a result, Guevara was suspended for a month by AEW and was required to attend sensitivity training. Making things worse is the fact that Brandi once revealed at Starrcast that Sammy had flirted with her during said WWE tryout (apparently not knowing that she was married), which was probably the inspiration for his storyline with her.
    • On the first episode of Rhodes to the Top (Cody and Brandi Rhodes' reality show), Cody Rhodes approached Jon Moxley, who said he was hungover, but would wrestle anyway. About a month after the episode aired, Tony Khan reported that Moxley entered a rehab facility for alcoholism.
    • During his feud with Brian Pillman Jr., MJF would make various stabs at Pillman's family, including his mother Melanie by referencing her drug issues and nicknaming her "Methanie". Roughly nine months later, Pillman would announce that Melanie had passed away from a drug overdose.
    • When Danhausen made his AEW debut in January 2022, the very first person he "cursed" was Adam Cole. An amusing moment at the time, but not so amusing after Cole suffered a nasty concussion at Forbidden Door a few months later, which took him out of action for the rest of the year. Cole wouldn't return to AEW until January of the following year, and spent so much time in recovery that many commentators worried that his concussion was a full-blown Career-Ending Injury.
    • On the January 4th, 2023 edition of Dynamite, the Gunn Club would hold a mock funeral for FTR to celebrate them losing all of their tag team titles, after just losing the ROH Tag Team Titles to the Briscoe Brothers in a Double Dog Collar match at Final Battle 2022. While the segment was intended to be a light hearted moment of dark humor, it's age would turn quickly when Jay Briscoe, one of the men in the title match, would tragically lose his life in a head on traffic accident two weeks later on January 17th, 2023.
    • A common theme in CM Punk's feuds was his opponents (Eddie Kingston, MJF, Hangman Adam Page and Jon Moxley) basically noting that he didn't appear as good-natured as he made himself appear, trying to hide the darker aspects of himself. For many, this seemed like foreshadowing that CM Punk would become a Heel later down the line. Come the media scrum of All Out 2022, said aspects would come out in the worst way possible through both said media scrum and a backstage altercation...
      • Similarly, the falling out makes the Young Bucks superkicking officials and workers in their feud with FTR a lot harder to watch...
      • CM Punk's feuds with Hangman Adam Page and Eddie Kingston became rather uncomfortable to watch in hindsight when Punk was abruptly fired in September 2023 after getting into a legitimate backstage physical altercation with Jack Perry during All Out at Wembley Stadium—roughly a year after he was suspended for getting into another legitimate altercation with the Elite. During their feuds with him, Kingston and Page both openly told Punk that he was a bad influence on AEW whom nobody wanted around, with Page declaring that he had a duty to protect the company from his influence. After his firing, it became pretty clear that their negative feelings toward him weren't entirely an act. Likewise, Jon Moxley's promo telling fans to enjoy Punk while he's there because he wouldn't be in AEW much longer on account of his "fragile mind, fragile ego and fragile body" ended up being seen as downright prophetic. The "fragile body" part in specific went viral when when Punk injured himself not even a month into his WWE return, missing out Wrestlemania as a result.
  • He Really Can Act: Wheeler Yuta has been a major fan favorite for quite a while, largely thanks to his wrestling ability and ring presence—but he finally got a chance to demonstrate his promo skills in September 2022 during his heated feud with MJF. Most fans agree that he did an admirable job holding his own against MJF, who's widely regarded as one of the best speakers in the business.
  • Hype Backlash: Some AEW fans were already declaring the promotion to be the one force that can put WWE out of business months before Dynamite premiered, which in turn put off some other fans.note  The mixed reactions to the 2019 editions of Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen, along with the promotion's overall Early-Installment Weirdness before Tony Khan became booker put others away from the hype.
  • Ho Yay:
    • While teaming up together and in many of their introductions, Joey Janela is figuratively and literally blown away by Sonny Kiss’ posture and in Dark, would run over to the commentator booth to compliment it.
    • During the early stages of his Pretty gimmick, Peter Avalon showed a rather high fascination with male wrestlers whom he found quite handsome and was interested in having a pageant with, even commentating their matches to sing them praises on their looks and strength, including Griff Garrison and Lee Johnson.
    • William Regal, ever the playful English man, makes several colorful passes towards "Man in the Mask" Excalibur.
  • Just Here for Godzilla: A vocal portion of fans only watch Dark for Taz and Excallibur's commentary, which often involves very breezy Seinfeldian Conversations only tangentially related to the show's wrestling action. It went to the point that Botchamania brought back its recurring segment "Insipid Taz Commentary" to showcase them (and Maffew made it clear that "Insipid" is now a Non-Indicative Title and that he has a ball with them).
  • Love to Hate:
    • MJF, period. He will do just about anything to make everyone hate him and the fans eat it all up because he's so damn entertaining.
    • The Young Bucks during their run as heels. They act like absolute clowns and not only are they having a ball doing in so, they continue to kick ass and bring forth amazing matches.
    • The Inner Circle when they were first Heels. As to be expected with a group led by Chris Jericho, one that started out as the first top Heel group of the company no less, they were as vicious as they could be hilarious.
    • The Jericho Appreciation Society is also well-loved with Daniel Garcia and especially 2.0 gaining plenty of fans with their strong showings and hilarity, especially Matt Menard.
    • The Acclaimed, always delivering raps that are so scathing yet so dang funny.
    • Christian Cage. In the wake of MJF's absence after demanding to be fired, he filled in the shoes of an entertaining scumbag Heel with his rivalry against Jungle Boy, going as far to insult his deceased father and then having the gall to try and make amends with him while undermining what he said to avoid fighting an understandably pissed-off Jack Perry.
  • Memetic Badass:
    • Orange Cassidy earned this title by unleashing his "ruthless" assault on Tommy Dreamer (read: hitting him as lightly as humanly possible) during the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing. Clips of it quickly got posted on the web as "Orange Cassidy DESTROYS Tommy Dreamer" which included the Time Warner-owned Bleacher Report, to the point that how viral it got was most likely a factor in Cassidy eventually being signed to AEW.
