AEW and the Transition from Marks to Plants

AEW's inaugural event, Double or Nothing, was a massive success. Not only did they put on a hell of a show, but they also had an estimated 100,000 PPV buys which is incredible in a market where the two most dominant brands, WWE and NJPW, will give you everything for less than $10 a month. They showed a variety of styles, and the crowd was into it from start to finish. It makes all wrestling fans wonder how they can build on this in the future.

The most amazing part of Double or Nothing is they built up the entire card with almost no wrestling. Instead, they utilized YouTube shows to not only build up the matches but set the framework for future feuds as well. It's amazing how they changed the game, and I think they are ahead of the curve on the future of pro wrestling.

The best example of this is Cody. Cody is beloved by fans of AEW, because he is a huge reason that it even exists. Between The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and him, they are setting a path for where the organization goes, and Cody definitely seems like the leader out of those wrestlers as well. But here's the thing with Cody, he's not a babyface. He's the most heel heel that has ever heeled in wrestling. Cody has never smiled in his entire life; he's only smirked. I love the guy, but I also totally want to punch him in the face.

So you have Cody who is easy to hate but he is providing you with what wrestling fans have been craving for years, so you also kind of love him. He cheats in his matches but gets cheered at the end of the show. No matter what people say, wrestling is still built on faces and heels, and that is where AEW needs help from a character that is often overlooked in the grand scheme of pro wrestling, the fans.

The fans that are already supporting AEW are not your traditional wrestling fans, but they are almost reverting back to what fans used to be. WWE fans cheer the guys they like and boo the guys they don't. That seems logical, but it runs into problems when clear babyfaces like Roman Reigns get booed out of the building. 30 years ago, things were much simpler in professional wrestling. The chosen good guys always got cheered and the chosen bad guys always got booed. It was a more innocent time, and even though we have lost our innocence, the fans of AEW seem to be reverting back to those simpler times.

But instead of AEW fans being marks, I think they're closer to plants. Magicians famously used plants to make the audience think anything was possible. It would look like they were picking a person at random, but really, that person was in on the trick to make sure everything went according to plan. This is what wrestling fans have become. We're all a bunch of plants, and we are in on what is supposed to happen. So we can love Cody as an executive but boo his every move in the ring, because he's the bad guy, and it's fun to be in on the show. Look at a guy like MJF, who is objectively hilarious, but you have to boo him, because that's what makes the show better and more enjoyable.

AEW realizes that wrestling fans want something different. We don't need to be tricked, because it's more fun to be in on the trick. Fans pay to see a WWE show; they pay to be a part of an AEW show. That sure sounds like a lot more fun to me.