Can't Knock The Hustle: What A Hypothetical AEW Draft Would/Should Look Like

22/04/2024 22:21

*By Request*

“Do you think you could do a column on what AEW should do if they had their own Draft like WWE does? you don’t have to write out every pick for every one on the roster. Just talk about how you would set things up if Tony Khan put you in charge of making the draft happen. Thanks.”

Let’s get the important part of that out of the way immediately… thank goodness I don’t have to write out every pick. To say that there are too many people under contract with AEW would be one of the biggest understatements in the history of the pro wrestling business.

There are currently a whopping 162 performers on the roster right now, and there an additional 12 names who are manager/valet types, and then there’s Negative One, if you want to count him as an officially contracted member of the roster. That’s 175 total names. There is also reports that they could be adding new signings in the not-too-distant future, with a handful of names mentioned, so the overall number of performers on the roster could get bigger.

For comparison’s sake, the Raw and Smackdown rosters have a combined total of 118 wrestlers and three more that are strictly managers, for a total of 121 names. If you take the 44 male members of the NXT roster, that gives you 165 names, which, in case math isn’t your strong suit, is still less than AEW’s 175 names. On top of that, we’re in the middle of WWE’s regular “spring cleaning” spree, where they release a handful of talents after WrestleMania, so the overall number of performers on the roster could get smaller.

If AEW had those 175 names spread out on “brands” that were somewhat set in stone, it wouldn’t be as bad, but for the most part, it’s just a giant mass of people who are looking for television time on the same shows. That means a bunch of very talented people are going to be shut out, no matter how hard you try, unless you’re just booking Battle Royals every week to get people on the cards.

I guess that’s up to me to try and fix here, huh?

Before I go on, I have to make it clear that I’m not saying AEW does, or doesn’t, need any sort of Draft and a split on their roster. I’m just having fun with a specific request, and running with it.

The first thing I’m going to do is to, indeed, split the roster up. The column request was worded in a way that made it seem like Tony Khan was putting me in charge of the Draft itself, and some of the decisions that surround it, not the entire company. That means “trimming the fat” and releasing a bunch of names isn’t an option I can run with. With that off the table, a “brand split” is the next best option.

Because of that same “in charge of the Draft, not the entire company” rule, I also can’t say things like “get rid of Ring Of Honor altogether.”

That presented my first real hurdle to deal with.

With Dynamite, Honor Club TV, Rampage, and Collision, there would be a perfect split of programming hours to use if AEW had two different “brands.” For example, Dynamite and Honor Club TV would allow Brand #1 to have three hours, while Rampage and Collision would allow Brand #2 to have three hours. That’s fine and all, but the fact that Honor Club is behind a paywall on a streaming service while the rest of the shows are on cable television creates an issue. In that example, it wouldn’t be “fair” to Brand #1 that one-third of their programming hours is dedicated to streaming, while all of Brand #2’s hours are on television.

Hey, I found a loophole and still got rid of Ring Of Honor altogether!

So… I needed to make a choice. I had to break the rule momentarily, so for the time being, here’s the first part of the hypothetical AEW Draft…

– AEW was able to get Honor Club an hour of television time on TBS every Thursday night. Not only does that even out the programming hours, it keeps all of Brand #1’s time on TBS, while all of Brand #2’s time is on TNT, based on the show layout I mentioned earlier.

Someone’s inevitably going to mention that AEW would be on television for not only four nights a week, but four consecutive nights a week. While that would probably be a big problem in a normal situation, this isn’t quite “normal” and if you’re going to properly split the roster up, it’s not bad. If Brand #1 and Brand #2 look and feel different, and there’s no lazy writing where wrestlers are appearing on the other shows all the time, it SHOULD feel like two different companies, and not just one company four nights in a row. Should. Maybe. Hopefully. Ideally.

The next hurdle to clear involves the championships on the roster. Some are easy to deal with, and others require more attention. The TNT Title? Well, that goes to Brand #2, as they’re exclusively on TNT. The TBS Title? Clearly, that means Brand #1 gets it, as they’re exclusively on TBS.

