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.
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