    • Taz's son Hook has been subject to this since his first appearances with Team Taz. As he was a Non-Action Guy for about two years, it was common to make jokes about how he was secretly the most dangerous member of the team, with "Send Hook!" being a semi-ironic rallying cry. And then come 2021, Hook makes his in-ring debut and as it turns out, the hype is very much justified, with him being basically the second coming of his father in terms of in-ring style. So strong is Hook's memetic badass appeal that the moment his very first t-shirt was released, it broke CM Punk's record for the best selling wrestler merch on Pro Wrestling Tees. All of this and the guy is barely in his early 20s.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • How long can Justin Roberts hold Jon Moxley's first name for?
    • After Shawn Spears adopted the Red Baron "The Chairman" due to his Establishing Character Moment of giving Cody a stiff steel chair shot to the head, some fans like to refer to Spears as a "false" Chairman, citing La Parka (who had that nickname in WCW) as the true owner of that title.
    • Britt Baker's facial expressions have earned her notoriety, thanks to her memorable appearance in NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019 in which she gave a worried Oh, Crap! when her boyfriend was hit by a finisher (by Tommaso Ciampa) from the top of the cage to a table.
    • Excalibur's dramatic reaction to the debut of the Butcher, the Blade, and the Bunny (or as he put it, "THE BUTCHER! THE BLADE! AND THE BUNNY!") got this response, especially after it became clear that the vast majority of the audience wasn't aware of who they were.note 
    • Broken Matt Hardy and Kenny Omega chasing down and striking Sammy Guevara in a golf cart during a street fight became an instant meme due to the combined ham factors of the wrestlers (plus Chris Jericho as Guevara's partner in the match) and the absurdity of using a golf cart in a wrestling match.
    • The use of "👉🤪" emojis as shorthand for "Japanese Deathmatch Legend and the Original Death-Dealer" Dr. Luther, whose almost invariably will mug before the camera by sticking his tongue out and pointing to his head. This has since become an Appropriated Appellation, with Luther adding it to his Twitter bio.
    • [X] IS #ALLELITE, AEW's method of announcing new signings on social media, is a popular exploitable image format thanks to how simple it is to make anyone look like they've just signed to AEW. This meme is ubiquitous enough that people have thought actual signings, such as Paul Wight, were jokes at first.
    • Dark days ahead for AEW.Explanation 
    • From the March 31st, 2021 episode of Dynamite, MJF opening the door to find Inner Circle waiting for him immediately spawned parodies using pre-existing footage, including one featuring him as an extra during a WWE Samoa Joe segment.
    • Cody's outfit at Double or Nothing 2021 got many jokes comparing it to that of Homelander, not helped by the Patriotic Fervor theme of his feud with his opponent at the event, the British Anthony Ogogo.
    • Armed AndersonExplanation 
      • Armed Arsonist.Explanation 
    • MJF's "They call it the Midwest because everything in it is MID!" promo took off on TikTok, with users replacing the Midwest related items with things the uploader deems "mid."
    • "It's Wednesday, you know what that means." Explanation 
    • In Keith Lee's debut match against Isiah Kassidy, the former throwing his much smaller opponent from one end of the ring to the other spawned parodies including being compared to Uncle Phil throwing Jazz out of the house.
    • John Silver explaining to Anna Jay. Explanation 
    • ADRENALINE, IN MY SOUL, (insert something that rhymes with soul)Explanation 
    • An independent study had confirmed ... Explanation 
    • This Fucking Guy!Explanation 
    • Christian Cage hates orphans.Explanation 
    • MEAT!Explanation 
  • Most Wonderful Sound:
    • Excalibur's "You GOT to give the people what they want!" whenever the Best Friends hug it out with zoom-out.
    • Also Excalibur's one particular call, lampshaded to hell and back:
      JR: What is that, Excalibur?
      Excalibur: TOPEEE SUIIICIDAAA!
    • JR's "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy!" chant, typically whenever Sammy Guevara does something amazing or wins a match.
    • "A, E, WWWWWWWW/(Location)!!! THE ACCLAIMED, HAVE ARRIVED!!!" Anthony Bowen's typical follow-up to fellow Acclaimed member Max Caster's raps.
      • “SCISSOR ME, DADDY ASS!” Anthony Bowen’s follow-up to his follow-up while teaming with the Gunn Club, having Billy Gunn… Well, “scissor” him. So wonderful that one of the things fans bemoaned about the group separating so quickly is that they may never hear this quote again.
    • Isiah Kassidy’s hilariously high-pitch scream, typically when thrown up high by an opponent.
    • "IT'S STIIIIING!!!" Whenever Sting makes his appearance.
    • "It's time for the MAIN EVENT!" Said by Mark Henry before... well, the main events to Rampage and after the interviews of the participants in them.
  • Narm:
    • After a shocking Curb-Stomp Battle from Brodie Lee to Cody Rhodes, the latter is carried out on a stretcher over to the entrances... More precisely, a few feet a way from the ring, left there for a bit before the Dark Order inevitably continues their assault on Cody. While this can be migiated due to circumstances of it being during the COVID-19 era as well as the awesome curbstomp and the action afterwards, including Brodie smashing Cody with a bag containing the remains of the placeholder TNT Championship belt, Cody and Brandi, after the latter was choked out by Anna Jay while trying to protect her husband, proceeding to reach out and hold hands while laid out really turns up the narm with such melodrama.
    • Amid their feud with FTR, whom manipulated "Hangman" Adam Page into costing them a chance for the Tag Team Championships, the Young Bucks would eventually display heelish actions by superkicking officials and referees alike while throwing money at them for compensation. Many fans weren't amused by this, finding it random, if not extremely childish and petty, not helped by how it didn't add much, if anything, to the feud and was dropped near the end almost entirely beyond a few references to the incidents.
