Pinpointing the Areas for WWE and AEW to Upgrade in 2022

2021 was a pretty impressive year for professional wrestling. From great matches to inspired moments, this year left a lasting mark for fans.

WWE built a greater foundation by bringing up young stars like Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. Roman Reigns continued an unbelievable run as WWE universal champion. WrestleMania 37 was such an unmitigated success for WWE that it seems it will be moving to a two-night format.

All Elite Wrestling took a massive step forward by bringing in CM Punk and Bryan Danielson. The company introduced its new show, AEW Rampage, which has been a packed one-hour spectacle each week. AEW All Out 2021 was one of the greatest pay-per-views of this modern era.

However, no matter how much the business evolves, there is still room for growth. This is not about the negatives but the potential positives. 

With a new year on the horizon, this is a time to reflect on the past to improve the future. The following are nine key areas of growth for one or both companies in 2022.

Professional wrestling is a week-to-week phenomenon. It can get easy to focus on that fact in building shows, but fans do not come to see whatever the writers come up with last minute for Monday Night Raw or Friday Night SmackDown.

An audience is seeking thrills and payoffs. WWE knows this. The build of Roman Reigns has been a fantastic long-term story from the early dominance to his recent struggles with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman.

The focus is not to plan out the next 10 straight shows. Instead, WWE must look at the cast of characters on its roster and decide where they are going.

Ask questions without obvious answers and get the talent involved. Who is AJ Styles now without Omos, and who will he be in four months? Can Mansoor evolve on his own as a performer? What will Shotzi do to stand out in the coming months?

WWE has a large creative writing team. It wouldn't be unusual to sit them down with key Superstars and have them work together to figure out what 2022 will mean to them. Don't worry about championships or wins and losses. Just bring forward the question of how will this year change the talent.

By doing this and especially tying character stories together, it will be easier for writers to come up with the week-to-week card. It does not always have to be a three-week set of rematches if it's clear what kind of matches or promos are needed over those weeks to continue the planned character arc of a Superstar.

At this point, it is obvious who the big names are in AEW. Hangman Adam Page, Bryan Danielson, Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, CM Punk, Jon Moxley, Britt Baker, Chris Jericho, MJF and Darby Allin all get the chance to forge their own path with or without gold.

AEW has a second level as well of performers who have clearly defined character arcs such as Eddie Kingston, Jungle Boy, Dante Martin, Orange Cassidy, Malakai Black, Dark Order, Jade Cargill and Nyla Rose.

However, what AEW is missing right now is variety in the long-term storytelling. MJF moves from one long feud to the next, but even some of the second-level talent miss a month of TV without a direction.

Before the roster likely expands further, it is time to sit down with talent and plot stories that can capture people's attention over more than a few weeks.

Could we see 2.0 challenged by a tag team that can match their ridiculous energy for several months? Could young stars like Daniel Garcia and Lee Moriarty begin their own running feuds to show what they can do? When will we really see Andrade El Idolo unleashed?

The possibilities are endless if AEW can use the same mindset honed through each Jericho spectacle feud for the undercard.

In the second half of 2021, many wrestlers have drifted without purpose. Cesaro, Ricochet, The Viking Raiders, Cedric Alexander, Shelton Benjamin, Drew Gulak, Mace and T-Bar all are far too talented to be in the position they are in.

Many more get moments of relevancy when title shots arise but then disappear from view. WWE needs to tell more stories each week. It's important to keep people involved and realize that a championship is not always the only goal.

Edge's last two feuds with Seth Rollins and The Miz have outshined the title matches built on the same shows. However, The Rated-R Superstar is an exception rather the rule in WWE.

His feuds could be a great template for stars like Ricochet, who has been struggling for relevancy. He needs rivals that can push him to take the next step as a performer.

This type of booking creates more challengers than a pure focus on the championships. Roman Reigns is sitting atop SmackDown with very little competition because WWE is not telling long stories to build up talent who can challenge him. That is easily solvable.

AEW has an unbelievable roster at the moment, built through care and attention. However, so many seem to fall through the cracks. It can be months between appearances on AEW Dynamite and Rampage for those outside the key positions.

While AEW Dark and AEW Dark: Elevation can show off more of the talent and the quality of those shows has improved, the overall focus is squash matches to pad wrestler stats.

The women's roster has especially suffered from the current mindset. Hikaru Shida and Serena Deeb recently had a great feud together, but neither could find five minutes on television for months before that. It seems like Red Velvet and Legit Leyla Hirsch get a spotlight once every two months at most.

It is not isolated to the women's division, though. Talent AEW used often early on like Kip Sabian, Hybrid2, Frankie Kazarian, Christopher Daniels and Brian Cage cannot get a match anymore.

If this roster is going to continue expanding, it's important to not lose focus. These wrestlers did not sign for a once-a-month appearance. They want to wrestle. They want to shine on television. It may be worth considering even a seasonal rotation to allow consistent spotlight to some while others rest.

AEW has put on some great shows consistently. Even at its weakest, Tony Khan has still delivered and brought all the more the following week. It's important though to not alienate talent who are going to start feeling lost in the shuffle without proper attention.

Not every pay-per-view card needs the same performers. With careful planning and storytelling, we could see a whole new batch of stars shine each quarter of the wrestling year.

