You aren’t wrong they seem to have gone away from that because they focus on the crowd in attendance more than the viewers. Stuff in ring is better for people in attendance than copious video packages.
I think the misleading thing is that for WWE the wrestlers are full time. So I think when that statement was originally made it seemed like all the wrestlers would get health care. When in fact they have the same policy as WWE where only people with back stage roles get health care, because a majority of talent is part time.
Correct, but the biggest difference is Kahn and AEW have sought to give as many wrestlers backstage roles as possible. Like we can laugh, but Brandon Cutler and QT Marshal are employees and get benefits that their equivalents on the WWE roster would never received in a million years.
I’m not sure how many wrestlers really have that. Yeah Cutler and Marshal do but they are friends with the EVPs. I’m pretty sure guys like Private Party, Lucha Bros, most of the women (I think Brandi and Kong have roles), Jurassic express etc. don’t have roles back stage so it isn’t like “look even their no name jobbers have back stage roles.” And more like “These guys that we gave backstage roles can also wrestle as jobbers.”
As we haven’t seen any contracts I honestly have no idea though how many people do or do not have back stage roles, but it was my impression that it was less than half the talent.
So we’ve established that being in ring, risking your well being isn’t what gets you healthcare in AEW. Having a backstage role does.
Interesting that they presented this as, and it was received as, “AEW care about the wrestlers, take that WWE”. The best word to describe this would be “disingenuous”.
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Can we also establish what gets you healthcare in WWE too, please, thank you.
Tony Khan explained it a dozen of times before the promotion started, but I guess for the likes of you a dozen explanations are never enough.
I’m not here saying “WWE are better with healthcare for wrestlers” so your response makes very little sense but it is a very typical response from people who can’t stand any slight questioning of AEW. They fed people shit with their statements before AEW launched and it seems some still want to pretend they’re eating steak.
This whole “wrestling revolution” known as AEW won’t suddenly collapse if you decide to be objective.
1- we are just guessing what the contracts are. We really don’t know who is covered, and who isn’t
2- a lot of talent are currently working for other promotions (AAA, NJPW, MLW, etc.) Making a real mess when it comes to healthcare coverage.
3-again, you’re just guessing what the contracts contain
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Yeah I’ve realized that the closet to NJPW is NXT. It’s the most sports oriented and has the least comedy.
AEW is an oddball - in a lot of ways it has the most goofball comedy with someone thinking Marco can punch you and it hurts and the overly contrived spots the do, Ornage Cassidy etc. However their main event title picture is very serious and they run great real promos. So it’s stupid downlow and serious up top.
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In business, employees get health care. 1099s and part time or independent contractors do not. AEW is a business, and most the talent still have the opportunity to work elsewhere making them legit independent contractors oppose to WWEs model.
And I’m not sure how it’s disingenious. They aren’t running house shows. They let talent go earn extra. We haven’t seen deals so we don’t fully know what talent do and don’t get that differentiate how they are treated vs WWE.
We can agree to disagree
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They initially presented it as - “Be a wrestler here and you’ll have healthcare”. That’s them being disingenuous.
The reasons as to why they’re not doing it is irrelevant as the issue is with them bullshitting in the pre-launch period of AEW. If they didn’t talk shit initially then I wouldn’t have brought it up.
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It is precisely what are you doing on each and every tread.
Yes, I am being objective in each and every thread. Thanks for noticing.
Where???
Got a clip
Got a quote
I exchanged messages/emails from a business (not personal) standpoint with Chris Harrington early on. Don’t think anything you remember is correct regarding this.
The quote was if a wrestler gets hurt on AEW time they will cover all of the medical expenses. Never promised healthcare to any wrestler in AEW
I think a lot of it was headlines like this one
https://www.muscleandfitness.com/athletes-celebrities/news/aew-offer-wrestlers-health-insurance-chris-jericho-says
It was later clarified numerous times. I also thought there was something about it I. The launch announcement I will need to go back and check.
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From that article. Do with this what you will.
“AEW has health care and dental for the performers,” Y2J told the former wrestler and Minnesota governor. “You’re talking about a big sports team mentality instead of the every man for himself mentality the business had for years.
…
At first, it appeared the healthcare benefits would only be available to AEW in-ring talent who were also company executives, like Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks. In May, Rhodes said other wrestlers would receive similar benefits. “There are several wrestlers outside the [executive vice president] element that are going to receive benefits and health care,” Rhodes told Bleacher Report. “That’s a first for wrestling, and these are slow and steady steps and I’m super proud.”
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Yup it is not super clear but has been cleared up several times since then.
Just scrolling through everything and I see the “sports oriented” stuff has come up again and I’m curious what some of you were expecting, other than the win/loss records?
The only other thing you can do, is just have random matches every week. No angles, no stories, just matches for the sake of matches and who the fuck wants that? That isnt what wrestling is.
Some people like to say NJPW is the most sports oriented, but I don’t really think it is. It’s no different than any other company. Even their multi man matches have reasons for happening. There are angles and stories, some built up over longer periods, because they aren’t weekly.
As much as a lot of people hate the term, wrestling always has been and always will be “sports entertainment” and the closest it will ever get to another sport is that it’s a competition.
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Maybe a weekly schedule for the matches, laid out months in adavance? Divisions and conferences based upon geographical location? Numbers on tights?
I can’t tell if you’re serious or just mocking the concept, but that would be terrible. The only way that works is a G1 style tournament and you can only really do that once a year.
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