Should I Be Watching AEW Instead?

Overview

The video is a persuasive pitch to frustrated WWE fans, arguing that the “real” feeling of pro wrestling is being drained from WWE—and that AEW is the best place to find it again.

Main Plot / Thesis

• The creator contrasts WWE’s big-show image with the emotional experience of wrestling.
• Even with record profits, major streaming deals (Netflix/ESPN), and huge arenas, the reviewer claims the in-ring “voltage” is slowly fading.
• They argue WWE often leans into “safe, familiar routine” storytelling that doesn’t feel like it earns its payoffs.
• The video does not claim WWE is dead. Instead, it suggests:

  If you still want wrestling to feel alive, look at AEW.

Highlights and Examples Used to Sell AEW

AEW’s Core Promises

The video emphasizes AEW’s commitment to:

• Genuine creative freedom
• Long-term story logic, where outcomes connect across months (e.g., “what happens in September is still why something happens in April”)
• Stories that earn their payoff

Mainstream Validation

AEW is also portrayed as legitimate through outside recognition, including:

• Press/industry recognition (including a vote reportedly choosing AEW over WWE as “best promotion in the world”)
• Success of long-building storylines featuring emotionally wrecked characters finally cashing in

Key AEW Storylines and Wrestlers Featured

Hangman Adam Page vs. John Moxley

• Hangman is described as worn down over years, then finally clawing his way back.
• Moxley is framed as intense and dangerous—someone who feels authentically violent rather than “WWE-safe.”
• A major reaction moment:
  • A brutal, emotionally cathartic finish at All-In Texas, where Hangman finally makes Moxley submit.

Daniel Garcia Turning into a Violent Enforcer

• The video highlights the evolution of Moxley’s faction, especially:
  • Moxley turning on Brian Danielson
  • Forming the Death Riders
• Garcia’s crowd popularity (including his dance routine) is contrasted with how Moxley “manufactures” a darker version of him.

Will Ospreay as the “Return of Feeling”

Ospreay is presented as both:

• A technical ceiling-raiser who makes crowds react instantly
• Someone who thinks and moves differently, with the video referencing his neurodivergence as part of his hyperfocus and openness

Key arc points include:

• His use of the high-risk Tiger Driver 91
• His moral/character struggle over whether he can justify it
• How a former ally, Kyle Fletcher, later turns the same move into a weapon
• Another major moment:
  • Ospreay survives a deliberate assault
  • Has cervical spine fusion surgery
  • Returns
  • After losing control emotionally, loses to Moxley
  • Still walks out under his own power
  • The takeaway: his resilience gives every sequence weight

MJF as the Ultimate “Heel That Actually Enrages People”

The video argues that modern wrestling has lost the felt villain, and that:

• MJF brings back heel presence that generates real rage
• He stays in-character constantly and says things that typical WWE performers wouldn’t usually be allowed to say
• A “weaponized truth” example:
  • MJF mocking an opponent’s real illness on TV
  • (The creator notes this is the kind of line some viewers dislike.)
• He’s portrayed as someone who manipulates audience emotion by precisely targeting personal pressures and insecurities.

Jokes / Reactions / Commentary Moments

WWE-Focused Reactions

Personal-style complaints include:

• Wrestling feeling too scripted / choreographed, pulling viewers out of it
• Frustration at having to watch WWE live even when it’s not enjoyable (described like “pulling teeth”)

Light Host Interjections

A few skeptical/curious moments include:

• Debates about how believable AEW turns are (with WWE examples like Austin Theory)
• A quick question about whether AEW has equivalents to WWE match stipulations (e.g., hell-in-a-cell-style structures) during the Ospreay discussion
• One listener explicitly disagrees with cruelty that uses real-life trauma/illness, giving an example involving real-world references in WWE storylines

Overall “Why Watch” Wrap-Up

The creator concludes that AEW offers multiple marquee “pillars” of compelling wrestling, including:

• Kenny Omega
• Darby Allin
• Swerve Strickland
• Orange Cassidy
• and more

Final pitch:

If you clicked because you’re frustrated with WWE, that’s proof you still care—you just need a place where wrestling still feels real.

Personalities Appearing (From the Subtitles)

• Host / narrator speaker: the main reviewer making the pitch
• Second on-screen voice / interview-style commenter: provides embedded reactions (e.g., “I’m torn,” “I only watch WWE,” “I might try AEW”) throughout the discussion