    • Lance Archer, in his second encounter with Dan Lambert, is victim of a sneak attack and is stopped by Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky, both of whom simply punch him down. No double team moves or anything as you'd expect in the world of wrestling, the 6 ft 8 in Murderhawk Monster is simply punched down by two men who, while strong in their own right, he should probably be able to throw off of him as a monster heel, making him look oddly weak, moreso with Dan Lambert already having MMA fighters surrounding him in the ring, all of whom just stand there and do nothing to help, adding to the awkwardness.
    • Speaking of the MMA fighters, it was plenty clear to many in their feud with the Inner Circle that they were holding back their punches during fights with them. At the very least, Junior dos Santos proved to be a decent wrestler when in a proper match.
    • How are Jade and Shaq shown to be training for their upcoming tag team match? By playing some basketball... Yeah. Much like Santos though, Shaq actually did pretty decently for his match.
    • When Marina Shafir makes her challenge to Thunder Rosa for the latter's championship, she asks her if she can solve her... yet the tone she says it in almost sounds like she's asking Rosa to date her, instead.
    • Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland’s confrontation leading to their team breaking up was a hotly anticipated scene, but ended up being a complete disaster in execution; On top of weird sound problems throughout, Rick Ross kept repeating the same lines, spoke over Swerve Strickland and just wouldn’t shut up. Parker Boudreaux, as per usual, keeps posing like a coked-out maniac after just about every strike, making him look silly, rather than intimidating. Lastly, a new wrestler not only no one knew, but also looked ridiculous instead of fierce with his tattoos all over him. Just about all of the other party took a way from the two well-liked wrestlers’ separation. At the very least, Keith Lee’s reaction to being called a big motherfucker was found to be amusing and the cinderblock attack was seen as a truly “Holy Shit” moment.
    • Bleeding in a match would normally be an indication of how brutal it is and Jon Moxley, being Jon Moxley, is no stranger to brutality. However, fans have noticed that a good amount of his matches has had him bleeding, leading to the visual not being as palpable as it’d usually be when it happens so often.
  • Narm Charm: In the middle of The Acclaimed and Gunn Club breaking up, Anthony Bowens sadly signals for Billy Gunn to scissor him one more time, which Billy actually almost does before dropping him. Many were legitimately heartbroken by the denied action of two men rubbing their fingers together in a scissor motion.
    • "I'm going to fight like an 8 year old girl." A silly line on it's own, made strong and incredibly heartwarming by the story of said girl and the match that instigated telling it.
      • The same 8 year old girl going to the ring, breaking Sonjay Dutt's pencil and then pinning him after the comments he made against her is a hilariously sweet way to go full circle with the quote.
  • Nightmare Fuel: AEW has its fair share of scary wrestlers.
    • Lance Archer, a behemoth of a man who can not only throw you around, but can also walk on ropes and backflip onto his foes, following the motif "Everybody dies." Being managed by the more mentally frightening Jake "The Snake" Roberts doesn’t help, whom still has his pet snake around, even having it crawl around an unconscious Brandi once before teasing throwing it into the audience. It doesn't help that Archer would make a habit out of attacking ringside crewmembers during his entrance, capping it off with giving a pop-up to a guy in the locker room, causing the guy to crash onto the ceiling and then onto the floor.
    • The Dark Order itself was a bit scary as is, what with how they used to invite vengeful and hate-filled people into their group, but their fear factor was heightened when the Exalted One, Brodie Lee made his arrival, being another tall and powerful figure with an incredible Death Glare and holding clear power out of fear over his allies.
    • Miro. While he initially started off as Affably Evil out of the ring, seemingly wanting to make friends with everybody while kicking plenty of ass, that all started to slowly change when he got fed up of feuding with Best Friends alongside Kip, feeling it's wasting his time when he desired Championships. This all came to a head when Kip took his sweet time coming to talk to him, leading to Miro absolutely decimating his former friend, ending with banging a door on his arm… And then hugging him as he softly forgives him, beginning his story as "The Redeemer", a man who loves Jesus… but also believes that Jesus is on his side while he decimates other people.
    • Malakai Black. On top of his Creepy Awesome entry and big blackened eye, he made his first appearance by appearing after the lights went out a second time with the first being during Cody’s match against QT Marshall, making clear his intentions by knocking out Arn Anderson and then Cody Rhodes with a swift spinning kick. Then when he fought in his first match against Cody, he proceeded to defeat his opponent in swift and dominant fashion.
    • Abadon. Called the Undead Girl, she's quick to freak out her opponents with her disturbing appearance (including an almost completely white eye and constantly dripping blood from her face), stares and loud screeches, all complete with an incredibly violent move-set.
    • Britt Baker isn't typically a scary wrestler, but she has had some disturbing moments, including placing her foe's mouth between the ropes and stomping their head, having done this twice and almost to Hikaru Shida once, where Britt had broken her nose yet still kept fighting. Then there's her Lights Out match with Thunder Rosa where she had blood streaming down her face and even colouring her eyes, smiling at the camera with a crimson mask.
    • The Butcher, the Blade and the Bunny. They all undertake the job of mercs, ready and eager to decimate anyone their employees points them to, the Butcher and Blade with deadly serious looks and Bunny dissonant cheer. Bunny is especially creepy with her manic smile, screaming in people’s faces and high-pitch laugh.
    • For a non-heel example, there's Darby Allin. A man who, despite his size, can take an incredible heap of pain and has no care for his own body, enduring horrific punishment more than most yet still keep fighting through it all and is just as willing to inflict such pain to his opponents. More often than not, he has to be outright knocked unconscious to be kept down.
    • Nick Gage. Though he's only appeared in one fight, he made it quite memorable with it being a Death Match which he specializes in. In it, he, among other things, cut part of Chris Jericho’s head with a pizza cutter. Both wrestlers were left in a bloody heap after everything was said and done.
  • No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: As much as the main event of Revolution 2021 came to be known for all the wrong reasons, it did help make the official shirt for it one of the company's top sellers for a few weeks afterwards.
