How AEW brought me back to wrestling after a decade

Hangman Adam Page vs Chris Jericho

This is the story of a lapsed wrestling fan and how an upstart promotion brought me back. The date was Sunday, September 1st, 2019. Up until that point I had not watched a wrestling show in roughly 10 years.

I was a 90s kid that discovered wrestling during the peak of the Monday Night War. We only had access to WCW at the time so Nitro was where I would get my fix. Enthralled by the battles between Sting and the nWo. Entertained by a roster of bigger than life characters like DDP, Goldberg, Booker T. And amazed by the cruiserweight division featuring the likes of Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio Jr, and the late great Eddie Guerrero.

I would eventually get access to WWE Raw and be introduced to the likes of The Undertaker, Triple H, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Then before I knew it, WCW went away, being bought out by WWE and folding many members of the roster into their own. My enjoyment for the sport didn't waiver, in fact during my early teenage years it rose to another level.

Then something happened. I don't know exactly when or how but I found that I just stopped watching. I don't think there was a sudden moment that I switched the TV off, no. I think it was just responsibilities and commitments as a now 20 something adult meant that some things had to give way.

I would still check in every now and then. Mostly around Royal Rumble and WrestleMania time. I guess this would've been around what people now call the "PG era." Where Raw became more of a variety show with guest hosts and a product that I could feel was targeting a demograph I had aged out of.

There was no bitterness or anger about it. I just moved on and consumed other forms of entertainment. One such form I had been leaning into was podcasts, and it was a Kevin Smith podcast of all things that brought wrestling back to the forefront.

I had been regularly listening to Kevin's podcasts about Batman and general pop culture movie nerdom. There would be the occasional guest that might have something to promote and one week it was a name I hadn't thought of in years. Chris Jericho.

After expressing their mutual appreciation of the film "Bad News Bears" Jericho made mention that he was going to be
wrestling in the upcoming show "All Out" for a new promotion called All Elite Wrestling.

I was intrigued so decided to find out more. I looked up the card and only recognised about 4 people, including Jericho. Christopher Daniels and Awesome Kong from TNA that I would occasionally catch bits and pieces of. The last one I remember making their debut around the time I was starting to pay less attention so missed a big portion of their career. A young mid-carder named Cody Rhodes.

It turned out I had nothing on the weekend of the show so I decided "why not?" and ordered the pay per view. It was on a Sunday at noon. I couldn't believe it. I would miss most PPV shows back in the day due to two reasons. One, the time difference between America and Australia made the shows fall on a Monday during the day. Right when I would be at school. And two, the cost of the shows. We would always get the Rumble and Mania shows and set up a VHS so as the able to watch it that night. But most other PPVs I would have to look up results.

After buying the show I tried to do some research. The most I had heard about the rest of the roster was some of these guys had made a name for themselves in Japan. "Wait, Japan has a wrestling scene?" I thought. I was so out of the loop with everything at the time.

The show had a bit of everything. A hellacious hardcore match that introduced me to Darby Allin. An impressive display by two Japanese ladies, Hikaru Shida and Riho. A ladder match between the Young Bucks and Lucha Brothers that had flashes of the classic TLC matches from the 2000s. And my first glimpse of who everyone was touting as the best wrestler going around today, Kenny Omega suffering a defeat at the hands of Pac.

By the end of the show I found myself trying to find out as much as possible about these guys. Kenny Omega, Pac, Darby Allin, The Young Bucks, and the man that Jericho beat to be crowned the first AEW World Champion. Hangman Adam Page.

There was a weekly TV show on the way in just over a month. Hopefully it would be enough time for me to research and get up to speed on everyone. Because that one show single-handedly pulled me down the rabbit hole and I don't see myself escaping anytime soon.

Spoiler alert: I fell back in hard