Mapping out the AEW Interconnected Universe
2023 showcased a renewed focus on storytelling and world-building within AEW. Let’s explore how they accomplished this in an exercise linking the promotion together
We’re in the homestretch of 2023, and the season of joy and remembrance has got me thinking about one of my favorite hobbies.
This is actually my first full year back as a full-time wrestling fan; I’ve been lapsed in wrestling for the past 15 years, giving up around when I was in middle school. After just sorta keeping my ear to the ground of the general wrestling environment, spending years casually lurking on what’s hot and what’s not but never actually watching shows or PLEs, AEW brought me back in and as passionate about wrestling than I ever was before losing touch, starting around Full Gear 2022. So let’s spend today talking about not a specific storyline or anything narrow, but AEW at large.
One of the coolest aspects of AEW television in 2023 is that there seemed to be a renewed focus on making all of AEW feel connected, like a proper on-screen universe. There were many instances this year of individual storylines and characters intersecting with one another, even if briefly, instead of each story pod sticking within its own bubble as it played out.
So, let’s track the story threads and see just how connected the AEW-verse became this year. A few parameters on how I’m gonna approach this:
I’m going to focus on storylines that are currently ongoing, with a few passing mentions of earlier events this year to help bridge connections. So, any story threads mentioned will be from generally recent events
I’m not considering single matches as a connection. Only promos, segments or angles among the miscellaneous madness on AEW TV are considered. So unless wrestlers met backstage for a segment or a storyline forms, the Continental Classic will not be considered for connection purposes.
While the ROH belts will be mentioned, events that happen on Honor Club viewing will not be considered.
I’ve mostly ignored injured wrestlers or wrestlers who have largely been off AEW television in the fall season
Note that I *probably* missed some details. I’ve fact checked myself as much as possible, but most of this is from memory.
In total, here’s what I’ve come up with:
(note: i forgot that I’m very bad at graphic design, so here’s this conspiracy board worthy bubble graph i drew up on whiteboard)
As for the explanation, we’re gonna approach this in sections. There are certain checkpoints that I consider lynchpins for these connections as there were numerous threads that could be traced to them, so with that in mind, let’s start at the very top of the ladder in AEW.
MJF
This cycle, MJF began a feud with Jay White and Bullet Club Gold, which consists of Juice Robinson and the Gunns
Who had just exited from a stint with The Elite in connection with the Don Callis Family
All the while dealing with BCG, MJF is being hunted for the title by Samoa Joe and Wardlow, and is challenged by Daniel Garcia who is looking to prove himself.
Of whom MJF has defeated both Joe and Garcia, Joe with the aid of Adam Cole and Garcia *with* Adam Cole during the Blind Tag Team Tournament. And has since teamed with Joe to defend the ROH tag titles in a kinda stand-in/freebird rule
Needing to recruit help for a 4 person tag match, MJF sought the help of:
The Golden Jets, Kenny Omega & Chris Jericho, where the door was promptly shut on him by Jericho
The week after he defeated Omega in a AEW world title match on Collision (the Dynamite before being MJF’s first on screen interaction with Kenny Omega ever)
Darby Allin, where he preferred to just mock him from his locker room door instead of a serious sales pitch
And finally begrudgingly, and hilariously, considered Planet Jarrett and co. in a brief sight gag
While ignoring The Kingdom’s offers for help, Roddy Strong claiming he’s willing to help the friend of his best friend ADAAAAAAM Cole.
Before finally settling on The Acclaimed, to Max Caster’s delight after much persuasion and likely-criminal sexual harassment (which also marked MJF’s first on-screen interaction with The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass as Daddy Ass instead of Billy Gunn, to my knowledge).