– Brand #1 gets the TBS Championship, because they air exclusively on TBS, while the TNT-exclusive Brand #2 gets the TNT Championship.

Continuing with the titles, it makes sense to work with the previous changes and flip things. With the TBS Championship heading to the women’s division on Brand #1, that means the Women’s Championship heads to Brand #2. Also, if the men’s midcard scene on Brand #2 has the TNT Championship, then the men’s midcard scene on Brand #1 should get the International Championship.

– Brand #1 gets the International Championship as their “secondary” title because Brand #2 has the TNT Championship as their “secondary” title. Brand #2 gets the Women’s Championship because Brand #1 has the TBS Championship for their women.

Next, we have some other titles to look at. If you don’t count the titles of other promotions that members of the AEW roster are in current possession of, that leaves the World Title, Tag Team Titles, Trios Titles, RoH Women’s Title, RoH Women’s Television Title, RoH Pure Title, RoH Tag Team Titles, RoH Six-Man Tag Team Titles, RoH World Title, RoH Television Title, Continental Title, and the FTW Title.

Fucking yikes.

Well, let’s make it a bit easier right away. If Ring Of Honor is no longer a “thing” here, then all of their titles are no longer a “thing,” either. Just like that, we’ve gotten rid of SEVEN titles.

– With Ring Of Honor no longer being a “brand” in this split, their titles are now defunct, unless Tony Khan sells RoH to someone else. The RoH World Title, RoH Women’s Title, RoH Pure Title, RoH Women’s Television Title, RoH Television Title, RoH Tag Team Titles, and RoH Six-Man Tag Team Titles are all gone, and the current titleholders will all move to whichever brand drafts them.

That brings us to the AEW World Title, AEW Tag Team Titles, AEW Trios Titles, AEW Continental Title, and the FTW Title. If the intent is to keep the two brands running as completely separate entities, outside of a Survivor Series-like show once a year where they face each other, then the next move is pretty obvious if you ask me.

Two brands, two World Champions. Two brands, two sets of Tag Team Champions. Again, the idea is to keep the brands apart, so having only one “main” champion in those divisions isn’t going to make sense and wouldn’t be fair to whatever brand is lacking them.

– The reigning AEW World Champion and AEW Tag Team Champions will go to one brand, while a brand new AEW World Champion and AEW Tag Team Champions (under new title names, obviously) would be crowned on the other brand, giving each their own set of “main” champions.

Do we need a set of Trios Champions on each brand? No. Could a set of Trios Champions survive on each brand? Sure. If you’re going to split the roster as evenly as possible, you would be looking at approximately 60 men on each brand. Assuming that we won’t have too many double champions, those 60 names get narrowed down to approximately 55 on each brand. Technically, that is more than enough extra wrestlers to have Trios Titles on each brand.

Personally, I’m not a big enough fan to want to keep the Trios Titles around, let alone introduce a second set of them. However, I do understand how popular they are with the majority of the AEW fan base, so despite my preferences, I’m keeping them around.

– The reigning AEW Trios Champions will go to one brand, while a brand new set of AEW Trios Champions (under a new title name, obviously) would be crowned on the other brand, giving each their own set of champions.

That’s it. No Continental Title, no Intercontinental Title, no Lincoln Continental Title, no Continental Breakfast Title… nothing. The FTW Title is harmless, but it isn’t a “real” title, no matter how much you try to sell it as such, so that can go, too.

There aren’t a ton of candidates for on-screen “authority figures” in AEW. They’ve made it clear, from day one, that Tony Khan is THE boss and that everyone answers to him. While I don’t think we need on-screen “General Manager” types for Brand #1 and Brand #2, I do think it would be fun to have people “in charge” of guiding each brand during the Draft and helping to make the selections. For added shits and giggles, I’ve chosen two people… one former on-screen talent and current backstage coach/producer, and one current on-screen talent… that have a very rich and storied history together. Brand #1 will be represented by “The Nature Boy” himself, Ric Flair. Brand #2 will be represented by “The Enforcer” Arn Anderson. Are there “better” options for those roles? Perhaps. I’m just putting them together because their history as members of the Four Horsemen, as well as their personal relationship that has strengthened and weakened through the years, might make for entertaining television in a scenario like this.