  • Older Than They Think:
    • So the reason for for the gimmick of The Librarians (Peter Avalon and Leva Bates) was that Dave Meltzer thought that a wrestling librarian could never get over, did he? Had Meltzer not heard about Paige Turner?
    • The Omega/Moxley match at Revolution 2021 is far from the first time an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch has ended with the pyro that was supposed to "blow up the ring" misfiring to embarrassing effect. Something similar happened during the legendary hardcore match between Cactus Jack and Terry Funk at the IWA Kawasaki Dream event in 1995 where at the end of the countdown the rough equivalent of 4 roman candles went off on each side of the ring. Ironically, that match ended up being much less embarrassing because of what was apparently another botch, namely that it happened before the match finished and Funk didn't sell it, allowing him and Mick Foley to improvise a new ending that overshadowed the botched fireworks and the match actually ended up going down as one of the greatest hardcore matches of all time.
  • Overshadowed by Controversy:
    • All Out 2020 was a divisive show, with some great matches and some that were less well-received, but the entire event suffered badly following a horrific botch in the Broken Rules match between Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara, where a high table spot went horribly wrong and Matt's head went smack right into a concrete floor from a disturbing height after he and Sammy partially missed the tables. That was bad enough, but then after some confusion, AEW allowed the two wrestlers (at their own insistence) to continue the match despite Matt obviously having suffered a serious concussion-note  they went immediately into the finishing sequence of the match so Matt could winnote , which might have been OK... except the finish required him and Sammy to climb a set of scaffolding to a frightening height again before Matt could punch Sammy off. AEW instantly came under massive criticism for this, with most people insisting that management should have put their foot down and called the match off immediately for Matt's welfare (and their weak rationalizations after the fact didn't help matters), and it really put a damper on the whole rest of the show. Combined with other issues, All Out 2020 ended up being received by many critics as "AEW's first bad PPV".
    • The main talking point of Revolution 2021 was the failed attempt at an exploding ring. There was a lot of discussion and derision towards AEW for that Special Effects Failure which unfairly took precedence not only over the match involved but the event as a whole. Anyone who talked about the wrestling aspect praised the Omega vs Moxley match before the spectacle occurred, as well as the matches that went before it such as Shida vs Mizunami's match for the women's title.
    • The 100th episode of Dark (August 3, 2021) had a major damper put on the celebration by Max Caster going overboard in his raps, cracking tasteless jokes about Simone Biles, the 2006 Duke lacrosse team sexual assault case, PCR testing, and Julia Hart. It was promptly edited out after the YouTube premiere, but still it went over so badly that Tony Khan decided to personally oversee editing of Dark and Elevation (as he was already doing on Dynamite and planned to do on the upcoming Rampage) from that point on.
    • All Out 2022. The after-show press scrum and subsequent backstage confrontation between CM Punk and The Elite cast a long shadow over what was otherwise a solid PPV, resulting in mass suspensions and an internal investigation, along with the need to crown a new World Champion and new Trios Champions.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
    • The Dark Order. Evil Uno and Stu Grayson weren't particularly hated for their ring work (in fact, they had a great team dynamic and synergy), but a lot of people had complaints about their gimmick, calling it too ridiculous or underdeveloped to work. (The team's previous "Super Smash Bros." gimmick didn't help matters, and in fact the announcers called them such during their surprise debut with no further context, leading fans unfamiliar with them completely lost,note  and fans familiar with them to believe that they were meant to be the same characters) That all started to change when Evil Uno picked up a mic and demonstrated some potential by tempting Marko Stunt to join his cult. AEW appears to keep this going by giving Dark Order a series of vignettes to further develop their origins and characters. Even when they hit a snag in the form of the memetically inept Creeper who was incapable of punching correctly, that got added in-storyline in the form of their leader being displeased with that and punishing the Creeper for their failure. Then Mister Brodie Lee debuted as the long-awaited Exalted One behind the Dark Order, which elevated the group to the level of a very serious threat. There's also the fact that the group has begun recruiting more members from the roster to replace the faceless and interchangeable Creepers, up to and including well-known names like Colt Cabana, and is still looking to expand, making them one of the most dangerous factions in AEW.
    • Shawn Spears wasn't initially well-liked for working a slower style (associated with WWE wrestlers) that clashed with most of the AEW roster and not having an interesting character, being hyped as a threat (complete with first going after Cody and being given Tully Blanchard as a manager) but not showing it in practice. His reputation grew more positive when he started to work at a better speed and given an interesting arc where he's searching for a tag team partner, and garnering heel heat by abandoning the candidates near the end of the match.
    • The Librarians tended to get X-Pac Heat rather than actual heel heat, due to their gimmick being found annoying rather than truly garnering heel heat and for the most part used only as Jobbers, giving the audience few reasons to care about them. They even earned AEW their first Gooker Award nomination. However, they managed to gain more positive reactions from the audience thanks mostly to Peter Avalon, the male Librarian, after he showed signs that even he thinks that the gimmick is bad (and only keeps up with it to be close to Leva Bates, the female Librarian), and his feud with Brandon Cutler, the other wrestler in AEW to have a losing streak, with each one trying to get their first win. Then they dropped the gimmick and Avalon went back to his Casanova Wannabe "Pretty" Peter Avalon gimmick from the independents, and even the most fervent critics admitted his ability to be entertaining.
    • "Hangman" Adam Page was initially seen in AEW as, while not necessarily bad, a bland, underwhelming choice to push for the World Championship compared to others in the tournament, especially since he made it to the finals against eventual winner Chris Jericho. Then came his team with Kenny Omega, his feud with the Young Bucks which included a fantastic match at Revolution, and retooling his character into a Functional Addict "anxious millenial cowboy", which turned him to one of the most loved faces in the company.
