5 Things AEW can do to improve in the company's second year on TNT

#2 Make the villains mean something

The Murderhawk

To me, this is one of the biggest spots where AEW has failed to truly build monsters. When the company first formed, Chris Jericho was obviously the top heel. Most of the roster wasn't physically big like Braun Strowman or Kane but were instead dangerous because of reputation and the group they ran with (Inner Circle).

When both Brodie Lee and Lance Archer joined AEW, the promotion had a huge chance to create one of their first monster heels. Lee would be more of a cult leader type but one that is physically larger than most of the AEW roster. He did have the Dark Order backing him up most of the time, but he failed in his bid to dethrone Moxley.

In order to truly make the Dark Order and Lee seem utterly dangerous, he needed to win a title at some point, or at least Evil Uno and Stu Grayson could have captured the AEW Tag titles. Had they won the those belts, all of their posturing would have been justified. Instead, they are just an annoyance feud for any group like SCU or the Elite.

Archer should have been the first TNT Champion, in my opinion. It would have established a new giant heel and obstacle for babyfaces in AEW to overcome. Had he won the title and then cut a swath of destruction through most of the roster, he would have been catapulted into the stratosphere. Think about how Rollins and Drew McIntyre came off after beating Brock Lesnar.

Once again, the opportunity was missed so that Cody could win the title and defend it every week. Archer, on the other hand, beats jobbers and throws people around backstage just in order to get noticed. By not building up these monster heels in AEW, it doesn't lend much credence to them being the true danger that they are presented to be.

The building of The Fiend was done well, although losing the title to Goldberg did hurt his momentum. WWE has still built both Wyatt and Randy Orton well as diabolical heels over the last few months.

Instead of taking the ball and running with it, some of the Elite need to push other stars so that the monsters can rule the yard. That would eventually set the stage for a triumphant face to overcome them.