– We don’t necessarily need proper on-screen “authority figure” types, but for the Draft itself, it could be beneficial to have people in charge of the selections and what we see played out on the shows. Brand #1 will be represented by Ric Flair, while Brand #2 will be represented by Arn Anderson.

Okay, so, let me check my notes… we’ve decided to have a Draft, we’ve created a second “brand” to have featured in the Draft, we’ve made decisions on what to do with the title situations, and we’ve decided on some figureheads to help make the on-air selections for each brand. I think it’s finally time to start breaking the roster up.

To make things easy for me, I’m going to use the current champions in AEW as of the moment I type this, which is taking place before the Dynasty pay-per-view. Therefore, some people I have listed as champions may not be champions when you read this, so be prepared. As a matter of fact, don’t even think about Dynasty or the results of the show as you read this. It’s a hypothetical set of selections in a hypothetical scenario, so there’s no such thing as “accuracy” or “reality” here.

I literally flipped a coin as I sat here at my desk, and due to said coin flip, Brand #2 winds up with the first actual pick in the Draft. As I said earlier, there’s no way I would do a column like this if I had to type out every single pick, but I will work on listing the big names and the significant stories.

After the “automatic” picks (Copeland as the TNT Champion to Brand #2, Hart as the TBS Champion to Brand #1, etc.) were out of the way, Brand #2 officially kicked things off by taking the AEW World Champion, Samoa Joe. Brand #1 surprised some people by passing over some of the bigger AEW “veterans” and selecting one of the company’s newest signees, Will Ospreay. In a similar fashion, Brand #2’s next choice was also one of the company’s newest members, Kazuchika Okada. Brand #1 followed it up by taking one of the company’s cornerstone performers, Jon Moxley.

– Brand #2 wins a coin flip to get the first pick, and they take Samoa Joe. Brand #1 responds by taking Will Ospreay. The next pick sees Brand #2 taking Kazuchika Okada, and Brand #1 closes out the top picks section by choosing Jon Moxley.

The next set of picks got kicked off by Brand #2 taking FTR to get their tag division off to a hot start. Brand #1 did something similar with their women’s division, selecting Mercedes Moné. Konosuke Takeshita was the next selection for Brand #2, while Bryan Danielson heads to Brand #1. Brand #2’s next pick is someone who would probably be selected higher in a “normal” situation, but an injury has kept him on the shelf, so I’d use this as a moment to bring MJF back as a surprise return and a big-time moment for the company. Brand #1 goes with “Hangman” Adam Page with their next pick. This portion is wrapped up with Brand #2 taking Orange Cassidy, while Brand #1 selected The Young Bucks.

– Brand #2 opens the next section by taking FTR, while Brand #1 takes Mercedes Moné. Konosuke Takeshita (Brand #2) and Bryan Danielson (Brand #1) are next up. The surprise (“surprise”) return of MJF sees him heading to Brand #2, with “Hangman” Adam Page heading to Brand #1. Orange Cassidy is off to Brand #2, while The Young Bucks go to Brand #1 to wrap things up here.

Brand #2 figured they didn’t get enough of the surprise aspect of things, and they take Kenny Omega next, bringing him back to the company after a lengthy hiatus. Swerve Strickland is off to Brand #1 with the next choice. Penta El Zero Miedo heads to Brand #2 next, and Christian Cage takes his talents to Brand #1. Athena (Brand #2) and the Trios Champions, The Acclaimed (Brand #1), are up next. Eddie Kingston (Brand #2) and “Switchblade” Jay White (Brand #1) finish things off with this section of the Draft.