    • Dr. Britt Baker was brought into the company with much fanfare (to the point of being the first female talent signed to the company after Brandi Rhodes), and was clearly pushed from the start, to the point of being for a while the de facto face of AEW's women's division. However, her first few months in the company fell short of expectations, mostly due to her gimmick basically being limited to her being acknowledged as being a real-life dentist, which wasn't seen as being as particularly quirky by most of the audience as the company seemed to think. Even in Being the Elite, which is known to flesh out some wrestlers' characters, her (very rare) appearances mostly revolved about her remembering that her boyfriend used to be in The Elite. This all changed when she pulled a Face–Heel Turn that saw her proclaim herself as the "role model" of the women's division and pick a feud with commentator Tony Schiavone of all people, which was widely welcomed as showing much more personality from her. Her rescue was finalized by her match with Thunder Rosa during which she showed determination, brutality and resilience more reminiscent of Mick Foley.
    • During the initial months of AEW, Alex Marvez — a NFL reporter by trade — was widely reviled as a weak third wheel on commentary alongside Jim Ross and Excalibur. When Tony Schiavone was signed on as a full-time commentator, Marvez was relegated to being the promotion's backstage interviewer where he was much better suited. Thanks to his ability to play an entertaining slightly-clueless straight man to whoever he is interviewing and his uncanny ability to pop up out of nowhere in backstage segments, he is even perhaps approaching Ensemble Dark Horse territory.
    • Miro's initial persona as Kip Sabian's video game-loving best friend was extremely divisive among fans. However, his evolution into The Redeemer and shedding of his happy-go-lucky persona in favor of a sociopathic zealot has received almost universal acclaim.
  • Rooting for the Empire: As Cody Rhodes became more of a Base-Breaking Character, crowds actively cheered for his opponents, most notably Malakai Black, even though Rhodes was supposed to be the face. Then again, Black's Creepy Awesome presentation might have helped to a degree as well in that particular case.
  • The Scrappy:
    • The Nightmare Collective was universally reviled for sucking up all the oxygen from the already-weak women's division, week after week of Vagueness Is Coming promos without any resolution, relegating the talented Awesome Kong to The Voiceless Brute, and doing the same concept as the Dark Order, even though the Dark Order has a far more compelling take on the same concept.note  There was pretty much no one in the fandom with anything good to say about them by the time it was decided to pull the plug on the angle. It went to the point that Brandi Rhodes openly admitted the arc was a dud and agreed with many fan points about it.
    • QT Marshall has quickly become this after his Face–Heel Turn, many feeling he doesn't have the looks to be a threat, especially with his usual clothing out of wrestling (which includes a polo shirt) making him look less like the fearsome head of the Factory and more like he's about to go bowling, nor does he have the charisma to be a great leader either, on top of being considered to have a boring move-set (not helping this latter point is that his Finishing Move is the Diamond Cutter, which was "lended" to him by Diamond Dallas Page before QT's heel turn). A majority of fans were unamused by his feud with Cody having gone on for as long as it did and moreso feel he's taking up screentime that could be given to other wrestlers and factions, also wishing that the other members of The Factory would leave him. Over time though, people have gradually warmed up to QT Marshall, especially with him working well as the popular Hook’s first rival.
  • Shocking Moments:
    • At the Double or Nothing rally AEW held on January 8, 2019, the company showed the biggest indicator yet that they could potentially compete with WWE on near-even footing, with the shocking arrival of a surprise signing- Chris Jericho!
    • And then at Double or Nothing itself, they somehow managed to top themselves with the surprise appearance of JON FUCKING MOXLEY!
    • A smaller but still amazing return is AWESOME KONG returning to the ring after a three-year absence.
    • AEW also stunned the Double or Nothing crowd and fans watching at home with the cameo of Bret Hart, who introduced the AEW World Championship belt.
    • Fyter Fest saw the return of Shawn Spears (the former Tye Dillinger), immediately introducing himself to AEW with a high-five. And by that, we mean with a chair. To the back of Cody's head. This revived the debate about unprotected chair shots in wrestling (not helped by Cody being busted open hardway due to a botch with how the chair was gimmicked), but it can't be said that it didn't cause a reaction. Even the AEW crowd, who were probably primed to see something very not-WWE, had no idea what to make of it.
    • Jake the freakin' Snake Roberts coming out on the post-Revolution episode of Dynamite and verbally destroying Cody with one of his classic mesmerizing promos.
    • After years of trading barbs on social media, The Young Bucks and FTR finally coming face to face on the post- Double or Nothing 2020 episode of Dynamite.
    • On the August 22, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Mr. Brodie Lee gets a title shot at Cody's TNT Championship... and destroys him. The Dark Order destroys the Nightmare Family, assaulting Arn Anderson, Dustin and QT Marshall, tipping over Cody's stretcher onto the stage while EMTs try to evacuate him, letting Anna Jay choke out Brandi when she tries to protect her husband, and smashing Cody over the head with a bag containing the shattered shards of the prototype championship belt that Brodie had stolen beforehand and promised to return. The Bad Guy Wins in full effect.
    • On the December 30, 2020 episode of Dynamite (the tribute show for the late Brodie Lee), Wardlow interferes in the match between John Silver, Alex Reynolds, Hangman Page vs Santana, Ortiz and MJF and attacks Reynolds. All of a sudden, Erick Rowan (as Erick Redbeard) appears from nowhere and takes out Wardlow.
    • AEW fans are no stranger to hardcore matches, but the lights-out unsanctioned match between Dr. Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa in the main event of the "St. Patrick's Day Slam" episode of Dynamite had already gone far further than anyone had expected from an AEW women's match, when Britt kicked it into a shockingly high gear by introducing a bag of thumbtacks- and then getting powerbombed flat on her back into them! And that still wasn't even close to the finish!
    • CM Punk returning to wrestling on Rampage’s “The First Dance” after 7 years. Even with much foreshadowing beforehand, many couldn’t believe he’d come back.
    • All Out 2021 revealed some bomb signings: Ruby Soho and Bryan Danielson alongside the completely unforeshadowed Adam Cole.
    • When Cody Rhodes left the company, the first major signing to quit, which was followed by him going back to the WWE and showing up at WrestleMania for his re-debut there.