Whom have a prior history with The Gunns, with the Gunns winning the tag titles off The Acclaimed earlier this year
Here’s our first branching off point. MJF’s connection to The Acclaimed extends to the wider AEW-verse as The Acclaimed won the World Trios titles from-
House of Black
This cycle, House of Black has been the connecting point of virtually all active tag teams in the division, including the world tag team champs. That’s crazy right? Well:
House of Black’s Malakai Black invaded Bryan Danielson’s post match celebration on Collision to deliver a Black Mass roundhouse kick to him, before the BCC came to his aid
Meanwhile, the BCC’s Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta are simultaneously feuding with Best Friends, namely Orange Cassidy (since somewhat resolved) and Hook (ongoing with Wheeler)
In which that same episode, the full stable invaded FTR post match and initiated a beatdown, linking them to FTR as well
IN WHICH ALSO THAT SAME EPISODE, they once again invaded Ricky Starks and Big Bill’s win vs the BCC’s Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler, teasing another beatdown on the tag champs….only to further beat down BCC and briefly align with the tag champs instead
Also to note, Claudio and Wheeler had run in earlier to save Danielson from House or Black in their first invasion
All of these events led to a series of run ins, and in one case a disqualification, over the following weeks culminating in a 4-way tag ladder match (including a returning LFI) at Full Gear, won by Ricky Starks and Big Bill
House of Black is also a lynchpin connecting the women’s TBS title picture together because of Julia Hart. Julia challenged for the title, losing to Kris Statlander at first, and eventually winning the title by pinning Skye Blue in a 3-way TBS title match
Julia was also heavily involved in the primary angle surrounding the TBS title this cycle as well. She misted Skye Blue and Willow Nightingale, with Skye Blue transitioning into a darker persona while Willow was able to fight off the effects of the mist.
Skye Blue actually serves as the branching off point into-
The Women’s Division
Much has been stated about Tony Khan’s booking of the women’s division this year, and with usually only one women’s match on the card per show, it’s not unfounded criticism. But also giving credit where it’s due, the women’s division has been booked much more interconnected since Jade Cargill lost the title to Statlander at Double or Nothing. We’re gonna be working backwards to start this thread off, so beginning at the most recent events:
Skye interrupted “Timeless” Toni Storm’s title acceptance ceremony getting ready for her match, leading Toni to cut a promo allowing her to challenge for her newly won title
Of which she won from Hikaru Shida, actually winning it back from Shida in a bit of revenge after originally losing the title to her at Dynamite 200
Who has been involved with Stat as an ally and friend, involved in backstage segments and tagging with her in matches while Shida and Stat were both champions
Toni Storm was formerly a member of the Outcasts with Ruby Soho and Saraya, officially removing herself from the group when she cost Ruby her match with Stat at All Out for the TBS title
I also consider this a link between Stat and Toni, as this was an angle that occurred during the match and Toni helped Stat win, albeit indirectly as she probably didn’t realize it because she was having so much fun spraying that spray paint can.
Statlander has also been shown frequently with both Willow Nightingale and Skye Blue, spending several backstage segments urging the two to snap out of Julia’s mist attack.
(Note: the women’s division has dealt with a ton of injuries and time off this year involving some big names, including but not limited to: Jamie Hayter, Thunder Rosa, Britt Baker (unclear why for her), Red Velvet, Tay Melo, Serena Deeb, and Leyla Hirsch (returned mid year, reintroduced in ROH). With that in mind, this is most of the women’s storylines going on this cycle on AEW TV)
Now, let’s move forward in time. The Outcasts have recently been involved with the artists formerly known as the JAS, specifically 2.0 as Angelo Parker and Ruby Soho are in the middle of an opposites attract storyline, while Daddy Magic and Saraya play the uptight parents, and Anna Jay is the disgruntled sister just pissed at everyone involved.
To add, there have been clear indications of inner strife between Saraya and Ruby Soho as well, partially brought on by the budding romance between Soho and Parker
2.0 and the JAS now serve as a new branching off point into, interestingly-
The Elite/Golden Jets
Perhaps AEW’s oldest rivalry has taken an interesting twist in 2023, as Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho have joined forces and formed the Golden Jets. Officially forming a new tag team for the division, it’s been relatively quiet in this pocket of AEW, especially concerning the Young Bucks, who have reportedly taken a sabbatical from wrestling. But there are still plenty of links to trace here, so let’s jump in:
2.0, Daniel Garcia, and the rest of the JAS kicked Chris Jericho out of the group, effectively disbanding it, after Don Callis began courting him to join the Don Callis family
This following the Blood & Guts special where Don Callis contracted Konosuke Takeshita over to the BCC to help defeat the Elite, specifically targeting Omega for “ruining his family”
After initially saying yes, he ultimately rejected the offer, initiating a beatdown on him by Takeshita and Will Ospreay, with Sammy Guevara rushing in for the save. Now, only Sammy was by his side.
…until Sammy turned on Jericho about a month later, leaving him with no allies, prompting Omega to come to Jericho’s rescue. They eventually agreed to form an enemy-of-my-enemy alliance against the Don Callis Family, dubbing themselves the Golden Jets in the process.
