AEW - SEPTEMBER 2022

[zendragon]

[just drew]

Nah, this is every mma gym in America on your first night back after missing a few weeks…

[madl]

Wrestling Observer says the new edict is “no releases”.  Dave thinks there may be occasional exceptions, but Tony has made it known he’s not releasing people just so they can go back to WWE.  Dave said WWE reached out to a lot of people - virtually everyone who had worked their before - and some want to stay in AEW but a lot would like to go back to WWE.  Dave also said AEW contracts permit the company to extend time If the wrestler is hurt or refusing to work.  
 

Lol, I’m more interested in this development than anything going on on tv.  AEW seems to have a sizable fanbase who bought into the “kindler, gentler” wrestling company that wouldn’t cut talent or hold them to contracts if they wanted to leave.  That was probably a good goal on paper - and gave AEW a way to sell itself to that subset of fans - but it was a naive, impractical one.  It’d be terrible business to just hand marketable talents back to WWE.  I don’t even think guys like Lee or Black would move the needle all that much.

Anyway, seems like Khan and the evp’s are finding out is a lot harder than it seems at first glance.

 

Honestly, I think Lee Black, Swerve, etc would fit better in WWE, but contracts are contracts.  It will interesting to see how the rosters stack up in a few years.  Could be wrong, but my guess is Trips will lure a lot of ex-WWE talent back to the company and poach a few guys like Hangman or Moxley.  Miro should defintiely try to get back, though I think he just signed a new contract fairly recently,  

[just drew]

1 hour ago, madl said:

Wrestling Observer says the new edict is “no releases”.  Dave thinks there may be occasional exceptions, but Tony has made it known he’s not releasing people just so they can go back to WWE.  Dave said WWE reached out to a lot of people - virtually everyone who had worked their before - and some want to stay in AEW but a lot would like to go back to WWE.  Dave also said AEW contracts permit the company to extend time If the wrestler is hurt or refusing to work.  
 

Lol, I’m more interested in this development than anything going on on tv.  AEW seems to have a sizable fanbase who bought into the “kindler, gentler” wrestling company that wouldn’t cut talent or hold them to contracts if they wanted to leave.  That was probably a good goal on paper - and gave AEW a way to sell itself to that subset of fans - but it was a naive, impractical one.  It’d be terrible business to just hand marketable talents back to WWE.  I don’t even think guys like Lee or Black would move the needle all that much.

Anyway, seems like Khan and the evp’s are finding out is a lot harder than it seems at first glance.

 

Honestly, I think Lee Black, Swerve, etc would fit better in WWE, but contracts are contracts.  It will interesting to see how the rosters stack up in a few years.  Could be wrong, but my guess is Trips will lure a lot of ex-WWE talent back to the company and poach a few guys like Hangman or Moxley.  Miro should defintiely try to get back, though I think he just signed a new contract fairly recently,  

First, and probably most importantly; Mox ain’t going back. If AEW closed tomorrow Mox would pull a Michael Scott and start “the Jon Moxley wrestling company” before he went back to WWE. 
 

Secondly, someone who writes for Meltzer said the only people who have wanted to leaved bad enough to ask for releases are people with significant others in wwe. That’s Andrade, Matthews, and Black. Keith Lee said no. Cole said no. Swerve said go Fuck yourself. KOR said no. Miro said no. FTR said not right now and we’d want the Reigns schedule if we ever came back. For the life of me I can’t figure out why this idea that wwe is paradise now that HHH is running the show has taken root. Someone here said it really well; in 6-9 months this same shit is gonna be happening in wwe. Folks who think they’re underused making noise to get out of their deals. People who weren’t hhh’s darlings in nXt like Nikki Cross, Zelina, Otis, Gable, Ali, Shelton Benjamin, et Al. There’s already rumblings of noted HHH signee Alexa Bliss wanting out. And all that’s even assuming he’s still in charge. They’re still a company w shareholders who answer to two separate tv networks. I could not disagree more with the idea that every performer under contract in America desperately wants to be in wwe.

Edited September 28 by just drew

[username]

4 hours ago, just drew said:

For the life of me I can’t figure out why this idea that wwe is paradise now that HHH is running the show has taken root.