    • Jon Moxley utterly squashing CM Punk in three minutes at there unifaction tile match is up there in terms of moments no one saw coming.
    • After losing the ROH World Title to Claudio at Final Battle 2022, Chris Jericho looked to bounce back by taking down what he, himself called, a jobber in the following Dynamite. Many expected this to be a quick fight, but to the shock of many, said “jobber,” Action Andretti, not only had an extensive battle against Chris Jericho and even put up a good one against him no less, kicking out of the Codebreaker to the surprise and delight of many, Andretti pinned Jericho clean in a ginormous upset absolutely no one saw coming but just about everyone celebrated.
  • Special Effect Failure:
    • During the segment where Moxley pretended to join the Inner Circle only to reveal that he was just playing them, he smashed a bottle of "the bubbly" over Chris Jericho's head and hit him with a Paradigm Shift, then hit Sammy Guevara with the same move when he charged in to try and rescue Jericho. Then Jake Hager came in for his turn and Moxley grabbed a second bottle, only for the bottle (which, like the other one, was made of sugar glass) to shatter in his hand before he could even swing it at Hager. Moxley beat a hasty retreat. Granted, this did help ensure Hager maintain his powerful appearance and gave us the amusing image of him cradling a dazed Jericho.
    • A far, far worse example came at the end of Revolution 2021 after Kenny Omega defeated Moxley in an exploding barbed wire deathmatch. The match had had a 30-minute time limit after which the ring would explode, but Omega pinned Mox with several minutes to go. With the timer still counting down, Omega and the Good Brothers handcuffed Moxley and left him in the ring to be blown up with it. Eddie Kingston ran in to try and help Mox, only for the timer to hit 0 with both men inside it... and possibly the lamest pyro ever went off around them, equivalent to a couple of sparklers shooting from the ringposts.note  It was so pathetic that some people compared it to Gillberg's ring entrance. Matters were arguably only made worse by Eddie selling the "explosions" like he was dying, and the commentary desperately trying to put over how they'd lost two guys at once. As far as anticlimactic wrestling botches go, it was compared to the Shockmaster, with a lot of people saying it not only ruined the match that preceded it, but the entire PPV. At the very least, AEW managed to salvage Eddie’s Heel–Face Turn, many agreeing he’s one of the only few who could’ve talked his way out of it, and it led to "69 me, Don!"
    • Another awful example during the Blood and Guts special. While the match itself was highly praised, afterwards, MJF pushed Chris Jericho from the top of the cage and Jericho fell onto what was clearly a crash pad covered in cardboard boxes made to look like diamond plate steel. The issue was less the crash pad itself (since everyone understood that Jericho's safety obviously came first, though ironically he was still legitimately injured by the spot when his elbow was dislocated) than the unnecessarily close-up camerawork which made it far more obvious than it would otherwise have been had they shot from a distance or a lower position like the floor.
  • Squick: Max Caster's weird insistence on kissing his opponent's hand and using it to wipe his face clean of sweat after beating them.
    • During the March 23, 2022 edition of Dynamite, after Dan Lambert plants a kiss on one of the TNT belts, Sammy notes he and Tay Conti have been living rent-free in his head… If only he knew that with what they did together, now they live in his mouth. Yes, Sammy pretty much said they did unsanitary things with that belt. If there’s one thing people can agree on with Dan Lambert, is that is indeed disgusting.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • Tainted by the Preview: The reveal of the AEW All-Atlantic Championship was met with general confusion and disappointment, with fans disliking how AEW was creating yet another secondary men's belt when, counting the TNT Championship and several Ring of Honor belts, they already have plenty. The fact that it was this instead of a Women's Tag Team Championship or a Trios Championship, as many had been anticipating, also turned people away from it. When PAC became the inaugural champion and the belt's purpose as a "touring championship" became clear however, most fans warmed up to it, with the announcement that PAC's first title defences would be at a series of indie shows in Britain and Ireland earning widespread approval.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Team Taz were major fan favorites during their two-year run in the company, but many fans felt that they were badly underutilized. Despite the group's basic premise (a gang of street-smart antiheroes with a merciless hardcore-influenced wrestling style, mentored by an aging ECW legend determined to fashion them in his own image) having tons of potential, they never really became a major part of the overall story: they never had more than four members at a given time note , they seldom came into conflict with the other major factions, and their members spent much of their screen-time feuding with each other over a title that wasn't even officially recognized by AEW—often making their storylines feel like an isolated corner of the company's universe that didn't really matter.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • Cody Rhodes leaving The Elite. Despite being a pretty juicy opportunity for drama, the other members of the Elite barely even acknowledged it when Cody left the group to start the Nightmare Family, even when the schism between Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (and the possible dissolution of the Elite) was getting major focus before the Elite's Face–Heel Turn. It became especially glaring when Cody was left as the sole founding member of the Elite who remained a face, which seemed like a natural recipe for a conflict to many fans. But Cody never really commented on his former teammates' turn to the dark side before ultimately leaving AEW in 2022.
    • Similarly to the Elite example, Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels have never reacted to Scorpio Sky turning Heel sometime after he went solo while they focused on teaming up.
    • Cody's feud with Anthony Ogogo as part of the former's larger feud with QT Marshall and The Factory was also seen as this. Out of the members of The Factory, Ogogo quickly stood out and gained the attention of the fans due to his background as a former professional boxer and natural charisma. However, his feud with Cody took an odd turn towards Patriotic Fervor when the fact that Ogogo is British started to be highlighted after he laid out Cody then placed a UK flag over him, with Ogogo even being nicknamed "The Guv'nor" and Cody assuming an "America: Love it or leave it!" attitude, apparently in an attempt to invoke All-American Face as part of a recreation of the nationalist storylines of Cody's father Dusty Rhodes's heyday, but instead came off as Type 2 of Eagleland.note  Then their match at Double or Nothing 2021 came and Ogogo actually lost to Cody (not even to any of Cody's common finishers, but rather the Vertebreaker) without showing much of an effort. Many fans saw this as a mistake, believing that Ogogo should have won as an opportunity to let a young star shine, not to mention the angle of their feud leaving a bad taste in some peoples' mouths. At the very least, their next match alongside Lee Johnson and QT Marshall featured some Author's Saving Throw by having no such angle in mind and Ogogo getting to knock Cody out, even if QT tried to take all the credit.
