When I mention a “writer” in a wrestling context, what do you think of?
Vince Russo and his car crash TV, Jerry Springer-lite approach to writing the WWF/WCW in the late 90s?
Do you think of the way writers have oftentimes been vilified by disgruntled wrestlers? How they’re seen as nothing more than hapless hatchet men who force workers to carry out the every whim of a deluded geriatric?
I’d like to try and correct the narrative a little bit with this piece. In my eyes, writers aren’t just an asset to pro wrestling, they’re a borderline necessity.
Let’s focus on the most recent example of a pro wrestling company that doesn’t utilize any writers in the traditional sense, All Elite Wrestling. Tony Khan, AEW’s head honcho went on record in 2022 (after perhaps the greatest feud in his companies’ young history, between CM Punk & MJF) and was quoted as saying:
“I give all the credit to them, CM Punk and MJF. I am the administrator in a lot of ways, and what I think is really cool, and people will ask why I don’t have writers, is because I work with the top talent.
We’ll develop top storylines and programs, I’ll do everything, say like, ‘you’ll do this, this and this. Here’s who you’re going to work with this week, or we’re going to build you up and then at the end of next week, I’ll explain where we’re going next.’ And you can do that with some younger people, but, like, MJF and CM Punk, with each of them, I’ve spent hours and hours sitting, planning, talking, and they came in with such great ideas.”
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this statement, as he’s praising the 2 most creative minds on his roster at the time, but there’s a deeper layer here that needs discussing. Wrestlers in AEW find themselves with a ton of liberty, and creative freedom. They’re allowed to come up with their own feuds, promos, matches, vignettes, merchandising ideas, etc., and while that is a great thing for some, it becomes a double-edged sword.
People like CM Punk or MJF are the exception, not the rule. They represent the kind of generational storytelling mind that very few possess. I think that’s never been more evident than in the case of Wardlow, MJF’s former lackey, who suddenly lost all sense of structured fictional reality once broken away from MJF in the summer of 2022.
The lead up to Double Or Nothing 2022 featured an intense story of Wardlow overcoming his indentured servitude, defeating all that opposed him, en route to finally brutalizing his former boss on PPV. This was a well paced angle that had been built for years, small teases set the stage for an eventual uprising to take place, there would be knowing glances between the two as they would come into conflict during feuds with other wrestlers, moments of fury where Wardlow would look like he was going to snap MJF’s neck, and then relent at the last moment.
This was not a unique story in the history of wrestling, in fact it had been done a number of times before to varying degrees of success. What this was thought, was a coherent story. My idea of a coherent story, is that it had a clear beginning, middle, and end. It carried a character arc that showcased the evolution of Wardlow’s personality, mannerisms, moral compass, and it furthered the progress of all characters involved. It didn’t meander without purpose, it went a direction and stayed the course throughout.
Post-MJF, Wardlow’s “stories” became an absolute mess. After vanquishing MJF, he had moved to the top of AEW’s (at the time still being used) Rankings System. Coincidentally, the current AEW Champion at the time, CM Punk, had just had to take a leave of absence to heal a foot injury.
As AEW’s #1 ranked contender for the World Title, the logical next step would be to have Wardlow compete in the “AEW Interim World Championship Eliminator Series”, but Wardlow marched down to the ring on the 6/8/22 Dynamite and told this to the crowd:
“I asked not to take part in the battle royale for the heavyweight championship. The reason being, CM Punk is our champion. So if I’m not making him tap, or pinning his shoulders to the mat, I don’t want it yet. So heal up real quick champ, because you bet your ass I’ll be here waiting for you, when you get back.”
Now, this makes absolutely no fucking sense. Competing in this battle royale, and going on to win the Interim AEW World Championship would put Wardlow on a DIRECT COLLISION COURSE with CM Punk to eventually unify the 2 titles. If he had truly wanted to beat CM Punk whenever he returned, this was the most pertinent way to do so. It was absolutely nonsensical to have Wardlow shirk this opportunity.
After that, Wardlow ping ponged from feuding with AEW’s security team and a goofy faux-legal representative, to eventually chasing and capturing the TNT Title from Scorpio Sky in a totally heatless match that featured the timeless and very nuanced storytelling of “I want belt”.