Not so much a connection and never explicitly stated, but part of the reasoning for Omega to help Jericho may be due to his heavily losing record against the DCF, losing to DCF members at Forbidden Door, All In, and All Out before teaming with Jericho
However, the Young Bucks are still not keen on Chris Jericho due to their years prior history as enemies, eventually wagering their #1 contendership for the Tag Titles on the line vs the Golden Jets at Full Gear, losing in the process.
Meanwhile, Hangman is still in the Elite too, and boy was he ever busy. The Hung Bucks were able to capture the ROH Trios Titles vs the Mogul Embassy (Gates of Agony + Brian Cage), only to then lose the titles to the same team some time later.
This being due to a distraction from Hangman’s rival and feud of the year candidate, Swerve Strickland.
Swerve inserted himself into Hangman’s story upset about being lower on the card than Hangman, despite Hangman having done nothing this year with that status (Jon Moxley ☹️). So now, Swerve wants his place. And thus, Swerve serves as the branching off point into the final section of this exercise-
The Patriarchy/DEFY Guys
AEW’s Father of the Year has elevated the TNT title to new heights since winning it over Luchasaurus (sorry, Killswitch), to the level of main eventing a PPV. Christian Cage has done amazing work in 2023, both on the mic and in-ring thanks to the cast of characters surrounding his orbit.
I’m kinda stretching this connection point by introducing a link in the title, but it was the easiest way to describe this group of wrestlers. Also, I’m traveling the furthest back in time to help establish a connection here too, mostly to help tie in the DEFY guys (for those unaware, DEFY is an independent wrestling promotion based out of Seattle, and some of the most popular wrestlers in AEW made their name at DEFY, including Darby Allin, Swerve Strickland, and Nick Wayne). So, last round, let’s go:
Swerve went after Hangman after specifically stating he spent “2 weeks in a coffin”, which helps a man think about things. This is in reference to the coffin match he took part in vs. Sting and Darby Allin at All In, where he formed a brief alliance with Christian Cage teaming with him for the match
Whom, to my recollection, Darby was feuding with simultaneously at the time as Darby was looking to challenge for the TNT title again (belonging to Luchasaurus at the time)
Swerve and the Mogul Embassy spent a good chunk of 2023 feuding with Darby Allin, and eventually Nick Wayne, but this was his only interaction with Christian.
Christian, now the rightful TNT champion, took an interest in Darby’s new protege Nick Wayne, wanting to take him under his wing and out from Darby’s, eventually succeeding at WrestleDream when Nick turned.
…only to be blindsided by the debuting Adam Copeland (artist formerly known as Edge), and was run off before he could perform a Conchairto on Sting
Adam’s motivation for joining AEW was to team up with Christian like the good ol days, only to be met with a resounding “go fuck yourself” in response, leading to a Trios match at Full Gear with the fully formed and named Patriarchy (Christian, Lucha, and Nick) challenging Sting, Darby, and Adam, with the Patriarchy losing
Adam made a stop to formally introduce himself to Kenny Omega on his first Dynamite in the company, also saying hey to Chris Jericho in the process
Women’s division aside, of the major storyline hubs this is the one that has been the most contained within its own bubble; there hasn’t been much interaction between the characters involved and the rest of the AEW roster. But there’s still enough to make a connection, just one brief interaction without the wrestler even being present. And it involves Darby Allin, who, at the top of this entire roadmap-
Was being scouted by MJF as a potential tag partner against Bullet Club Gold.
For establishing a connection, wrestling matches alone can always connect a company universe together, held together by a web of sweat and kinesio tape. But what makes this universe feel vibrant, and just feel alive, is seeing the moments wrestlers interact with each other outside of active wrestling moments. In several instances above, wrestlers engaged in a storyline while already involved in their own separate story, because not every wrestler’s story needs to take place confined to its own bubble. Sure, not everything I listed here was strictly backstage segments or promo moments, but angles within matches do happen and those are still important in creating links between characters.
In a year that brought fans a brand new live TV show, one of the largest wrestling shows to ever take place, and some monumental wrestler signings for the company, AEW deserves a spotlight for the expanded effort in storytelling across its many branching arcs. I hope this project helped highlight just how well AEW has done this year tying a thread to the majority of its current storylines. It’s an achievement to create such a well rounded universe like so. No, it won’t ever reach the complexity of something like the MCU, but AEW’s cast of characters have plenty of links established at this point, and the lore building between entire groups of wrestlers will carry the company into 2024.
Thank you all for reading, and I will see you all next time!