    • After his unpopular feud with Sammy Guevara gave way to the potential of Scorpio Sky naturally returning to being a Face and promising to be a fighting Champion, many were interested in seeing how this would affect his partnership with Ethan Page and having to face his former tag team partner, Frankie Kazarian for his first Title Defense. When the match came, Ethan Page and Dan Lambert interfered on Scorpio’s behalf despite him insisting they stay back. With this, many were hoping to see this cause further tension between the Men of the Year and even lead to a match between them… But instead, Scorpio strikes Frankie, going right back to being a Heel and feuding with Sammy Guevara to the groans of many fans who wished the feud ended a long while back.
    • Many thought the Owen Hart Tournament was going to be a nice opportunity for whomever wins or at least reaches the final round to get some shine in the spotlight, elevating them to a higher spot as they felt Owen Hart himself didn't get enough of. To the great disappointment of many, the finalists would be Adam Cole against Samoa Joe and Britt Baker against Ruby Soho, the former three of which many feel have enough star power as it is and while some feel the latter should get elevated, has gotten the ire of many fans after getting there by defeating the incredibly popular Kris Statlander in the semi-finals, (Ruby getting a huge chorus of boos for doing so, of which she even acknowledged in the promo after the match) whom has been a long-stay to AEW and many felt deserved a big win. Fans were only further confused and annoyed that Adam Cole would win the male bracket, no less through the help of interference (of which many didn't want occurring in the tournament in respect to Owen Hart), and Britt Baker the female bracket through a victory roll, both of whom really don't need the wins with their star power, no less have no notable feelings towards Owen Hart himself, making their victory feel hollow even while wearing colouring based on one of his famous wrestling personas. It also has the unfortunate side-effect of cheapening the otherwise emotional ceremony with Owen's widow Dr. Martha Hart afterwards, when she's presenting the awards to heels who don't care for almost anyone else but themselves and didn't earn them in fair and decisive matches each.
    • Serpentico would end up becoming the first wrestler to have 100 losses. With how the commentators pointed out him nearing as much repeatedly and being quite the milestone, many were curious to see if anything special would happen, concerning the 100th loss and what story would be told leading up to or after it. However, not only was there no storyline before the 100 mark, the loss itself was in a regular match against Lee Moriarty with the only acknowledgement of it being the 100th being through the commentators, Serpentico simply rolling out the ring with no fanfare right after losing as Lee celebrated. No follow-up on it was done afterwards. For one of AEW’s longest standing jobbers and one who has endeared himself to many, Serpentico suffering so many losses and not getting anything back was seen as a great disappointment.
  • Tough Act to Follow:
    • Subverted. While Cody Rhodes said in an interview that "revenge" for the demise of WCW and the work his father Dusty Rhodes put into that promotion is in the back of his mind, Cody does consider AEW separate and not a continuation of WCW.
    • Also subverted with the individual wrestlers. While they have some wrestlers best known for their time in WWE, AEW is going out of its way to hire wrestlers straight from the North American indie scene as well as international talent.
    • The promotion's inaugural pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, ended up being so positively received that the following free events, Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen, simply weren't able to meet the same praise.
    • All Out 2021 is considered by many to be the single best (and certainly by far the highest-drawing) PPV the company has ever put on, with multiple incredible matches (including the 5.75-star cage match for the Tag Team Championships), the in-ring return of CM Punk after 7 1/2 years of retirement, and no less than four significant debuts (Minoru Suzuki, Ruby Soho, Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson), with some fans calling it AEW's equivalent of the legendary WrestleMania X7. Even the following Full Gear, another massively acclaimed show packed with top quality matches, including the main event where Hangman Page finally defeated Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship, struggled to compete with the impact of All Out.
  • Unexpected Character:
    • The unpromoted appearance of Ariane Andrew (aka WWE's Cameron) in 2020, who hadn't wrestled a match since February of 2016, as Nyla Rose's partner for the AEW Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament. Despite four years of ring rust, her performance received a surprisingly positive response from fans.
    • Hurricane Helms showing up in the Elite Deletion match between Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara maybe wasn't that much of a surprise, as Shane Helms is a long-time friend of Matt's and has appeared in his Broken Universe before. Gangrel showing up to distract Matt by taking Hurricane hostage, on the other hand, was something that nobody saw coming, even though they justified it when he reminded everyone that he was Sammy's trainer.
    • All Out 2021 brought about a twofer, with Adam Cole coming out after the main event to side with the Elite, only for his debut to be upstaged by none other than Bryan Danielson.note 
  • X-Pac Heat:
    • Without a doubt, the least-successful angle AEW have run since they started has been the Nightmare Collective, a group formed by Brandi Rhodes to terrorize the women's division, ambushing women and taking hunks of their hair as trophies and apparently trying to recruit members of the division to join them. The group utterly failed to gain any traction, despite the presence of Awesome Kong as their primary enforcer, and Brandi in particular attracted extra go-away heat following a disastrous guest stint on commentary during a women's match where she recklessly buried the match, everyone involved in it, and even fellow commentator Excalibur. Not helping matters is that the Collective was stepping on the toes of the Dark Order, who have a similar "join our dark, occult group or suffer the consequences" gimmick, resulting in diminishing returns for both groups, although the Dark Order is at least receiving a better response than the Collective. During the Nightmare Collective segments and matches, the crowd were so dead that you could hear a pin drop in the arena. Fans and critics were all but begging AEW to just drop the entire angle for months. Eventually Brandi herself saw the writing on the wall and decided to have it dropped, making a Heel–Face Turn by coming to the aid of her husband, and closing out the whole thing by burning her gimmick clothes in a video posted on Twitter.
