Without the corporate and creative structure WWE has, AEW's creative often comes under fire from pro wrestling fans. Tony Khan's approach to telling cohesive stories is chaotic at best and nonsensical at worst; now, WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry has shared his thoughts on that.
Having worked in AEW for a time, he's in a good position to share his take that the company has too many people operating in an echo chamber of sorts, with little in the way of collaboration.
"[Creative] is supposed to be an argument," Henry explained on Busted Open Radio. "It's supposed to be a shake-up to figure out what the f*** to do next. [But] everybody want to circle jerk over [in AEW]. And you can't do that. You gotta disagree."
"Me and Bully [Ray] - for years - we disagreed, but...We knew what we were fussing at was the greater good of the match and of the show."
As for what he believes is the main issue, Henry echoed the thoughts of AEW's many critics by pointing to a lack of a clear, authoritative voice in the company.
"There's a reason that [NFL coach Bill] Belichick is Belichick," Henry explained. "There's a reason that John Wooden is John Wooden, that Pat Patterson was Pat Patterson, that Dusty Rhodes was Dusty Rhodes. Bow down to their greatness and let them lead you."
Khan, unfortunately, may have a lot of money but he certainly doesn't seem to have a strong creative mind (something that was evident from this year's disastrous storyline which saw him become an on-air character for an attack by The Young Bucks).
AEW ratings and attendance continue to decline, as does the show's critical acclaim. Despite that, the company has secured a deal which will see it remain on television for the foreseeable future so there's still time to turn things around.
Earlier this year, Henry said this about AEW's continued issues:
"There was a point where I realized that I wasn’t there to tighten the screws. I was there for name recognition and visibility, and that’s a horrible place to feel if you’re a creative and there’s people that do a good job that I like, they’re thinking and their thought processes...it’s Tony’s company and Tony gets to do whatever he wants to do. You can make all the suggestions in the world. But if he don’t wanna do that, he’s not gonna do that.
"The same thing with Triple H running WWE. He’s the boss. But the difference is Triple H leans on the fact that he has brilliant minds around him and he’ll go, you know what? I think it would go better this way but we gonna do it your way to see, and when it works, ‘Aye man, good job. That was a good call. That’s a good call.’ When he messes up, ‘Uh, we should’ve did it my way,’ or, ‘I’m gonna let somebody else get a shot next time, at making a call.'"
"So, there’s a lot of things that can be fixed. But you look at the ratings, that’s not good, and that’s a byproduct of the fact that there’s some people that have already mentally checked out. They took their ball and they went home. They surrendered. ‘Hey, whatever you wanna do. Ah, I don’t care,’ and when you get the, ‘I don’t care. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do,’ it’s not good. You can’t win. Now, there’s no contest."
Let us know your thoughts on these comments in the usual place.