Three hours of wrestling is really hard to pull off. Monday Night Raw has struggled with it for years on end. The rare shows that do work have been carried by talent and big moments. While Friday Night SmackDown has shown WWE can pace quality shows, even the blue brand suffers at time from pacing issues.

Luckily, the simplest answer is usually the right one. Less is more when it comes to utilizing the time allotted each week. WWE has such a wealth of talent, and that talent is itching to get a chance to truly shine.

One of the easiest ways to hook fans in is wrestling. While a good promo can certainly spark casual attention, it is much easier to lose an audience with a long speech than to gain one.

Wrestling is its own storytelling. Anyone can see the tale being told in the ring. When you have so many stars who are athletes before they are actors, it is best to let those matches speak louder.

Workhorses like Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns can obviously go more than 20 minutes, but plenty more from Cesaro to Robert Roode have shown they can work a longer bout.

Raw has frequently featured unnecessarily rushed women's and tag team matches because the focus is so much on the promos. Flip the priority, and the entire show will flow much better without losing anything for those looking for stories.

AEW has a formula. It's not as pronounced as WWE's, so it does not get exhausting as fast. However, it is the primary culprit behind the shallow feeling of the AEW roster.

Each show seems to have blocks set aside for certain stars. Chris Jericho and MJF will always get their 10 minutes as they need. The Young Bucks will always have time to perform or frustrate the crowd. The women always get one match and usually one additional segment.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with having a formula, it can blind the creatives from what is missing. With this time always booked for the same stars, there is little left for rest of the talent to show they deserve the same attention. Once again, the women's division is hit hardest.

If the women can never get more than one match per show, when do they get a chance to really compete with the men? When do we see the division grow? It's a simple change, too, especially with the TBS champion about to be crowned.

There's more than enough time each week to give a little more space to the women. Just let the women tell more stories that lead to matches fans want to see. There's no reason to limit any division to that narrow a focus.

On top of that, the overall formula can be varied for the sake of quality. It's okay to not always have every big stars on every show taking up large chunks of time. This roster is deep enough to survive and thrive.

WrestleMania 37 was a huge event. Everyone loves the Royal Rumble. After that, WWE did not do much to build excitement in this past year. Even SummerSlam was hyped by the return of John Cena and little else.

It is time for WWE to get back to fundamentals in selling the major shows, even if it is not making the money it once did on those events.

Create a clear card for the event weeks in advance. Build each week around a few major moments that sell the key matches. Make sure the go-home shows get fans to tune in that weekend.

These tenets have been lost over the years. WWE Day 1 has actually been well-built, but the go-home show problem is still very much present.

WWE has struggled to deliver moments in recent months. Whether it be major weekend shows or weekly television, WWE is not creating hype. The major events are sold by the performances of the talent alone.

While the talent can work wonders in the ring with time, the excitement around a product is built on more than individual wrestling matches. It is about creating a cohesive product that keeps fans hooked from week to week and month to month.

AEW's biggest jump in viewership came around the time CM Punk signed. While AEW has kept a steady audience since, the growth of the product has stalled.

AEW has blown past all expectations, but the goal is always to move onward and upward. It is important to pull off something as big as Punk's arrival in the new year.

It is less about another big debut, as even with many great wrestlers available on the open market in 2022, no one is going to make a Punk-level splash. Instead, AEW needs to set the stage for a moment that can reach that same level of excitement.

This could be a major celebrity appearance, though it would need to be someone who could truly drive attention. This could be a match or major promo, but it would need to be built over months.

It could be a massive moment or stunt from an episode, but that would require a major surprise no one has seen before. What matters is that AEW start thinking about the things that will draw in audiences.

AEW has done so much great storytelling over the past few years, and it deserves a wider viewership. To bring them in, they need to make some splashes, a few big moves to turn that dial toward future success.

In the past few months, the only active wrestler making headlines outside of WWE's purview has been The Miz. Despite competing at the same time as Monday Night Raw, limiting the wrestling audience voting for him, The Miz had a great showing on Dancing with the Stars that ended in a seventh-place finish.

The A-Lister has constantly showcased his cross-media appeal. Per Mitch Metcalf of ShowBuzzDaily.com, the finale of Miz and Mrs. drew 551,000 viewers, which is comparable to recent episodes of NXT 2.0 and AEW Rampage. Most of that viewership would not be considered the usual WWE Universe viewers.

The finale of Cody Rhodes' reality show Rhodes to the Top drew 309,000 viewers, per Metcalf. These reality TV shows draw unique audiences, and they can bring those eyes to wrestling shows.

Sasha Banks got a brief run in The Mandalorian Season 2. Sheamus starred as Rocksteady in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Chris Jericho's band, Fozzy, has found consistent success, even beyond hit single "Judas."

These are just a few of many ways charismatic wrestlers can translate beyond wrestling. WWE has branded itself as sports entertainment, and that label is meant to draw in a diverse audience with varied interests.

AEW and WWE need to work on their branding of talent. So many of these stars could make a splash outside the ring. There is a reason John Cena and Batista have recently made the Hollywood transition look easy. It's time to test the waters and let the talent shine in ways that draw people to following their work.

CM Punk has done some acting, but AEW will need to let him take time off if he's going to take some major roles. Becky Lynch is a multimedia star just waiting for her big break. So many others are itching for an opportunity to arise if their companies will allow them.