AEW has taken its fair share of heat for how it books matches for a while now, and it’s hard to imagine why when they bring in so many legends that know how it’s done to work behind the scenes.
Sure, Tony Kahn has the final say and if he doesn’t agree with something he’ll change it, so the blame falls on him for that.
But he’s still learning and growing, and since no one is perfect there’s little doubt he’ll improve over time and fans will enjoy the feuds more.
It’s a delicate balancing act between pushing things too fast or too slow, or just throwing things at the wall to see if they stick.
It can either be a finely honed ballet, or a clusterfest that makes no sense because things are done simply to please one person.
In the end, it should be for the fans’ and talent’s enjoyment. After all, if the wrestlers enjoy what they’re doing it’ll come across to the fans there and at home watching on TV.
So knowing all of this, it seems strange that AEW would reportedly decline Bret Hart’s offer to be a producer/manager and help set up the matches.
Missing out
Bret is a lot of things to a lot of people, but his wrestling IQ is off the charts and he knows how to set up great matches. So when he offered his services it seemed like a no brainer for Kahn to hire him and let him work behind the scenes.
As it turned out, Bret’s services were declined and Kahn wanted him to be an in ring manager only.
There are so many reasons that could be why he was turned down from his stance on what wrestling is and should be to him possibly being portrayed as a CM Punk supporter.
It’s not a secret that he and Punk see eye to eye on a lot of things in the business, so there is the chance that having Bret work backstage in setting things up could’ve been viewed as counter productive to what Kahn wants to do.
That’s understandable, but Bret also has a history of working in the rules he’s given to work. In that case, it could go back to Bret’s feud with Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff on how he was handled.
It’s easy to look at him as being confrontational after the fact, and that is reminiscent to how Punk behaved before his suspension. Or it could’ve been something as simple as not being able to agree on a contract.
Still, we think it would’ve helped the AEW product by having Bret working backstage. It would’ve given him a chance to share his wisdom with the younger generation as well as possibly improving the product.
What do you think? Did Tony Kahn make a mistake in not hiring Bret? Let us know in the comments below.
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