– Brand #2 gives us another surprise return by selecting Kenny Omega. Brand #1 takes Swerve Strickland with the next pick. Penta El Zero Miedo (Brand #2) and Christian Cage (Brand #1) are up next. Athena (Brand #2) and the AEW Trios Champions, The Acclaimed (Brand #1), are the next choices. This portion of the Draft concludes with Eddie Kingston going to Brand #2 and “Switchblade” Jay White going to Brand #1.

In the interest of not making this a 10,000-word column, let’s switch to more of a broad recap. Brand #2 has a tag division that features FTR, Lucha Brothers, Top Flight, any combination of House Of Black, Aussie Open, The Kingdom, The Butcher & The Blade, any combination of The Dark Order, and Gates Of Agony. Of course, that’s just the teams that are official, as you can always throw two people together to make a team at any point.

To match it, Brand #1’s tag division consists of The Young Bucks, The Acclaimed, The Gunns, Private Party, The Infantry, The Righteous, The Iron Savages, Daddy Magic & Cool Hand Ang, and any combination of the Blackpool Combat Club (minus Wheeler Yuta, who ended up being selected by Brand #2).

It might look like Brand #2 has a much stronger tag division, but that was done on purpose here. With the brand being represented by Arn Anderson, one of the best tag team wrestlers of all-time, it made sense that there would be more of a focus on that aspect of the business.

Switching it up a bit, Brand #1 will have a women’s scene consisting of Julia Hart, Mercedes Moné, Hikaru Shida, Kris Statlander, Billie Starkz, Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, Saraya, Serena Deeb, Anna Jay, Riho, Yuka Sakazaki, Taya Valkyrie, Penelope Ford, and Leyla Hirsch.

Brand #2 will have Toni Storm trying to keep her AEW Women’s Title from the likes of Athena, Thunder Rosa, Deonna Purrazzo, Willow Nightingale, Mariah May, Mercedes Martinez, Queen Aminata, Nyla Rose, Emi Sakura, Skye Blue, Red Velvet, Leila Grey, Abadon, and Madison Rayne.

If you’re looking for the people who could be in and out of their brand’s World Title scenes, look no further. Brand #1 would have Will Ospreay, Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Adam Page, Swerve Strickland, Christian Cage, Jay White, Ricky Starks, Claudio Castagnoli, Pac, Wardlow, Chris Jericho, and possibly even Hook.

The World Title scene on Brand #2 would feature Samoa Joe, Adam Copeland, Kazuchika Okada, Konosuke Takeshita, MJF, Orange Cassidy, Kenny Omega, Penta El Zero Miedo, Eddie Kingston, Darby Allin, Powerhouse Hobbs, Daniel Garcia, Malakai Black, Brody King, Kyle Fletcher, Sammy Guevara, Miro, Adam Cole, and maybe Dustin Rhodes. All of that stuff really depends on the booking, and of course, I wouldn’t be in control of anything related to that.

You could argue that the top of the Brand #1 roster is flashier, but with Ric Flair helping with the picks, that makes sense. Same for Arn Anderson on Brand #2, featuring a lot of people who are on the cusp of being top tier players and only need that one big boost to get there, whether they end up getting it or not.

Once the Draft was completed, all I would be able to do is sit back and hope that Tony Khan can do my visions justice, and make my goals for the entire thing come to fruition.

What say you? How did you like how my hypothetical Draft played out? What about if Tony Khan left you in charge of the Draft? How would things go? Would you have a different vision? Authority figures? A focused “vision” for each brand? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.

Now, let’s go to my Weekly Power Rankings, and then close things out like I always do, dropping the list of songs I was listening to as I put this week’s column together.

Weekly Power Rankings

Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson: One of the best pro wrestling matches of this generation. I’ve already seen it called the best match, period. I’ve seen it called the best match to ever take place in North America. It’s getting a ton of hype, and it deserves every bit of praise it has received.

Pac vs Kazuchika Okada: Pac’s current character has a style of offense that eliminates any disadvantages he has when it comes to size. Guys like Pac, Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels, and so on, are usually smaller than their opponents. Their offense and aggression allows them to bring the fight to much larger opponents, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.

