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IN FOUR SHORT MINUTES THE YOUNG BUCKS SHOWED THE WORLD WHY AEW WILL NEVER ATTRACT ANYONE OUTSIDE OF ITS CORE FAN BASE

I have had some people ask me what I thought about the promo that The Young Bucks did on Dynamite last night.  I tweeted this:

On yesterday’s show, Mike Johnson and I were very happy that no meltdowns from Tony Khan or anyone else in his company dominated the news cycle so we could actually look at the areas where AEW needs to improve to draw fans that aren’t currently watching the product, as well as bring back fans that used to watch the product, but stopped doing so.  We talked about things that they should do to make people who used to like their product, like myself, enjoy it again, all while keep the people who currently tune in satisfied.

That promo?  It was not the answer.  In fact, it was another example of what has put AEW in the position that they find themselves in right now in the first place, the inmates run the asylum, with the blessing of the warden, and put themselves over what is good for the company’s growth.

Here we have the return of The Young Bucks, pretending to hype their match with Sting, which will be his final match in front a large crowd in Greensboro that will be at the show for that very reason (and not for anything Tony Khan has actually booked).  Unlike many of AEW’s other events, this one is drawing a big crowd.  This is a chance to get people who are already going to the show excited, and for people who aren’t to get interested in how the Bucks feel about Sting.

Instead, the Bucks take yet another shot at CM Punk.  

I say yet another because remember the night in Chicago when they returned after Brawl Out and they, along with Kenny Omega, just had to prove Punk correct when he called them children by mocking him in front of the crowd?  They were back on Dynamite while he wasn’t.  Tony Khan would have to create Collision, where he could keep Punk away from the people who refused to even talk to him, just to get his top star back on TV.  The Bucks had won the war, but they still had to act like children.  

What was the result?  A significant number of fans started changing the channel every time The Bucks appeared on their screen because they didn’t hate them as heels, they hated them as Matt and Nick Jackson.  Brilliant!

So after Punk’s return on another show, they kept poking and prodding at him until he finally snapped and deservedly got himself fired after the incident with Jack Perry at All In Wembley.  

Now, they really had won.  The man who made their lives miserable was gone.  They won, he lost.  They had their playground back and the bad man had been banished!  So, they should just be happy and move forward, right?  They should try make the fans forget the things that they did which led to people turning to another program whenever they appeared on AEW TV, right?  

Of course not, because as Punk so aptly and succinctly stated, THEY ARE CHILDREN.

So what did we see last night when they should have been getting people excited for Sting’s last match?  You saw them being children yet again.  They talked about their vision of what AEW should be and how the Superstar (which Punk wasn’t by the way you dolts, he was fired by WWE, remember?) came in and messed it all up!  They have to vanquish anyone like that because those people keep the EVPs from changing the world!  OK, that was super insipid and pure BS, but that’s who they are.  I expect them to be full of it when they speak but if they could find a way to take a shot at Punk AND sell the match with Sting?  Maybe it could be salvaged.  

Of course, that never happened because that was never their intent when they cut the promo.

Instead, they told us that what they just said doesn’t refer to Sting at all, he’s great!  He was great employee!  He’s just old so he has to go.

So you two clowns cut a promo on Sting that had nothing to do with Sting and everything to do with taking another shot at CM Punk?  Brilliant!  That should make some people not want to see Sting’s last match now because you did nothing to make those folks that loathe Matt and Nick Jackson, and by extension The Young Bucks, loathe you any less.  You just may have made them care less about Sting’s last match.  Since the promo had everything to do with Punk and nothing to do with Sting and his last match, the takeaway to me was, “We ran the top start out of this company, along with a lot of viewers, we can make you not care about Sting’s last match too!”  You two are really wrestling savants!

Why can’t they just let Punk be in their past and move on?  Why is he still in their heads even though he’s long gone?  Maybe it’s because he most probably got a lot of money to sign an NDA after he left and that bugs them.  Maybe it’s because unlike them, he has gone to the big time and moved the needle significantly and they are jealous.  Maybe it’s as simple as they are children who just can’t act like adults.  Whatever the case, they once again did something to hurt the company and the movement that they claim to love to the people who are not currently invested in AEW.  Brilliant!

Now, I am not saying Tony Khan didn’t gleefully endorse the promo.  I don’t know that he did, but I would certainly not be shocked if he thought it was great!  Of course, that would be damning it with feint praise because everything is GREAT concerning AEW in Tony’s world.  

But to a lot of the rest of us?  You just put a stink on Sting’s last match.  Brilliant!  In four short minutes you showed the world the main thing that is wrong with AEW.  Brilliant!

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