The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.

AEW is in uncharted waters and it needs to evolve because of it.

When Tony Khan and The Elite launched the company four years ago, the pro wrestling audience was dissatisfied with the product it was getting from WWE and begging for an alternative. It’s why Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling started to pick up steam and NXT — though still under the WWE umbrella — was so embraced.

While WWE was relying on stale stars, disjointed stories, scripted promos and lack of quality in-ring action on a regular basis, AEW began giving fans everything Vince McMahon’s company wasn’t with the backing of big-time networks, TNT and TBS.  

WWE throwing NXT up against AEW on Wednesdays did not slow it down. So it felt like the first time since the fabled “Monday Night Wars” of the late ’90s that WWE had an opposing company that was going to push it to be better. Like WWE did with the Attitude Era when it went up against WCW — this time with a little help from McMahon having to cede control of creative to Triple H after a sexual harassment scandal — the company has evolved and is now producing what fans longed for a return to. Behind The Bloodline story, a greater focus on mid-card titles, more organic promos and more detailed and drama-filled storytelling, WWE could be at the start of its hottest period in years.

As a byproduct, it has made fans take a closer look at what AEW is giving them — which is still a very good pro wrestling show week in and week out — and holding it to a higher standard. It’s wrong to say AEW doesn’t tell stories. There has just been a call for better and deeper ones. If you look up and down AEW’s roster, the majority of their characters have remained the same, with very few significant babyface and heel turns or even gimmick changes. While the booking around the women keeps improving, at the top of the company’s build to its Revolution pay-per-view on March 4 has been a bit of a rinse-and-repeat story with MJF and Bryan Danielson. Also remember, AEW is without two of its best past storytellers with CM Punk on the shelf and Cody Rhodes in WWE.  

While its important — especially with a new TV rights deal being negotiated — that Dynamite’s ratings have remained one of the best for cable shows on Wednesdays, it is clear the audience is not growing. Dynamite hit one million viewers just once in 2023 on Jan. 25. Even with a PPV about two weeks away, the total audience dropped to 824,000 last week with a demo rating of 0.27 — its second lowest of the year. In November and December of last year, Dynamite was below 900,000 and .30 on four occasions. Year over year for the first seven weeks of 2023, the number are down from 1,009,000 and .391 to 918,142 and .30 — both on a dangerous statistical tipping point.

Remember back in September 2021 when Chris Jericho said he thought Dynamite would start beating Raw in the ratings soon? Well, Raw has been over 1.8 million viewers in each of the past two weeks with an average demo rating of .51. The gap is widening, not closing. Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks — who have done some excellent breadcrumb-trail storytelling in AEW and on their “Being the Elite” vlog — told me in October 2020 that they viewed Dynamite “like a Netflix show” that gives payoffs for the viewer who watched each week at the pay-per-view. Well, that’s exactly what WWE is doing right now.

Now, none of this means AEW is about to go the way of WCW and go out of business anytime soon. The company still has an extremely loyal fan base, is still an attractive and valuable television commodity and has the backing of Khan’s passion and his family’s money. What this time needs to be is one of deep introspection for those at the top of the company. Are they putting out the best product we can? Do Jon Moxley and others need to bleed every week on television? How do they evolve to be better now that WWE has hit its stride without trying to be a direct copy of what they’re doing?

AEW pay-per-views are known for twists and surprises and you’d expect the same at Revolution. But this goes deeper than needing that. If the company is willing to touch it, CM Punk and FTR vs. The Elite would be the bandage. It gives AEW an immediate much-watch story to buy it time to get others started. While the company has prided itself on not having writers, after four years of TV, it might be time to add a few who can bring fresh ideas to aid Khan, better-focused stories and help talent who aren’t as experienced as a Jericho, “Hangman” Adam Page or a Jon Moxley at storytelling. It worked for WWE during the Attitude Era, why can’t it for AEW?

AEW may want to think about shooting a few things outside the arena. Go to the parking lot, a wrestler’s home, something that looks different to the audience. It also needs to find that babyface that is going to rival MJF and start building it now. Ricky Starks has a foundation, Eddie Kingston would be fun and Jungle Boy could be ready once he’s done with Christian Cage. Lay the seeds.

With WWE firing on all cylinders right now, AEW is no longer in the cushy position with the audience it occupied from its launch. For four years, what AEW was doing worked as fans clamored for WWE to be better. Now that it is, it’s time for AEW to be also. 

Mercedes Mone’ and Kairi delivered exactly what they needed to in their clash for the IWGP women’s world championship at New Japan’s Battle in the Valley in San Jose late Saturday night. The pair put on a superb match that mixed the violence of a power bomb through a table and the transitions and technical prowess of a Japanese-style match. Mone’, who wore gear to honor the late Hana Kimura, wrestled with an added edge and a mean streak that felt like NXT Sasha Banks, mercilessly working Kairi’s arm. Her added lucha training also shined through at points and her Mone’ Maker finisher — which was botched at Wrestle Kingdom — went off without a hitch and looked great to win the match.