FTR vs The Young Bucks: All on its own, this was a super entertaining Ladder Match, with the type of crazy high spots that you would expect from these matches with these opponents in this promotion. Having to follow Ospreay vs Danielson really hurt the crowd reactions, though. Those fans were spent, and the majority of this match saw very little crowd noise.

Sami Zayn vs Chad Gable: The expected great match between these two, with both men working extra hard. Sami, because he was in front of his family, friends, and fellow Montreal-eans. Chad, because he has been working so hard to get another shot at the Intercontinental Title. We also got the expected Gable heel turn after the match, which could be a lot of fun moving forward. As entertaining as the goofball Chad Gable can be, there could be money in a super serious wrestling machine Chad Gable. Like I mentioned earlier about Pac, Gable has the perfect offense and aggression to make up for any size disadvantages he has in his matches. I look forward to seeing what he can do.

Samoa Joe vs Swerve Strickland: I’ve seen complaints that this match was held back because it was blatantly obvious that Swerve was going to win, which he did. While I get the point those people are trying to make, I wonder why you would complain about getting things that you want. Unless, of course, you are a diehard Samoa Joe fan and wanted him to retain the title. I would also like to point out that we’ve seen a billion matches where the outcome was pretty obvious going in, and we still ended up enjoying them and giving them the flowers they deserved.

The Bloodline: WWE having blood in their matches at a show like WrestleMania is one thing. WWE having blood in their television segments during the build to WrestleMania involving one of the biggest stars of all-time and one of the biggest stars in the business today is another thing. WWE having blood in their television segments after WrestleMania involving Kevin Owens, Solo Sikoa, and Tama Tonga, though? That’s insane to think about. This was a TV-PG company not all that long ago, and the only reason it wasn’t TV-G, or whatever it’s called, is due to the “violence” involved in fighting and having wrestling matches in the first place. It truly is a new era in WWE.

Will Ospreay vs Claudio Castagnoli: I have a favor to ask of Tony Khan. He should look up and down the entire AEW roster, figure out who is the “worst” worker that he employs, and place that person in a match against Ospreay. I would like to see if it’s even possible for Ospreay to have anything less than a great match at this point.

WWE Production & Camera Work: I’m really glad that Kevin Dunn is dead. I mean, he isn’t, but he should be. It’s pretty clear just how much he was holding the overall presentation back. Him and Gomez McMahon. Bastards. Jey Uso’s exit rolling directly into Sami Zayn’s entrance was a bit cheesy, but it was so uniquely different that it really stood out. Then, there was Sami’s entrance itself, which was a thing of beauty. The company has been hitting a bunch of home runs with show presentation recently.

Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli vs Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher: Lord Almighty, I wish we could stop having Takeshita and/or Fletcher lose matches. Yes, it’s usually to the top of the top when it comes to the AEW roster, but it’s such an easy problem to fix. Put them in more matches against people that are “below” them so that they can rack up the wins!

Adam Copeland, Eddie Kingston & Mark Briscoe vs The House Of Black: AEW knows how to do Trios matches. I’ve been very clear on that in plenty of previous columns. Also, to keep up with the running gag, Malakai Black clearly has it in his contract that he can’t lose matches, and if he does lose them, he can’t be the one taking the pin or submitting. He hasn’t been pinned or submitted since his match against Rick Martel at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on October 22nd, 1983.

Pac & FTR vs Kazuchika Okada & The Young Bucks: *checks notes* Three wrestlers… facing three other wrestlers… AEW… yup, this was fun. It was also an easy way to preview two matches before Dynasty rolled around, which is a nice bonus.

Dijak vs Noam Dar: Dijak is on quite the roll these days. In the ring, on-screen character work, and social media posting… he’s excelling at everything. If he doesn’t get selected in the Draft, it would be nice to see him pushed as one of the top talents in NXT.

Trick Williams vs Carmelo Hayes: A really good blowoff to their feud, and a match that sees its position here “hurt” due to it being such a loaded week. That’s not the fault of Trick or Melo, of course. The reports are that Trick will be staying in NXT to be one of their key talents moving forward, while Melo will be involved in the Draft. I think both men can kill it in their new roles.

