All Elite Wrestling

It is entirely possible to take anything for granted.

Such is the case for WWE and All Elite Wrestling, which currently benefit from having two of the best wrestlers on the planet as part of their rosters but whose booking has not necessarily positioned them as such.

Seth Rollins and Bryan Danielson are cautionary tales, proof that being too good at what one does allows can actually be detrimental. They regularly appear on television, are routinely part of the best match on any show and are uber-over with audiences.

Yet, one can argue that not nearly enough is done with either on their respective shows, with others being pushed ahead of them and in more prominent positions.

Sure, Rollins has had entire episodes of Raw dedicated to him, most recently Monday night when his open challenge for the United States Championship was the overarching angle of the broadcast.

Still, it's impossible to ignore the idea that he should be doing more based on his popularity and lengthy run of show-stealing matches.

Ditto Danielson, whose legacy as a worker speaks for itself but whose selflessness has put him in a position in AEW where he is almost exclusively counted on for in-ring content rather than character development or main event productivity.

The 41-year-old arrived on the scene, turned heel and challenged "Hangman" Adam Page in two of the best championship clashes of the last year and appeared to be undergoing a career rejuvenation.

Danielson was hard-hitting, violent, ultra-competitive and compelling for the first time since his run as The Planet's Champion with WWE in 2018-19.

Instead of capitalizing on it, though, he was shoved into the Blackpool Combat Club, where he took a backseat to Jon Moxley and suffered an injury that stunted his momentum.

The latter is certainly no fault of AEW management, but not finding something more interesting for one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time to do is.

Both WWE and AEW have missed opportunities to solidify main event scenes devoid of depth by pushing Rollins and Danielson, respectively. Yes, their greatness and perpetual popularity allows the companies to utilize them at different positions on the card and to help get others over.

The elevation of new talent is ever-important and using established stars to help with that is a tried and trusted formula. Doing so at the expense of missing out on enhancing the top of the card at a time when it is in dire straits or lacking legitimate stars is detrimental to a promotion's own success.

Talents such as Rollins and Danielson do not come along every day.

They are respected by purists for their workrate, beloved by die-hard fans for their bodies of work and over among the audience at large for their ability to take something as trivial as a "Yes" chant or crowd singing along to their theme song and make it apart of their shtick.

Just because someone is all of those things and has shown the ability to remain so despite questionable booking and creative missteps does not mean they should be underutilized in an era when it is becoming ever more difficult to develop stars of their quality.

WWE and AEW can learn from their misuse of those performers, with the most obvious lesson being not to take stars who are continuously over with fans for granted. They are not a dime a dozen, nor can they be replicated. Hard work, resiliency and the ability to overcome subpar creative earned them the admiration and respect of the audience.

Rewarding that with a push that is reflective of their talents rather than becoming creatively complacent and assuming there will be three or four more who can be pushed to the top of the card in their place is key.

This is not to suggest Rollins and Danielson are doomed to midcard mediocrity. Either man can be heated up and pushed to the main event scene, where they can challenge for top titles in pay-per-view headliners because they are that good.

Not everyone is. Some lesser-talented, less-over names will falter, and the goodwill they have built up will be wasted because of a company's inability to recognize when someone is good enough to be at the top of the card consistently.

It will cost both promotions genuine main event competitors and continue the frustrating trend of 50-50 booking, sameness and unrealized potential that has encapsulated professional wrestling since the mid-2000s.