I think they’ve made great use out of Christian, Edge, Jarrett, obviously Sting and sometimes Jericho, but the longer Jericho’s around kind of killing the vibe, and the more we get guys like Mark Henry and Big Show, I think the perception of them bringing in too many WWE guys is not undeserved
I did cringe at the sight of Shelton Benjamin. I like him and all, but at a time when AEW is losing viewers and attendance numbers, bringing in a guy who was cold as ice in WWE is just not the best look. If it’s the cost of getting Lashley in there it might be worth it in the long run.
I think Lashley is a great get for AEW. He was super over in WWE, he can still go and there’s tons of cool matches he can have that we’ve never seen before, and if Tony was a touch more pick and choosy with the guys he brought in he might be afforded more forgiveness for bringing in so many WWE guys over the years.
Speaking for myself I don’t really mind, as I said I think they’ve made great use of most of the veterans. But I don’t really get what Mark Henry was doing there in the first place, I don’t see what value Big Show has even if his legs weren’t crooked, the Hardys were a blunder.
All this to say I see your point, I can see the argument that they have too many WWE alumni currently, even if I think your take is a bit exaggerated, I don’t totally disagree.
I do think Alex has a point about the aging of the roster. For the first few years they had a much younger roster with a lot of promising prospects.
I can’t say AEW has any young talent ready to break through right now. Most of the young talent they have has spent too many years losing matches or they just never developed.
You are never going to bat 1.000 and I get that but there’s no one coming up that is under 30. They badly need an injection of youth, that’s one thing that NXT has done well the past few years.
I think it was Paul Heyman who said that if he went to TNA he would get rid of all the old guys except one, and make them special. While one seems a bit low, I kind of wish AEW adopted this philosophy as I do feel they have quite a few 40+ ex WWE guys. Jericho in particular really seems to have worn out his welcome, and I can’t see Lashley’s coming in and improving the product. Christian, Sting on the other hand, loved almost everything they have done.
I count 30 of 112 men’s wrestlers (not counting managers or guys like Paul Wight) on the AEW roster who have been in WWE. So making allowances that I miscounted somewhere or don’t know that a guy was once in NXT under a different name, call it approximately 25-30%.
Obviously, you’re not going to have zero guys who were previously in WWE. And after WWE had a near monopoly for almost two decades, a lot of your former fed guys are going to be bigger stars.
So as long as you’re not pushing WWE alumni exclusively, and AEW certainly isn’t doing that, I don’t think 25% (or so) is all that bad of a tally.
Of those listed, the majority have been positioned to work with younger talent and elevating them.
At the end of the day, you’re not watching because for whatever reason you’re not into the product. That’s fine. But pretending it’s an age thing is ridiculous. Swerve, Hangman, Darby, The Young Bucks, Ospreay, MJF, Jay White, and Okada, have all main evented PPVs in the last 12 months, and plenty other talent under 35 is regularly in top positions on TV every show.
I said 40 because of the Paul Heyman quote from years back that I referenced.
If you enjoying seeing that many performers that are of an older age on TV, that’s cool. If Alex prefers seeing a roster that is mostly comprised of younger talent, that’s cool as well.
I think we need to remember that wrestling is subjective and when it comes to our opinions none of us are “wrong” or “right”, it’s just simply taste.
I like lobster, my cousin hates it. Is she “wrong”? Am I right? Of course not, both statements sound absurd. It’s personal preference, no different in wrestling.
I didn’t think it’s fair to call someone else’s subjective opinion “ridicules” or “weird”.
Yeah, I mean you are right. I think they do have too many old people, but ultimately, I’m not into the product enough that it’s going to matter greatly if they change their approach.
For instance, I saw clips of Will versus ricochet and while I’m sure some people love that to me that was Painful to watch. It all looked too unrealistic that rather than punching guys in the face these guys would rather flip around back-and-forth to one up each other. It’s just not the kind of thing I like in wrestling and I fully appreciate some people do and more power to them.
The age thing is a weird conversation point. WWE seems to have a set age range, where as AEW has extremes. AEW had more guys 45 and older but also more 25 and under. Jeff Jarrett is 59 but Nick Wayne is 19. I don’t see Jeff Jarrett being a consistent character, but he has been doing well in his role.
AEW feels like they’re more willing to take chances on guys regardless of age. Basically, we have to say that Adam Copeland or Christian Cage aren’t worth having in the company and I don’t think that’s the case. I will say though that AEW should start looking for more super young talent to sign.
In fairness, I don’t think anyone is saying that people who are 50+ shouldn’t be in AEW or WWE for that matter, I think the complaint is more so that there are too many performers of an older age.
AEW’s value to me has been more about its looser and less scripted presentation. Like even at its peak popularity I don’t think fans were that concerned about specifically the age or demographic of guys that come over, more than it was about seeing guys letting their creative freaks fly.
As far as scouting goes it all comes around to bringing back Dark. Again, Dark was such a great means of combing the independent talent pool.
The WWF/E stuff is cool, but isn’t it disingenuous to include WCW? If we’re just talking about lines on a balance sheet, WCW’s “TV deal” was $0, and I’m sure there were several other assets/expenses that got attributed to Turner and not WCW itself. That has to be a significant factor in the number that gets spit out by any model.
Obviously, WCW lost a ton of money and I’m all for Bischoff getting shit for that while continuing to act like he invented modern wrestling. I’m just not sure that it’s really apples to apples.