    • Brandi Rhodes herself however has eventually gained the scorn of fans once again, finding her to not be a great wrestler that brings nothing to the table, takes up time over other female wrestlers and the stint where she copied Malakai Black’s pose and flipped him off during Cody’s second match against him less badass and more silly and obnoxious. It’s quite telling that the second time Dan Lambert spoke against her, people were cheering him, of all people, while venomously booing her, (A contrast to her husband, Cody typically getting mixed reactions) something that Dan himself even lampshaded in the middle of the segment, not helped by viewership plummeting under 1+ million during it.
    • The Gunn Club, consisting of Billy Gunn and his sons Colten and Austin Gunn, have eventually started to get on many fans' nerves for having a strong winning record that many feel the trio don't deserve, believing they're not as entertaining as many other groups. While Billy Gunn himself averts the heat to some degree with him still fighting and looking incredibly well for his age, people feel the Gunn Brothers are not experienced enough to have earned so much wins. This only worsened when they turned heel, becoming a trio of jerkasses who like to boast the fact that they have a huge winning record, despite the fact that most of their wins come from beating jobbers, (And teams that aren’t, they typically beat with a cheating pin, not exactly wins to be proud of nor ones most fans like to see.) on top of Colten being undefeated, a fact that the group like to obnoxiously wave over other's heads and many fans wonder why he even has it despite not doing anything particularly awe-inspiring to keep it for as long as he has. They also aren't fond of Austin's constant and loud jaw-jacking at his opponents while on the ropes or out the ring. Them entering a feud with Darby Allin and Sting only intensified this, with fans viewing that a homegrown talent who is on the track to be the future of the company like Allin and an outright wrestling legend like Sting deserve far more notable opponents, though thankfully, that ended quick with the duo ending Colten's streak. At the very least, many find their online feud with Danhausen calling them “Ass Boys” to the Brothers’ annoyance and Billy’s amusement quite hilarious. Fans started to warm up to them more with the Ass Boys playing into their Fan Nickname and having a great title match against Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, on top of their selling. (I.E. Darby tackling Austin like he was shot out of a cannonball and left folded until his family retrieved him.) Even more so when they teamed with The Acclaimed, so much so that many lamented that it didn't last as long as they felt it could.
      • While Billy Gunn would go on to team up with the Acclaimed once more to the delight of many, Austin and Colten started to lose favour with the fans over time, which came to a head when it was time for the Acclaimed and Ass Boys to fight for the Tag Titles, of which many felt Austin and Colten weren’t ready for with the best they had were beating FTR after their gruelling third match with the Briscoe Brothers. Many sensed and were disappointed when the two would go on to win the titles despite how most were still enjoying The Acclaimed’s run as Champs. By the end of their tag team run, they regained the general favour of fans once more with further improvement and have especially gotten over once more through joining Bullet Club Gold.
    • Many see Matt Hardy's run as Big Money Matt as no where near as entertaining as his stint as Broken Matt Hardy, finding his Corrupt Corporate Executive role not as thrilling of a personality and it doesn't make as much sense for him to stay as this persona beyond the Pandemic Era when wrestling companies were struggling to maintain income. Fans also feel him having the wrestlers in his stable, the Hardy Family Office (Private Party, The Butcher & The Blade & The Bunny, TH2 and Jora Johl) serving as his lackeys is a disservice to them, especially with them not having many chances to speak or do much on their own. Matt's ridiculously long feud with fan favorite Orange Cassidy has especially grated on the fans' nerves, the plot of which basically amounts to Matt fixating on and wanting to hurt Cassidy in any way he can seemingly because he simply annoys him. Few, if any, fans found this to be an investing rivalry, no less one that has gone on for as long as it has.
    • Many fans have started to grew wary of Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti around the time they became an onscreen couple with their antics being seen as obnoxious and childish by many and Sammy not being a decent talker, on top of Tay Conti not wrestling as much, then. Not only is Dan Lambert being cheered over them saying a lot, but a desired Heel turn didn’t do much to quell the haters, not helped by the fans feeling the feud between them and the Man of the Year both going on for far too long and having the side-effect of the TNT Champion not feeling as prestigious when it’s being traded between wrestlers repeatedly, being used for a gross joke and even destroyed in spite all while being stuck in the middle of a feud that many feel doesn’t fit having a Title in between it. It’s quite telling that the majority who say their opinion on said feud is that they hope Miro returns and takes back the Title (One he lost to Sammy Guevara, no less) after squashing all those involved and in the 2022 Grand Slam Tournament, many were incredibly disappointed to see him beat Darby in unfair fashion, feeling the latter deserved the win far more. The recent back to back real life backstage conflicts with Eddie Kingston and then Andrade El Idolo have further caused people to sour on him. It isn't help that Sammy seems to many people, incapable of not knowing when to keep his mouth shut when both incidents occurred. Sammy started to regain favour with the fans by the time the Four Pillars had their first feud together.
    • Parker Boudreaux and Trench for the Mogul Affiliates faction (consisting originally of them plus Swerve Strickland). Much like Gunn Club in Billy Gunn, Swerve is still well-liked, but his teammates are what give the group a negative reception, already off to a bad start with their awkward introduction. Parker has shown himself to still be quite green and not coming off as intimidating as he tries to be, most feeling he should still be training, rather than put on Dynamite. Similarly, Trench being tattoo’d all over doesn’t so much cause worry to any fans than it does weird them out, the same of which can be said for his name. It seems like they were simply put alongside Swerve to give him some muscle. It’s quite telling that both would end up being written off with Trench not even getting to have a match, let alone even shown being taken out, which Swerve accuses Dustin Rhodes of doing before their match and Parker after an awkward showing in an otherwise good match between him and Swerve against Dustin Rhodes and Keith Lee. The two were basically replaced by Prince Nana, Brian Cage, Kaun and Toa Liona, who many saw as a much more fitting group for Swerve and since then the group has been very over.

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