I understand selling the importance of the Blackpool Combat Club’s heinous attack on Bryan Danielson. I do. I understand that AEW is building tension and anticipation for whether or not Danielson will be able to even compete at “AEW Grand Slam” next week. That doesn’t change the fact that AEW has become a mild riff on “Waiting For Godot.”

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Nigel McGuinness has something to say about Danielson. Jon Moxley and Darby Allin have things to say about each other that are ultimately about why they should face Danielson. Christian Cage is wandering around with a contract for a match with a ghost. AEW programming has a massive hole in the center of it, with Bryan Danielson at home and recovering. If anything of interest had happened this week, I might sing a different tune, but McGuinness was left carrying his feud with Danielson for the second week in a row, the glaring absence of Danielson made clearer by the technical difficulties before Nigel’s emotional promo. The AEW World Champion feels like a second thought, even though he’s being talked about every few minutes — it’s a wild bit of dissonance.

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I have no answer for how to fix this. Maybe putting the title on a guy who isn’t legitimately concerned for his ability to finish the year ambulatory? It feels like Swerve Strickland losing the title has unmoored the belt. Adam Page is still mad at Swerve and his allies; the BCC are still oddly obsessed with purity and “personal responsibility”; Ricochet is feuding with Ospreay; The Learning Tree continues to learn nothing from the crowd’s response to his tired antics. The world is moving on, and the world champion is being left behind.

Please disregard this next week when everyone loses their s*** hearing “The Final Countdown.”

Written by Ross Berman