Many of these people have worked for HHH before in NXT and likely credit him for helping them advance and improve in their career, if a guy who you have a relationship/history like that with is suddenly in charge of the biggest company in your industry it isn't unusual that a number would go "man I'd like to work with that guy again." Like take wrestling out of the equation, many people in most lines of work would have to stop and take stock of where they want to be if such a situation came up.

[The Natural]

@Casey.

[Casey]

That’s my champion, right there. I’m praying this all gets worked out somehow. If we never get Omega/Punk I’ll be fucking gutted.

[SprintingFromAmerica]

[Greggulator]

One of the big problems with AEW is that it has three hours (or four every so often) of television and a few pay per views per year to tell its stories. 

If you sign every available wrestler to your roster - especially ones who were disgruntled with how they were used elsewhere - then you are setting yourself up for challenges. How do you adequately use everyone in a way where they contribute to an entertaining few hours of television per week? 

Guess what? It is really hard. Everyone wants screen time or wants to be featured in certain ways. And if you were promised the moon when you got hired and it’s not being delivered… well, you’ll be upset. 

Money is also the biggest factor. It is almost a sure thing WWE will be here in five years. It is not as much of a sure thing AEW will be. 

[JohnnyJ]

I'm going to make the assumption that when WWE had the mass layoffs many talents landed at AEW at rates far below what they were making before. They had no other choice. It was the only place they could make a living. All of a sudden HHH is in charge and the door is wide open again. It makes sense why talents would be looking to get out. 

 

[Casey]

It shouldn't be any surprise, but out of the people who were released from 2020 to the end of 2021, quite a few landed in Impact actually. Something like 20 ended up signing with AEW, but it's not like they signed everyone that got let go. It was the "really, what the fuck?" type of releases (and Tony Nese ). AEW has given quite a few either one shot appearances, or a handful of matches on Dark (or Rampage in squashes to established talent). But just the fact that a not insignificant number of those released made their way to Impact should tell you that they definitely had other choices.

Aiden English transitioned into being an announcer and got to focus on his whiskey/wrestling hybrid podcast, Cardona & Myers had time to focus more on their brand (and under the Vince regime at least, were asked to give up the Major WF Pod). Chris Hero was in this release, and he hasn't wrestled in two years. He streams old wrestling on Twitch, and runs his own subreddit (which is actually dope as fuck). Maria Kanellis runs her own women's wrestling promotion apparently.

A lot of the females, like Deonna Purrazzo and Chelsea Green and even the AEW signed Toni Storm, ended up opening OnlyFans accounts and I'm sure that is a nice bag. The IIconics did the same thing, but not on OF (Brand Army, I think?) and make enough off of that to not have to wrestle full time - plus Cassie is expecting now, so, yeah.

The point is, if WWE or AEW "don't want you", it's still possible to make a living. It might require more work, but Cardona probably put it best when he said stuff like the Major WF Pod and everything related to it isn't work because he loves doing it and makes a good bit of money from it, plus the sponsorship deals with WhatNot, PBR, etc.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

Nothing personal against any of the ex-WWE guys looking to leave AEW, but if I woke up tomorrow in HHH's office and he said to me "Who do we poach from the competition?" I'd be looking at the Dante Martins and Jungle Boys of the world instead of dudes we already had and did nothing with, and now its 5 years later so they're all pushing 40. 

[Lawful Metal]

Any updates on the knee injuries to Wardlow or Jade from Rampage? That Jade spot catching Diamanté and F-5’ing her into the apron was one of the best strength spots this year. 

I hope House of Black ain’t done. HOB squashes on Dark are #1 and the best!

[Shartnado]

I was trying to find Cody vs Eddie Kingston TnT title open challenge on Fite app  (trying to find anything on it is a real bummer) and ended up watching a random Dynamite episode from 2020 that had Cody vs Starks open challenge, Page & Omega vs Dustin & Marshall, Young Bucks vs Sabian & Havoc, Abadon vs Anna Jay, MJF vs Billy Gunn and  main event of Jericho & Guevara vs Trent & Chuck of Best Friends. I guess I should just randomly watch these episodes and try to figure out the big picture of where the stories were at on any given time? This was a really fun episode. Seeing the Britt skits before her reign of terror makes one somewhat understand why they wanted her on top for so long, for example.

