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Even though AEW have been known to tell some great stories jam-packed full of nuanced characters and great development, they are not immune to also hosting some absolutely terrible characters, gimmicks and storylines too. Particularly back in the early days of AEW in 2019, head booker Tony Khan had a fair few failed experiments, to say the least. One of those was the duo of the Librarians, which was an alliance between Peter Avalon and Leva Bates. To date, even with some truly poor gimmicks and creative directions over the years, this is still one of, if not the very worst booking idea in AEW history.
The Librarians Were An Early AEW Experiment
The Librarians were among the very first announced signings that AEW made, with them being regarded as ‘AEW Originals’. These signings came prior to the company’s first ever PPV of Double or Nothing, and for all intents and purposes it looked as though the two could well go on to become big deals in the company, particularly due to them being signed so early. The first appearance the pair made was on the Double or Nothing 2019 pre-show, in which Peter Avalon interrupted a backstage interview with Kylie Rae.
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Avalon shushed Kylie, stating he was sick of the noise people were making. He was quickly interrupted by Leva Bates, with the pair not initially being aligned. The interviewer backstage made the remark of being shocked that there were two librarians. They shushed each other, having what can only be described as ‘shush off’. It was a fine segment, but only because it was shorter than a minute long. Perhaps with the right booking it could have worked, but it is safe to say that this gimmick did not go down well.
The Librarians Did Not Get Over In AEW
The 1970s, 80s and even the 90s were full of gimmicks like this, and back in that era only some of them worked out. In modern day wrestling, with fans being very much in the know, having such a bland and basic gimmick which can be summed up in one word isn’t going to get over. For instance, logically why could two librarians even be in AEW and in the professional wrestling world as it is? Even just a minor detail such as that can make the whole thing lack all logic and sense, and it can damage the integrity of the gimmick immediately.
From there, the pair would go on to cut promos to the live audience, telling them to shush. At first fans responded with a lot of noise, but it was clear that Avalon and Bates were going by a script and didn’t quite know how to properly respond to the reactions of the crowd. This was even worse when the crowd gradually became less and less involved in their segments. It is hard telling an already quiet crowd to shush after all. The only way this could have really worked overall is if they were actually given feuds and storylines to gain some sort of momentum - something which didn’t happen.
If the pair were given substantial time and a few feuds to show what they could do, or even some creative segments in, for example, an actual library, would have helped. However, fans didn’t care because AEW and Tony Khan clearly didn’t care either, and it led to the quick downfall of an already poor gimmick. This is the sort of gimmick where it may have gotten over as a babyface, with the crowd cooperating by going absolutely silent, but that is wishful thinking.
The Librarians Gimmick Had No Chance Of Success In AEW
The only interesting developments with this duo came on the BTE YouTube series, in which Avalon was pursuing a romantic relationship with Bates, but was struggling due to conflict between his bookworm roots and his role in The Wingmen faction. This caused a separation between the pair that they struggled to keep a hold of. In all truth, it was actually a decent storyline, the only issue was that it was not on AEW television, so only a handful of people would’ve even known or cared.
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All in all, it is baffling to think that this would have ever worked as a gimmick. A character which tells the crowd to be quiet could have drawn huge heat or made an arena dead, and it was the latter. It was one of several early duds in AEW, such as the abysmal Nightmare Collective and the early iteration of the Dark Order faction. With Bates leaving AEW and Avalon being on a per appearance deal, fans will hopefully never have to witness the gimmick again.
