Tony Khan has previously been praised for the manner he books the AEW product by having plans written out months in advance, as opposed to WWE for many years, which had Vince McMahon making adjustments to the programs on the day of the event.
There have been numerous reports of McMahon ripping up the script hours before the show airs. However, changes in creativity or a lack of decision-making have recently been lacking in All Elite Wrestling.
Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that creative has been approved later than usual recently, contributing to talent frustration.
“So much of the stuff is if you follow AEW, a lot of the stuff is being decided at much later periods than previous. Guys are getting their information on what they’re doing later and decisions are being made later. So that’s just how it is. I mean, there’s time on the day of the show when you don’t even know. It’s almost like we talk about WWE, which is also very frustrating for talent. It’s like a lot of the guys have a lot of input on what they’re doing. So they’re doing stuff, but they don’t really know a long-term direction. So they’re doing stuff, and they’re coming up with ideas. But when you don’t really know exactly the long-term direction, then you’re kind of like coming up with ideas week by week, too, but you don’t know where the ultimate thing is. And maybe the ultimate thing hasn’t even been decided. So that’s one of the reasons that the shows are like the shows last week.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
