Why AEW Needs MORE Factions | partsFUNknown
AEW has a lot of factions, too many according to some, but not me. Why does All Elite Wrestling need more? Tempest breaks down how AEW can continue to improve their roster and television through the use of more factions!
#AEW #partsFUNknown #AllEliteWrestling
What are your dream AEW factions? Make sure you let us know in the comments!
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#AEW #partsFUNknown #AllEliteWrestling
What are your dream AEW factions? Make sure you let us know in the comments!
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
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Read more feature content here: https://wrestletalk.com/features/
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SportTranscript
00:00AEW NEEDS MORE FACTIONS.
00:04Now I know I will lose some of you based on that statement alone, but if you can slow
00:07your roll, grab a cookie, and lend me your ear for a hot second, maybe I can sway your
00:11opinion.
00:12If not, well, maybe we can just hang out, have a chat, and agree to disagree.
00:16I hear that happens all the time on the internet.
00:19So AEW, it has a lot of factions.
00:22Too many according to some people, but not me.
00:24See AEW treats their factions similarly to how New Japan Pro Wrestling does in the sense
00:28that much of the program's programming is based on gang warfare, even if it isn't
00:32branded as such.
00:33You'll have your top level feuds like the Elite vs the Dark Order and the Pinnacle vs
00:37the Inner Circle, but the Undercard is filled with these kind of rivalries as well.
00:41You might see the Best Friends feud with the Hardy Family Office, or the Nightmare Family
00:44feud with Time Magazine's Men of the Year.
00:47Keep in mind that these aren't all going to be rivalries that light the world on fire,
00:50but the way AEW books their shows allows for more talent to be featured on television regularly
00:55because of their involvement in various factions.
00:58Talent like Wheeler Yuta, John Silver, Powerhouse Hobbs, or TH2 wouldn't be able to be featured
01:03nearly as much if AEW was full of only singles wrestlers and tag teams because there simply
01:08wouldn't be anywhere close to enough TV time for everyone.
01:11There's barely enough now.
01:12Even when a talent that is low on the AEW totem pole does make an appearance on TV,
01:17like a Sean Dean or a Sky Blue, they usually have their short match and then disappear
01:21from TV again until the next time they're called upon, and the appearance they do make
01:25is rarely connected to the narrative direction of the show.
01:28If this kind of talent is linked to a group, those appearances would be much more frequent
01:31and the appearances could hold a lot more weight.
01:34So with so much of AEW's roster already aligned with various existing factions, why
01:39does AEW need more?
01:40Is there no group of talent in AEW that could use more screen time?
01:44No area of AEW's programming that could use more focus?
01:46A women's division perhaps?
01:48That's right.
01:49The title of this video is slightly misleading.
01:51While it is true that AEW has a need for more factions, the need truly lies with AEW's
01:56women's division.
01:57I'm Tempest, hailing from PartsFunKnown, and this is why AEW needs more factions.
02:02It seems like nearly every men's wrestler in AEW is aligned with someone.
02:06Everyone from Daniel Garcia in 2.0, to Christian Cage in Jurassic Express, to Death Triangle,
02:11to Team Taz, there are men buddying up and having each other's backs.
02:15What a lovely bunch of lads they all are.
02:18Camaraderie and all that.
02:20Meanwhile, the only faction in the women's division currently is led by Britt Baker with
02:24Jamie Hayter and Rebel in tow.
02:26Maybe there just aren't women in AEW with friends, but that seems unlikely, so I doubt
02:30it.
02:31With just this single faction, you can start to see the multiple benefits putting these
02:35stars together can have.
02:37First of all, it offers a much easier route for Jamie Hayter to get on television, so
02:41that's immediately a win.
02:42The same goes for Rebel as well, while her in-ring work is a bit… um…
02:48Her work as Britt Baker's Scrappy-Doo has played a large role in Britt's development
02:52as a character since her knee injury in 2020, simply by being a comic foil for Britt to
02:56bounce off of.
02:57Again, think of how much more difficult it would be for either Hayter or Rebel to get
03:01consistent TV time with AEW's stacked roster if they were both singles wrestlers.
03:05Does anyone remember anything specific about Hayter's AEW run in 2019?
03:09No, not likely.
03:11Granted, she wasn't being pushed nearly as hard as she is now, but that also has to
03:14do with her having a designated place on the AEW roster and in this faction.
03:19Britt Baker's nameless Chip Skylark, Shiny Teeth, and Mii faction has provided these
03:22stars opportunities, but think of the vast number of performers who would also see their
03:26TV time get a boost by banding together.
03:28Stars like Sky Blue, Layla Hirsch, Red Velvet, Yuka Sakazaki, and even bigger stars like
03:33Riho and Nyla Rose simply don't appear on TV most of the time because they have no roles
03:38in AEW's ongoing storylines.
