Reviving The Territory System Helped AEW

In a time of exclusive contracts, bidding wars and long, drawn out, non-compete clauses designed to push our favorites into obscurity before our very eyes, there is one company who seems, for the time being at least, to be doing the whole thing differently.

All Elite Wrestling is plucking not only the best performers from each promotion around the world, but also the hungriest in the sport of professional wrestling. AEW is looking for those willing to do anything, putting their bodies on the line for the good of the product. In return, the much-hyped upstart plans on paying them handsomely for their time and giving them the opportunity to cross back and back again.

Traipsing over a previously untouched no man’s land that had – at least in the eyes of the big three U.S. promotions – not been willingly crossed in over 20 years, AEW is lending a considerable audience to those who may have been unknown to this point, through no fault of their own. The strategy seems to be allowing them to build an audience around their talent, and then having that audience follow that talent back to their home promotion. Perhaps that will bring even newer talent into the consciousness of the fans, starting up fervor to see those stars perform on the AEW stage. With their return to the old way of doing business, AEW has given itself access to a near limitless supply of truly talented and affordable indy stars.

The best examples of this phenomenon, the AEW effect if you will, are MJF and The Lucha Bros, all three of which are either in the running for or currently the holders of their respective home promotions’ gold.

While you may argue that the Lucha Bros’ star power lends to their ability to cross party lines and perform for anyone, the same could not be said of MJF one year ago, even if he doesn’t believe it himself. The 22-year-old star of CZW was a relative unknown to the mainstream wrestling audience until his cocky smile and cheap Burberry knockoff graced our screens as part of the opening match at “All In.” While he and “M-Dogg” Matt Cross both may have been known commodities to the CZW faithful and general East Coast audience before the match began, they were worldwide names by the time MJeff (as Don Callis gleefully called him) ate the pin in the center of the ring.

So what happened next? MJF went back to CZW where he was the World Heavyweight Champion and brought a ton of new eyes with him, mine included. Then, while still promoted for CZW shows, he moved on to MLW, a Miami-based promotion and recently crowned internet juggernaut, becoming its inaugural Middleweight Champion by defeating yet another “All In” alum – this one of SoCal indie fame – famous dick wrestler Joey Ryan.

MJF held his title and continued to appear at CZW shows until dropping from MLW programming after an unfortunate injury and reappearing in Jacksonville, Florida, for the “Double or Nothing” announcement pep rally, declaring himself to be All Elite. His time with MLW seemingly came to an end until recently, when he showed back up on MLW programming with the intention of challenging Teddy Hart for the title that he never lost.

MJF seems to have no intention of not appearing on both shows and holding as many titles as he can. And the powers that be seem to have no intention of persuading him otherwise. Instead, they are encouraging it, enticing their talent to travel the globe and challenge whomever he can and try his damndest to win. Or in the case of PAC vs. NJPW Never Openweight Champion Will Ospreay – a dream match which took place earlier this month in England as part of a RevPro event – just don’t die. Travel is good for business, gold is good for business and above all else being allowed to make money is good for business.

Of course, the current method of having The Elite pop up at random indie events throughout the U.S. to promote Double Or Nothing seems to be coming to an end. After all, AEW has landed a television deal with TNT, and it would be in both companies’ best interest to keep their stars exclusive to TNT programming. Joey Janela indicated that indie appearances would no longer be happening as October — and the TNT premiere date — draws near.

This last indie run isn’t about money to me, it’s 100% about Heart, my fans & proving that I’m one of the absolute best wrestlers doing it!
This summer will be one to remember!!
— Bad Boy Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) May 2, 2019

So are Cody and The Young Bucks going to single-handedly topple WWE and bring back the days of the territories? No, probably not. But are they going to offer a real and legitimate alternative to WWE’s cookie-cutter formula for “Sports Entertainment,” that allows the wrestlers to do the things that caused them to fall in love with wrestling in the first place?

Yes!