Toni Storm vs Thunder Rosa: While the mini-feud never really “clicked” for me, I did enjoy this match. Storm is on a roll now, but she needs a feud against an opponent that can see her really let loose in her matches and not just focus on the silliness that is her “Timeless” character.

Pac, Penta El Zero Miedo & Daniel Garcia vs Kazuchika Okada & The Young Bucks: *checks notes again* Three wrestlers… facing three other wrestlers… AEW… sure enough, this was fun. It seems like there were 20 Trios matches in AEW this week, made even more confusing due to the mixing and matching of the same people shuffling against different opponents.

The Street Profits vs New Catch Republic vs Authors Of Pain vs Angel & Berto: Did you know that the Profits haven’t held any titles since January 8th, 2021 when they dropped the Smackdown Tag Team Titles to Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode? They have had nine Tag Title matches on television or pay-per-view since that date, losing eight of them and winning one by disqualification. After winning this match, they have earned their next title shot. Will they make the reign of Austin Theory and Grayson Waller a short one?

New & Improved Tag Titles In WWE: Speaking of the Tag Titles in WWE, both pairs have received a tremendous cosmetic upgrade. In my opinion, the most recent Raw and Smackdown Tag Team Titles were some of the ugliest in history, so I’m glad to see them both gone.

Ilja Dragunov vs Je’Von Evans: Gee, do you think the people in charge of NXT see big things in the future of Je’Von Evans? A heavily hyped debut match, followed by a match against the NXT Champion the following week? Even if he would’ve been squashed by Dragunov in 30 seconds, that would be an impressive ascension. The fact that he looked impressive here, though, says that his future is insanely bright.

Ruby Soho & Angelo Parker: Congratulations to the couple on the announcement that Ruby is pregnant. The fact that Ruby made the announcement in front of the cameras and the AEW fans, reportedly as a surprise to Parker himself, made it even cooler.

Sheamus: He’s back, and so is his old theme music. When you combine Twitter, Facebook, and texts, I must’ve received a total of 20 messages of some sort that mentioned my old column rants. For those who haven’t been reading my columns for that long, I was the first person (at least in the column world that anybody can remember) to mention that the lyrics to Sheamus’ theme sounded like “It’s a shameful thing, Lobster Head” and “too many limes.” The momentum picked up from there, until the point where Sheamus himself was making the same jokes. As far as this return is concerned, did he appear to be in the best physical condition of his career? No. Does it matter to me right now? No. He did just fine here, and it was one match after being gone for several months. If he is in worse shape a month from now, then we can talk.

Willow Nightingale: Congratulations to the new AEW TBS Champion. Unfortunately, she won the title in a match that was barely a match, so it probably won’t be remembered like it could’ve and should’ve been. Unfortunately part deux, she’s probably going to lose it at next month’s Double Or Nothing pay-per-view now that Mercedes Moné will be her opponent.

This Week’s Playlist: “Dark Matter” by Pearl Jam… “HERicane” by Lucky Daye… “One Foot In The Grave” by From Ashes To New & Aaron Pauley… “Light Years” by The Ghost Inside… “Feral” by Escape The Fate… “It’s Come To This” by Billy Morrison… “Decolorized” by Bite Down… “Got Me Waiting” by Heavy D & The Boyz… “Don’t You Forget It” by Glenn Lewis… “Get It Together” by 702… “Out Here Grindin” by DJ Khaled, Akon, Rick Ross, Jeezy, Trick Daddy, Ace Hood, Plies & Lil Boosie… “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims… “It Takes A Woman” by Chris Stapleton… “Loving You On My Mind” by Chris Stapleton… “White Horse” by Chris Stapleton… “Snooze” by SZA… “Don’t” by Bryson Tiller… “Location” by Khalid… “Moonlight” by Kali Uchis… “Where The Wild Things Are” by Luke Combs… “Growin Up & Gettin Old” by Luke Combs… “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus… “John Crow” by Jimmy Cliff… “Mary Jane” by Rick James… “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Braids

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