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Post by greenjack1992 on Oct 15, 2021 12:33:26 GMT -5
The comparisons with TNA are so silly.
Andrade/Punk/Bryan/Cole/Fish/FTR/Cody/Hager/Mox/Miro/Rush/Black/Pac/Soho/ =/= The Nasty Boys/Val Venis
These are current wrestling stars who have moved from one territory to another - it's the equivalent of Jericho and the Radicalz jumping from WCW to WWF who, coincidentally, jumped for the same reasons!
Then you look at how they've used people like Jericho, Wight, Henry, Christian, Dustin, Hardy and Sting and they have absolutely nailed it! Booked consistently to elevate other talent:
- Christian winning alongside JE makes them look like winners, and the competitive matches he's been having make the people he beats look great
- Jericho has single-handedly MADE Sammy, P&P, Hager, and MJF - Wight made Nick Comoroto look like a monster
- Hardy has found a way for six guys and two girls to stay on television each week when they were doing absolutely nothing before
- Dustin puts over everyone he works with
- Henry has stayed out of the ring, adds a great deal of legitimacy to interviews, and performs a vital backstage role
- Sting has made Darby look like the absolute man.
If this was TNA, Jericho, Wight, Henry, Christian, Dustin, Hardy and Sting would be in an inside out battle royal for the world championship at the next PPV.
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Post by The Real Valbroski on Oct 15, 2021 13:21:52 GMT -5
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secondwhiteline
Main Eventer
Joined on: Nov 18, 2015 13:06:39 GMT -5
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Post by secondwhiteline on Oct 15, 2021 15:16:15 GMT -5
trying to thread the needle between dream matches and long-term pushes of homegrown guys. I'm really trying to see how balancing amazing dream matches and true, sustained pushes of homegrown talent is supposed to be a negative, but that sounds pretty darn perfect to me. I'm not saying it's a negative, but it's definitely a challenge. At certain points they're going to have to make decisions between the two and not everyone's going to be happy with what they end up doing. And inevitably, talented performers are going to find themselves left out at those points. I don't think they're likely to fall down the WCW/TNA slide and totally neglect their homegrown guys, but it's always a danger of having that big a checkbook. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2021 18:42:55 GMT -5
^ definitely a challenge, very symbolic of the challenge between attracting both hardcore and casual fans. Roman's recent statement, while partially kayfabe/company line, was also very accurate when he said aew has found the cap for the market size of the hardcore fanbase.
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Post by BoJack Hogan on Oct 18, 2021 15:05:18 GMT -5
We’re still talking like AEW raided WWE’s rejects for sloppy seconds?
Wrestlers who have largely worked for the same company for their entire careers are not owned by that company. I’ll give you Big Show and Henry, but they are far from full time wrestlers, if they even compete at all. Show has had what, two special attraction matches? Henry hasn’t wrestled at all, and probably won’t. I don’t really count either of them as being on the active roster.
Christian had a choice, AEW or forced retirement (or TNA I suppose, but TNA would be a huge step down from either WWE or AEW). He became TNA champion (which works since he has history there), but lost his AEW title program. Now he’s a supporting legend helping to get Jungle Boy to the next level in what looks to be a long-term story.
Hardy was being jobber out. AEW picked him up as a potential main eventer since Broken Matt was such a huge character on the indies and in TNA (but was a joke in WWE). Broken Matt flopped so they didn’t keep pushing him over home-grown talent. He’s in a nice, comfy, mid-card spot that allows him to lend his name to a bunch of guys and gals who really can’t speak for themselves. Yes he’s a former WWE guy, but he’s also a former TNA guy. He’s being presented about as well as he can be presented in a mid-card capacity. The few wins he’s gotten over younger guys did nothing to weaken them. Sammy is as big today as he is thanks in part to Matt Hardy.
Nobody should refer to Punk as an ex-WWE guy. Yeah he was there for six or seven years, but he got over in spite of WWE’s best efforts. WWE ‘trying’ to push Punk is exactly what derailed him. As much as I loathe Punk, calling him an ex-WWE guy is a major affront to Punk. If anything, Punk’s arrival meant as much as it did because of the way he was treated by WWE and his exit rather than the way he was presented there.
Bryan was THE top indie guy for years until WWE changed his name, fired him, then made him a goof until he accidentally got over. This forced WWE’s hand. WWE did amazingly with ‘Daniel Bryan’. Daniel Bryan, leader of the Yes-Movement didn’t go to AEW, The American Dragon Bryan Danielson (who made a huge name for himself with AEW-style crowds long before he went to WWE) went to AEW. Although it wouldn’t have been AS big of a deal if he wasn’t fresh off of a WWE run, signing possibly the top indie guy of all time would’ve still been a huge deal for AEW and their fans.