03:40However, if you give these women reasons to be on TV more regularly, by aligning themselves
03:44with other members of the roster, storylines can occur more naturally.
03:48Look at it this way.
03:49There are going to be a certain number of segments on each episode of Dynamite and Rampage
03:53each week.
03:54These can be matches, promos, backstage interviews, brawls, doesn't matter, but think of these
03:59segments as simply allotments of time.
04:02Odds are, these segments are going to be about the same length regardless of if the performers
04:05involved are in a group or riding solo.
04:08A quick 30-second pre-taped promo will still be 30 seconds regardless of if it's Bryan
04:12Danielson giving the promo by himself or if it's best friends all standing together
04:16giving one or two lines each.
04:18So unless there's a narrative purpose for them to be a loner, like an Abaddon for example,
04:23you are literally wasting time by not loading these segments with more talent.
04:27Also keep in mind that this doesn't mean that everyone in these hypothetical factions
04:31needs to stand out in every one of these segments, but it would allow more performers to have
04:35little moments to add traits to their character and get over with the audience.
04:39Think Jamie Hayter during Britt Baker's holiday party, for example.
04:43She's not the focus of the segment by any means, but her continued unwillingness to
04:46follow along with Britt Baker's DMD sign-off is her own little moment that furthers her
04:51character in a subtle yet noticeable way.
04:54Having more women on TV in factions would exponentially increase the amount of stories
04:58that could be told in the women's division at one time.
05:00Let's take a step back from Britt Baker's crew for a moment though.
05:03If you look at someone like MJF, you can get a proper understanding of how AEW is able
05:08to tell multiple stories all running parallel to one another because of how they book factions.
05:13Here you have ol' Maxwell Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.
05:15He'll be involved in his major rivalries against the Darby Allens, CM Punks, Puppies, and Newborn
05:20Babies of the world, and those rivalries will be the main focus of his character.
05:24This will be at the forefront of fans' minds if they're asked to think about what MJF is
05:27doing at a given moment, but let's have a look a little bit deeper than that.
05:31Alongside MJF, you have Sean Spears, Wardlow, Cash Wheeler, and Dax Harwood.
05:36The pinnacle.
05:37A seemingly united front.
05:39At the same time as his rivalry with Punk, MJF has also been teasing dissension with
05:43Wardlow by assigning Sean Spears as his accountability buddy.
05:47This story doesn't receive as much focus as the main feud, but it doesn't have to.
05:50Instead, little teases can advance the plot each week, giving MJF and the pinnacle more
05:54reasons to be on television, and more ways to further deepen all of the characters involved.
05:59But wait, it doesn't stop there, as MJF also has a lesser-running story where he's
06:03been loaning out FTR to Andrade El Idolo.
06:06There isn't a ton of depth to this angle, but the simple interactions MJF has allow
06:10him to share the screen with Andrade, setting up possible future storylines between them.
06:14It's a small thing, but even things like this go a long way in giving someone like
06:18MJF more potential segments in which he can appear on TV.
06:22Rather than just having one storyline to generate potential segments, MJF has three because
06:26he has multiple characters interacting with him at all times as a result of being in a
06:31faction.
06:32Compare this now with one of the best rivalries in the AEW women's division, Hikaru Shida
06:35versus Serena Deeb.
06:37Shida and Deeb have been having a stellar rivalry ever since Deeb halted Shida as she
06:40was en route to her 50th win.
06:42Their matches have been fantastic, but these are two wrestlers with no allegiances to other
06:46members of the roster.
06:47As a result, there are far fewer narrative reasons for Deeb and Shida to be on TV during
06:52their feud.
06:53Whereas MJF has three different narratives that he can take part in, these women only
06:57have one.
06:58This more simple storyline structure isn't bad by any means, but it does make it more
07:02difficult to keep things fresh longer simply because there aren't as many possibilities
07:06for segments.
07:07In the case of Shida and Deeb, all they can really do together is have a match, brawl,
07:11and cut promos on each other.
07:13Again, not bad at all, but if you compare this with the vast number of possible matches
07:17and segments in rivalries between two factions, it's easy to see which rivalry has the easier
07:21time staying fresh longer.
07:23If both women had more people to interact with, those options for segments increase
07:28exponentially.
07:29I'm still of the opinion that the most important part of a wrestling show is the wrestling
07:33matches.
07:34That somehow has become something of a controversial opinion in recent years, but I stand by it.
07:38I like me some wrestling.
07:40So with that in mind, when AEW puts their stars in these big factions, you get possibilities
07:45for so many more match combinations, thus getting more talent on TV and keeping matches
07:50consistently entertaining and new.
07:52You're able to tell more simple yet varied stories this way simply because there are
07:56so many more characters in play.
07:58Bryan Danielson can go on a murder quest and destroy the Dark Order before his match
08:02with Hangman Page, or the Trials of Jericho with Old Man Chris running through members
08:05of the Pinnacle.
