I’ve seen this type of question be asked in a lot of sports forums, and I’m curious what people would think here.
In a hypothetical world where every wrestler was available, if you had a chance to start a new promotion with an unlimited budget and fanfare and you could choose one wrestler regardless of where they wrestle now to build around, who would it be?
Cole is a good choice. I don’t know that I would go with one guy. But if I had to pick to build around right now I might go with Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles. Then get a bunch of other great workers who are not as large and build them up around a few known guys that can get them over to the greater audience. For a long time I have wished WWE would make one of their 2 big shows into essential NXT (UE, Gargano, Ciampa, etc) combined with smaller great workers on the main roster (Bryan, Styles, Gulak, Gable, Rollins)
Orange Cassidy beats low profile wrestlers in a tournament with his hands in his pocket, he remains undefeated for a while with his hands in his pocket until a big name is signed to my company and challenges him. Maybe this time, he will have to fight for real…
Age is why I would want them to be used to build up other guys. Have them at the top for a while and guys putting on great matches and programs trying to knock them off. I think it would be very difficulty to take a relative unknown and ask them to carry the load. I mean picture AEW and think of what they would be doing without Jericho, Moxley, and Cody with their WWE cred drawing eyes (especially Mox and Jericho)
There’s a thousand guys who can have great matches and cut decent promos. Jericho was the perfect choice for this role in AEW and I’d guess he has a couple years in the tank to do it again… and the creativity to do it differently the second time around.
The only caveat: a few years younger version of Jericho would be optimal. But, as an all round talent you could build around, there isn’t much better. Styles might be better in ring, but is a few steps below Jericho on the mic, never mind the character work and emergency commentary.
I think so - he’s just so creative that I think he can really be the guy to get a company that’s new off the ground.
Is he the guy for the next 20 years? No course not.
But as a startup and a build you need a guy you can focus on for 2-5 years while you make some stars. This person has to be able to draw an audience and have some name recognition and help elevate your talent and be creditable.
For AEW he was the perfect fit and I think could do it again.
You could build around Bryan or Punk or Styles but the proven track record of Jericho just doing it a year ago really puts him at the top for me