Miro was made by WWE…but they’d clearly run out of ideas for him as anything other than a comedy guy. You could call him an ex-WWE guy I guess…
Ruby was another one who was big on the indie scene before WWE….but the best thing WWE did for her was give her two super close friends and the name Ruby. Her run there was forgettable at best. She was an afterthought. Although she was part of the roster, I don’t think she could be called an ex-WWE person in the way that Miro could or Matt and Christian could. Now if it were Dana Brooke, Mandy, or Naomi (or The Horsewomen, Nattie, Tamina, etc) then they could be called ex WWE people (although the Horsewomen would be good signings)
Black was big on the European indie scene as Tommy End long before he was Aleister Black. He did well in NXT, but the run wasn’t super long. His time on the main roster would be forgettable if he wasn’t creative enough to use a throwaway role in the Rollins/Mysterio feud as a contributing factor to his current character, which is more an extension of the Tommy End character than jumping off of Aleister Black, aside from the name Black. Calling him an ex-WWE guy would not be a good descriptor.
Brodie Lee was someone that Vince never saw anything in. He made his own opportunities and won people over with his abilities. He was big in the indies as Brodie Lee, Vince turned him into a lackey. It would be both inaccurate and an insult to identify him as merely ‘another ex-WWE guy’
This isn’t TNA. The whole ‘bunch of ex-WWE guys’ argument is largely invalid. The people they signed are people who fit well in the AEW model, and are people they’d have been foolish to let go elsewhere. I really have no issues with any of the signings. This ‘bunch of ex-WWE guys’ argument needs to go to bed. It’s more of a troll argument than a valid complaint.
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Post by Evil Abed on Oct 18, 2021 18:19:33 GMT -5
I hate how everyone looks at wrestlers these days and says “Oh he’s an ‘ex-insert promotion here’ guy, he’s taking someones spot who’s been here longer.”
At the end of the day if you’re running a company and can have super talented guys on a very healthy roster, who cares where they came from. They’re all a part of this places success now.
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Post by cordless2016 on Oct 18, 2021 22:55:40 GMT -5
I hate how everyone looks at wrestlers these days and says “Oh he’s an ‘ex-insert promotion here’ guy, he’s taking someones spot who’s been here longer.” At the end of the day if you’re running a company and can have super talented guys on a very healthy roster, who cares where they came from. They’re all a part of this places success now. The funny part of this is fans today are either too ignorant, or chose not to educate themselves on past wrestling rosters where talent switched companies all the times. In the 90s, stars jumped between the WWF and WCW all the time. And in the decades before that, talent would travel to different territories all the time, yet nobody was going “XXX is a former (insert territory) guy.” If a roster is strong, who cares where they worked before. Stronger rosters are just better for fans and the business as a whole. |
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 21, 2024 10:28:35 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2021 6:30:27 GMT -5
I hate how everyone looks at wrestlers these days and says “Oh he’s an ‘ex-insert promotion here’ guy, he’s taking someones spot who’s been here longer.” At the end of the day if you’re running a company and can have super talented guys on a very healthy roster, who cares where they came from. They’re all a part of this places success now. The funny part of this is fans today are either too ignorant, or chose not to educate themselves on past wrestling rosters where talent switched companies all the times. In the 90s, stars jumped between the WWF and WCW all the time. And in the decades before that, talent would travel to different territories all the time, yet nobody was going “XXX is a former (insert territory) guy.” If a roster is strong, who cares where they worked before. Stronger rosters are just better for fans and the business as a whole. Imagine if Twitter and social media existed back then “This wcw reject Steve Austin isn’t gonna be over” “Can’t believe they’re bringing in Cactus Jack another wcw reject” |
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Post by Yambag Jones on Oct 19, 2021 7:02:19 GMT -5
The funny part of this is fans today are either too ignorant, or chose not to educate themselves on past wrestling rosters where talent switched companies all the times. In the 90s, stars jumped between the WWF and WCW all the time. And in the decades before that, talent would travel to different territories all the time, yet nobody was going “XXX is a former (insert territory) guy.” If a roster is strong, who cares where they worked before. Stronger rosters are just better for fans and the business as a whole. Imagine if Twitter and social media existed back then “This wcw reject Steve Austin isn’t gonna be over” “Can’t believe they’re bringing in Cactus Jack another wcw reject” Who cares where someone’s been, when they chose where they are now and it’s a better place? |
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Post by TKO Propagandist on Oct 19, 2021 7:14:59 GMT -5
The funny part of this is fans today are either too ignorant, or chose not to educate themselves on past wrestling rosters where talent switched companies all the times. In the 90s, stars jumped between the WWF and WCW all the time. And in the decades before that, talent would travel to different territories all the time, yet nobody was going “XXX is a former (insert territory) guy.” If a roster is strong, who cares where they worked before. Stronger rosters are just better for fans and the business as a whole. Imagine if Twitter and social media existed back then “This wcw reject Steve Austin isn’t gonna be over” “Can’t believe they’re bringing in Cactus Jack another wcw reject” It ain't about where they've been. It's about where they're going. And where they're going they don't need handcuffs. Because the key is in the forbidden door, it's unlocked so come on in if you're good enough. |
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Post by bababooey on Oct 21, 2021 11:01:09 GMT -5
The way I see it is that guys like Jericho, Punk, Bryan, Christian, Big Show are there more short term plans to help AEW get attention. Other ex WWE guys like Miro, Black, FTR, etc are basically people that were talented and valuable and no longer tied to WWE. They’re more long term that will be more in the mix with the AEW “homegrowns” that will be the future of AEW.
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