When Swerve Strickland took the ring against – and a syringe to the cheek from – “Hangman” Adam Page, AEW was making a certified choice.
To some, the match was a masterful piece of storytelling, the physical tale of two men who committed crimes to get each other's goat brought to a bloody conclusion, with nothing off limits, not even some truly brutal spots the likes of which the promotion wouldn't even share on social media.
And to others? Well, it was nasty, in poor taste, or even downright offensive, with some fans suggesting that they would no longer watch Dynamite, Rampage, or Collision because they simply couldn't trust Tony Khan to put age-appropriate matches on their televisions.
Taking to his Hall of Fame podcast to weigh in on the match, the feud, and its participants, Booker T delivered an oddly nuanced take on the situation, noting that while he may be one of Strickland's biggest fans, he's simply not a fan of ultra-violence, even if the match wasn't likely designed with him in mind.
“Swerve, before I say anything, h*ll of a talent. The kid's incredible, he can do anything in the middle of that squared circle. Extraordinary talent. It's just something that maybe he wants to get off his bucket list, going out and having these kind of matches. Perhaps. One thing about these kind of matches – it's a young man's game, you better get them out the way quick, because I don't see that being a long-term deal where you can continuously go out and do that kind of stuff and get over,” Booker T explained via WrestleTalk.
“Is it my cup of tea? No, it is not. But then again, there's an audience for it. Obviously, a lot of the fans in AEW, they get off to that kind of stuff. And I think when you're catering to your people, you're gonna be willing to go out there and do anything. I think that's what Tony Khan wants, for these guys to be able to go out there and do things differently than it's been done before.”
Is AEW trying to book shows for the hardcore fans, ignoring youngsters and the squeamish alike in favor of servicing a small but hardcore fanbase? While it may seem that way on occasion, especially for fans who don't actually watch the shows with regularity, when you consider how many months the two men spent building their feud up and how many houses were either broken into or burned down to get fans to All Out, the payoff felt justified.
Still, the question of who AEW is trying to book for is a good one, and Booker had plenty to say on that, too, as, needless to say, he has opinions.
Booker T believes Swerve Strickland, AEW are changing the business
Turning his attention to AEW's perceived propensity to book matches for the hip, edgy audience that came up watching companies like CZW, Booker noted that in professional wrestling, the landscape is always changing, with promotions having to pick a lane to differentiate themselves and commit to the proverbial bit.
Is AEW committing too much to that fanbase? Booker isn't sure, but he does know that he personally wouldn't let his kids watch due to his own upbringing and feels as though plenty of other families might feel the same way.
“I think AEW's trying to change the landscape of the way fans watch professional wrestling. I could be wrong, but that's what it seems like to me. And the reason I said that the first time was the way the tag team division worked. Because they didn't have to make traditional tags, they can come in the ring and they can stay in the ring and do like three or four spots. There was just a lot of shenanigans going on that I just did not understand from a tag team perspective. But was I supposed to understand it? Perhaps not. Was I supposed to understand the six-sided ring in TNA when I was there? No, I didn't need to, because it was for the young guys, it was for that generation,” Booker T noted.
“Is AEW for this generation with what they're trying to cater to? Perhaps. But is it my cup of tea? No. Am I gonna let my kids watch somebody get stuck with a needle? I don't think I want my kids to see anything as far as hypodermic needles just because of what I had to see when I was a kid in real life with hypodermic needles. Something that's still embedded in my brain, how many lives that hypodermic needle really really ruined. So I look at that from a total different perspective than perhaps they do. They might think it's cool, just something they're doing on television, but if you're a parent, you might think a little bit different. I don't know if Tony Khan's got any kids; maybe he doesn't think that way.”
You know, when you put it the way Booker did, it's easy to see why some people were so troubled by the last two matches on All Out, including the whole Bryan Danielson-bag-over-his-head of it all, as while the moments were out of this world memorable, that doesn't always mean they were in good taste. If AEW wants to build a bigger market share, they may have to embrace a tamer product in order to better connect with the audience marketers and networks alike routinely fight for.
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