5 things AEW is doing right

#3 Leveraging surprises

Surprises like Jon Moxley's debut at the end of Double or Nothing have contributed to AEW's success.

Eric Bischoff has famously cited that one of the keys to his success managing WCW as research demonstrating wrestling fans loved surprises, and leaning into that—particularly for the New World Order angle—with surprise heel turns and debuts.

One could argue that WCW went too far as the years went on, with nonsensical twists and turns for the sake of surprise. Thus far, AEW has achieved a fine balance of legitimately surprising moments without anything feeling forced. The surprises have included moments like Jon Moxley’s debut, or Chris Jericho’s appearance at All In (technically pre-AEW, but unofficially on the way to the company launching).

These were legitimately big happenings that stood out in part because AEW hadn’t been forcing swerves over the course of the events, but rather let these moments stand out on their own and make AEW the talk of the wrestling world coming out of them.