His reign with the TNT title featured a myriad of squash matches with rotating opponents, a pointless mini-feud where he teamed up with FTR to face Jay Lethal and the Motor City Machine Guns, and eventually a random tag-team pairing with Samoa Joe to form “WARJOE”.
The result of this ill-fated team ultimately would be Joe claiming his place as the “King of Television” by turning on Wardlow, and winning the TNT title.
There are some parts that I won’t mention for the sake of brevity, but that eventual loss led to Wardlow reclaiming and losing the TNT title multiple times over in the months that followed. The whole run featured no overarching narrative, no true character development, loads of nonsensical and cobbled together matches, and a lot of good will from the fans lost.
This entire long-winded explanation is only one example of countless wrestlers in AEW (and elsewhere) that fail to capitalize upon their momentum, and ultimately fall to the wayside. I can’t attest to who exactly is at fault for this, but I can draw one common line between most of these cases. There’s a significant lack of storytelling ability and understanding of their character.
When I say storytelling, I don’t mean our traditional “rasslin angle”, where a guy wants to beat another guy to show he’s the best. I envision an ever evolving world of fiction, one that possesses unique characters, with ever evolving traits, motivations and perspectives.
An example of a simple story structure that would’ve made for a great road map for Wardlow at the time, is the “story circle” popularized by ‘Community’ & ‘Rick & Morty’ Creator Dan Harmon.
The structure of this story circle is as follows: Beginning with the character being in their comfort zone, then venturing out into the unknown to seek something they want. The character achieves their desire, but at a great cost, and ultimately returns transformed by what they’ve experienced.
The application of this to Wardlow, would be leaving MJF’s service (his comfort zone), going after the TNT/World title (venturing into the unknown to seek his desire), winning the title but beginning to show some cracks in the armor, perhaps by being forced to break his moral code (achieved his desire, but at the cost of his own mental image as “the good guy”), and ultimately he sits atop the mountain as champion, but with his personal identity shaken.
This could lead off into a multitude of different ideas, but that’s above my pay grade. Suffice to say, I know it gets murky attempting to compare our silly little world of faux sports to a grand scale fictional universe, but at its best, that’s what it can be. Wrestling is at its core, a tale of good, evil, and all the shades of gray in between, just like any comic book or mythological fantasy series.
The only way this delicate balance can be achieved, is with the careful hand of someone who has experience in fictionalized storytelling. I’m not saying to use just any person who claims to be a creative mind, but an actual writer, with clear thoughts and ideas. Someone that’s capable of stringing together an overarching narrative and long term character arc for some of the wrestlers who aren’t gifted enough to do it themselves.
It’s time to wake up and realize that when you don’t provide your employees with at the very least every asset you can to succeed, you’re inherently crippling part of their development, and costing yourself potential future earnings in the process.
I appreciate AEW’s willingness to listen to the talent and give them creative freedom, that’s not in dispute here. I loathe the thought of writers being used in a way that enforces the will of someone else upon the workers, as seen previously with Vince McMahon.
I do think, though, they could be of significant benefit when it comes to cooperating with talent that may be lacking the creative instincts to develop a character, or tell a real story that possesses depth and nuance. Just having a real writer present, as an option for a wrestler to seek out and ask for help piecing together their ideas in a coherent manner, could help quell so many of these issues that AEW (and a lot of other wrestling companies) face in the modern environment.
For my tastes, it’s long past time for wrestling as a medium to evolve beyond the cookie cutter formulaic stories of yesteryear, but I know that my own personal tastes are likely aiming too high. So at the very least, we should hold a standard of coherent design, where everything always leads to something, and characters evolve as a product of their circumstance and environment.
I know it’s very unlikely to ever come to fruition, but I hope I opened at least a few eyes to why writers shouldn’t carry the negative connotation that they do in the business. They’re not all bad, and when used in conjunction with wrestlers that have larger aspirations, as a filter to create a grand tale of pain, betrayal, triumph, and even love, they can be maybe wrestling’s most valuable resource.
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