08:06But you can also just put more fun matches on TV than you would have been able to otherwise,
08:11like Adam Cole vs. Wheeler Yuta, or the Ghostbusters vs. Bambi, Kratos, a Cowboy, and Brandon Coltler.
08:16This is one of the biggest benefits of putting talent in factions in AEW.
08:20Look at the Sheeta and Deeb feud again.
08:22There is only one person on either side, therefore there's only one possible match that you
08:26could book.
08:27Then look again at something like the Inner Circle vs. the Pinnacle, with five men on
08:30each side of the conflict, and you already have 25 unique combinations for singles matches.
08:3625!
08:37Last I checked, 25 is a bigger number than 1.
08:39That's just simple math that you don't need a degree from the Steiner Math Institute
08:42to understand.
08:43And that's not even taking into account how many more matches you can book by doing
08:47tags or trios matches.
08:48The possibilities become endless just by incorporating more talent into factions with top stars.
08:53On the off chance that we get a big six-woman tag match on Dynamite or Rampage, it's so
08:58refreshing because it's so rare that we get to see so many women in one match allowed
09:02to have time to wrestle and all shine.
09:04So imagine if we got this all the time.
09:07If instead of only one singles match featuring two women from this vast roster, we put some
09:11of these women together into factions that fit their individual characters, and as a
09:15result we get more matches and more women on TV.
09:18If you take the current AEW roster into consideration, you can already start to group some names
09:22together into potential factions.
09:24You can have a Wrestler's Wrestler faction with Serena Deeb at the helm, paired with
09:28Mercedes Martinez and a newly heel Layla Hirsch, allowing the latter to have a bit more personality
09:33and learn from Deeb and Martinez while taking pins in trios matches and working her way
09:37up the ladder over time.
09:39That's just one example.
09:40You could throw together any number of combinations with AEW's roster so long as the talent involved
09:45are able to share some sort of goal or motivation.
09:47Have Maki Ito join Anna Jay in Taekwondo as the female side of the Dark Order.
09:51You're telling me you couldn't have some fun-ass matches and segments with Anna and
09:55Tai trying to be polite while Maki Ito is singing and bouncing off the walls?
09:58You could have an established vet like Ruby Soho take a couple of young talents like Sky
10:02Blue and Kiera Hogan under her wing and be a wholesome babyface group, and then when
10:07you start pitting these factions against each other, you would have countless matches that
10:10would mean so much more than they would have otherwise.
10:13Again, it's simple math.
10:14Nine singles matches are indeed more than one singles match.
10:17Is all this math completely blowing your mind right now?
10:20Wait till I figure out how to relate trigonometry and quadratic equations into wrestling.
10:24Then you're all f***ed.
10:25Luke can claim star ratings for science all he wants.
10:28I'm using cold, hard math numbers, baby.
10:31Imagine a rivalry between Ruby Soho and Serena Deeb.
10:34Totally plausible and perhaps even inevitable.
10:36Now imagine the matches that could take place with these hypothetical factions.
10:40A Ruby Soho vs. Laila Hirsch match would mean so much more if you could see the follow-up
10:44segment of Hirsch selling while Serena Deeb or Mercedes Martinez talk about their upcoming
10:49match with Ruby, because now Hirsch is actually part of a narrative.
10:53The same thing goes if you then book matches between Deeb and Hogan, Deeb and Sky, Mercedes
10:57Martinez and Hogan or Sky.
10:59There are just so many more ways to get all of these women on television in meaningful
11:03ways if you start putting them together.
11:05Again, these are just examples of hypothetical factions that you could put together.
11:09You could put so many different combinations together with the AEW roster, and all of them
11:14would serve the same purpose as any of the ones that I've listed here.
11:17Quite frankly, I don't see any reason why more women in AEW couldn't be worked into
11:20various factions.
11:21It would allow so many performers to get on television more often, develop and further
11:26their own narratives, and compete in potentially dozens of different matches, allowing rivalries
11:31to be extended longer and stay fresher.
11:33I cannot overstate how much this would do to further progress the AEW women's division
11:38towards being what the company had promised when AEW launched.
11:41Many steps have been taken since then, no doubt, but it is still too often that the
11:45only action the women see on an episode of Rampage is a two-minute squash match.
11:49Let's add some more depth to this division, more matches, more storylines, more faces
11:54on TV, and I promise you, the rest will come.
11:56I mean, as long as these women's factions aren't treated like The Factory, The Wingmen,
12:01or The Gun Club, I genuinely don't see a way that this would not benefit the AEW women's
12:05division in a major way.
12:07Does AEW need more factions that will help it continue to establish its women's division
12:11as being world-class and a proper representation of how great women's wrestling can be?
12:15Does it bear bronze and s*** in the woods?
12:18Yes.
12:19The answer to both of those questions is yes.