Mone’ — who has said she wants to take her brand global — is now the big bright face of New Japan’s women’s division. She looked like quite the star in her photos next to IWGP world heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada to close the show. Now we can start officially thinking of dream matches for Mone’, like Mickie James in Impact, Saraya and Jaimie Hayter from AEW and Taya Valkyrie in AAA among others.

After how good Cody Rhodes and Paul Heyman’s first promo together was, their second fell flat. First, if you know anything about Rhodes, the premise of him losing family time because of all his obligations should he become Undisputed WWE Universal champion makes little sense. Being worthy of those obligations, being able to handle them and providing for his family is everything Rhodes and his character worked for the past seven years.

Rhodes tweeted that the mic time was cut and maybe that’s why Heyman — in a neck brace — was rambling through the math of how many days Rhodes would be working. All it did was provide a reminder that Rhodes and Roman Reigns need to start interacting as soon as possible.

Christopher Daniels giving MJF the hard “truth” about how much better a pro wrestler Bryan Danielson is than him and that he’s set to “knock your d—k in the dirt” really was an important piece of business. MJF’s frustration shows he knows the hefty challenge ahead of him and will make him beating Danielson mean that much more. Daniels tells him Danielson is the best wrestler in the entire world and that’s what you wish you can be. MJF can claim that as a heel with a victory. Also, “best in the world, huh?”

Ruby Soho being caught in the middle of the storyline and literally in the middle of her triple-threat match with Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter was a pretty cool story device. We still don’t know where her allegiance lies, but she pinned Baker, is 4-0 in singles matches since December and making the title gesture around her waist.

Kevin Owens remaining true to his character making believable decision continues to make him one of WWE’s most refreshing performers and it’s helping friend Sami Zayn in the process. Owens refusing to forgive and team up with Zayn just yet was exactly the right response — why should he? It also adds more sympathy for Zayn and will make them eventually coming together a bigger moment.

So, does Bayley costing Lita and Becky Lynch the tag titles against Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky next week cause the need for one more Lynch-Bayley match at WrestleMania, or does WWE go Lynch-Lita vs. Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler for the tag titles and leave Bayley in the cold? It will be fascinating to see how WWE makes this work.

Wardlow telling the story about his dad dying of cancer and Samoa Joe cutting off his hair, which was a tribute to his father, to make things personal was such a heartbreaking and effective segment. It was an added layer of storytelling that makes this TNT title feud feel less generic. 

There is a little bit of Jay White – in the best possible way – in the promos Grayson Waller is cutting on Shawn Michaels.

Was the Hit Row segment supposed to be so bad that the crowd would he forced to wildly cheer Bray Wyatt and Uncle Howdy for breaking it up?

Kudos to Ronda Rousey for going back and taking Shotzi’s spike DDP on the apron after their botch at Survivor Series.

Orange Cassidy vs. Wheeler Yuta, given their personal and on-screen history, is probably a match that deserved more than a one-promo build.

A&E’s documentary on the nWo this week didn’t break a ton of new ground, but it did remind me just how much that angle changed how wrestling is shot and produced on TV to this day.

Extra: WWE really needs to start being careful with the number of wonky finishes in big/main event matches as WrestleMania gets close.

Roman Reigns, WWE

In many ways, the Elimination Chamber was the culmination of Reigns’ best work in WWE. The Tribal Chief may never feel like a bigger movie villain than he did by ripping away Sami Zayn’s championship hopes — silencing a partisan Montreal crowd on Saturday. All of his reactions and addressing Zayn’s wife ringside added so much emotion. It’s everything a top star is supposed to do. He, along with Zayn and The Bloodline, elevated the guy fighting Jackass star Johnny Knoxville at WrestleMania 38 to a main eventer and arguably the biggest babyface in the company in a year’s time as Reigns hit 900 days as champion. Now that is God mode.

Honorable mention: Montez Ford. 

Mickie James (c.) vs. Masha Slamovich, Impact Knockouts championship at No Surrender (Friday, 8 p.m., FITE)

This will be James’ first title defense since defeating Jordynne Grace and it comes against the viscious and overpowering Masha Slamovich. The 24-year-old Russian is one of the rising stars in Impact’s women’s division, who has failed in a previous attempt to become champion. It will be interesting to see how far these two push it physically. Also with Impact and New Japan having a joint show WrestleMania weekend, it’s only a matter of time before Mercedes Mone’ comes calling for somebody.

Honorable mention: Lita and Becky Lynch vs. Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai, WWE women’s tag team championship on Raw