It’s early, but IMO AEW needs QUAlITY WWE defectors. They need bigger names from
their current roster. No more Hager or Dillon types. They need current wrestlers who have been pushed. Happy to have Hager there, but Dillon is whack(always was). That gimmick is Terrible. Need bigger names. In time it will happen. What do you think you whack nut job pizza eating, French fry munching fans?
Couldn’t disagree more. They’ve been on TV for 4 weeks and it’s been considered a success. They need to utilize this start to secure good tv money before they go spending on wwe guys. Plus most guys are locked up. The Revival have always felt like a foregone conclusion. That’s the biggest drawing tag match in the North American scene, maybe all of tag team wrestling.
If an older guy who’s made his money like Orton is actually down to jump, it’s got to be few and far between.
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I completely disagree too. I am actually excited to watch AEW each week. I am even watching it before a review - that’s never happened with wwe.
And in part its seeing new stars. I never even heard of Private Party, or Darby Allin, till AEW. Now I am enjoying watching them.
Picking up ex WWE never worked for TNA. So it doesnt need to be an answer for AEW
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Who is this Dillon you speak of?
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Maybe JJ Dillon made a comeback.
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I am dumb!
Dillinger.
You know, the Perfect 5 guy.
Yuck, Orton is old!
I Am thinking BIG E, Rollins, Dolph.
I know they are under contract, but when they are up or sooner by asking for their release.
I am sure there would be a non compete clause, but hopefully shorter then the length of their full contract.
Yeah! Screw that Randy Orton, who is only 3 months older than Dolph Ziggler. 
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Orton would be a perfect top heel in AEW. He’s the personification of everything WWE, and the WWE style of wrestling, which can lead to him being genuinely disliked by the fan base. Not in the “go away” heat way either, considering he’s genuinely a talented wrestler and a great promo. He also looks, and carries himself like a star, and I feel like their aren’t really many people who have the latter part of that down today.
Besides, isn’t Jericho like 50? I don’t think they’d be that worried about his age.
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Nah…they need to do a better job telling stories with the talent they have. They don’t want to become TNA where you have WWE cast-offs. They could do fine with a few women if they could get the right ones, and maybe some male talent but honestly I’d rather see that down the road after they have established more talent and worked through more of their storylines, then bring in someone to freshen things up. To many guys right now just pushes out their own guys.
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I’m sure Rusev and Lana can’t wait for their contracts to expire
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Rusev would be awesome
It’s been mentioned already in this thread that taking on ex-WWE talent made TNA look minor league (to borrow a phrase), but that was more to do with how they used them, taking mid- to upper-mid-card talent and pushing them as main event straight away, while trying to ape the gimmick as far as they could push it. Early signs are AEW are trying to avoid that with Spears and Hager by giving them a fresh lick of paint and slow builds.
There are exceptions, for example Orton and Rollins (Black?!) could probably get away with being parachuted straight into the main event, but not Nemeth, as he’s been too tainted by the stench of years of false starts.
The trick then would be to make sure they are utilised to help make homegrown stars and have a balanced mix of both.
I’d say they probably need one more relatively big name to come in. Assuming Orton is just trolling, then it’s not likely to be anyone from Stamford for at least a year. Wouldn’t be surprised if someone from Japan is at least in talks.
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Hey, stop that!
What I meant was…
That is right, I forgot Dolph had age to him.
I am wrong.
However I like Dolphs style and look more and would still like to have him in AEW.
Don’t like any of those Ortons!
Lana make me excited!
I think AEW’s best move is to get the talents that are popular among wrestling fans but haven’t been presented via the WWE stage already. That was what made AEW appealing to begin with. Fans wanted to see The Young Bucks, Omega, etc. on a big American stage but knew if it were on WWE’s stage it wouldn’t be the same. AEW needs to continue with that in mind. I’d rather them go after a guy like Jeff Cobb who is free of any WWE staining than guys like Rusev and Ziggler who have multiple years of WWE poison in them. You can’t ask Jericho to cut a promo shutting down “RUSEV DAY” chants too.
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This is not what they need.
Taking a bunch of mid carders is what killed WCW developing their young stars.
Taking a big name star (like Jericho) makes sense to help “make” your younger talent. I can see them taking Orton, Cena, Rollins, Regins, Brock, Bryan, AJ. Not really mid card guys like Ziggler.
Young talent they would take that are misused (shorty G, revival).
The one expection is the women. Their division sucks - it’s all a waiting game until Tessa arrives. They could use a lot of WWE/NXT talent if they can get them (ie Sasha, Bayley, flair, Becky, io, Bianca, kabuki warriors). But even then they should not resort to garbage like IIConics type.
Yeah they totally need some. Hopefully it’s Kane and Big Show, who can then have a best-of-seven series. Kane could edge Big Show 4-3, which then results in Jericho coming out to congratulate him and spilling coffee on him. Only this time it’s NOT an accident.
I don’t think you have adequately explained your logic as to WHY AEW needs wwe talent?
Have you watched AEW? Have you been enjoying it? What about AEW do you think would be enhanced by WWE upper-midcard talent?
Is it just that you want to see more interest in it? Because I think pretty obviously that AEW has more interest in it right now than WWE.
Do you want it to be seen as more “main-stream”? Well I can tell you having Kevin Owens or Sasha Banks jump to AEW still wouldn’t get them on Kimmel or Entertainment Tonight.
Do you want it to get a ratings bump? Having a WWE guy jump ship would pop a rating but it wouldn’t be sustainable unless they are organically growing their audience.
Do you just want to see “WWE guys” (or gals) perform outside of the WWE system like Moxley? That is totally fine and many might be able to reach another level or redefine their characters outside of WWE. But that doesn’t mean AEW needs them.
I think for a show that is four episodes in AEW has shown they have PLENTY of in-ring talent. And now they need to start showcasing their characters more. Adding more people to their roster would only dilute it further. They aren’t WWE with seven hours of TV a week and their own network. They don’t need to have every wrestler on the planet signed.
Eventually AEW will get a big acquisition and it will be a big story. But they don’t NEED to do that until 2020 at the earliest.
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I agree with allot of what you said other than that AEW has shown that they have enough in ring talent. Right now they feel very shallow outside the tag division. We have seen a lot of some combination of the same wrestlers having matches against one another, and that is ok right now but it isn’t really sustainable. They need to get more guys/women in the ring on a more regular basis to build out that depth. Put Sammy back in the ring for a singles match for instance.