[Technico Support]

21 minutes ago, Shartnado said:

Page & Omega vs Dustin & Marshall

I loved Page & Omega's tag title run!  It seemed like they were defending it at Daily's every week (per Cagematch, it was actually like every 2-3 weeks, I know) and every match felt like they could lose the belts.

Edited September 28 by Technico Support

[Belgian_Waffle]

20 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Don’t be silly. TK would never release Dave and Bryan. They’re too valuable. 

This is why we need a *chef's kiss* response for when the trophy isn't adequate.

[Jiji]

3 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I loved Page & Omega's tag title run!  It seemed like they were defending it at Daily's every week and every match felt like they could lose the belts.

They had some real good ones. I remember a long match vs. Best Friends that started a lil slow but was absolutely rocking by the end despite it being just Austin Gunn in the crowd

Edited September 28 by Jiji

[Zakk_Sabbath]

1 minute ago, Jiji said:

They had some real good ones. I remember a long match vs. Best Friends that started a lil slow but was absolutely rocking by the end despite it being just Austin Gunn in the crowd

Great call. This is why it pissed me off Death Triangle won the trios title after the All Out hubbub, between that match you said and the AWESOME PnP street fight, Best Friends were definitely among the unsung heroes of the pandemic era - they deserve at least a short courtesy run with the tags or trios for that alone IMO. I get the idea of you know, eternal underdogs, heart and soul, Mikey Whipwreck, etc. but I don't think DT needed the belts, especially with Pac being AA champion and the Luchas doing straight tag matches anyway

[(BP)]

The booking with Death Triangle often comes off like it’s been compromised a lot by politics and geography. 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

7 minutes ago, (BP) said:

The booking with Death Triangle often comes off like it’s been compromised a lot by politics and geography. 

Great point. I was mentioning that yesterday too more in relation to Malekai's back injury, but I kind of forgot about the Visa aspect of it.

[Shartnado]

30 minutes ago, Jiji said:

They had some real good ones. I remember a long match vs. Best Friends that started a lil slow but was absolutely rocking by the end despite it being just Austin Gunn in the crowd

Would that be the Fyter Fest tag title match that they were building towards on that episode I just saw? Yeah, I need to watch that Fyter Fest! And just for the record, I did find that Cody vs Kingston episode finally and was glad that it was the opener, too! Yes, it was really good!

[TheVileOne]

3 hours ago, Casey said:

It shouldn't be any surprise, but out of the people who were released from 2020 to the end of 2021, quite a few landed in Impact actually. Something like 20 ended up signing with AEW, but it's not like they signed everyone that got let go. It was the "really, what the fuck?" type of releases (and Tony Nese ). AEW has given quite a few either one shot appearances, or a handful of matches on Dark (or Rampage in squashes to established talent). But just the fact that a not insignificant number of those released made their way to Impact should tell you that they definitely had other choices.

Aiden English transitioned into being an announcer and got to focus on his whiskey/wrestling hybrid podcast, Cardona & Myers had time to focus more on their brand (and under the Vince regime at least, were asked to give up the Major WF Pod). Chris Hero was in this release, and he hasn't wrestled in two years. He streams old wrestling on Twitch, and runs his own subreddit (which is actually dope as fuck). Maria Kanellis runs her own women's wrestling promotion apparently.

A lot of the females, like Deonna Purrazzo and Chelsea Green and even the AEW signed Toni Storm, ended up opening OnlyFans accounts and I'm sure that is a nice bag. The IIconics did the same thing, but not on OF (Brand Army, I think?) and make enough off of that to not have to wrestle full time - plus Cassie is expecting now, so, yeah.

The point is, if WWE or AEW "don't want you", it's still possible to make a living. It might require more work, but Cardona probably put it best when he said stuff like the Major WF Pod and everything related to it isn't work because he loves doing it and makes a good bit of money from it, plus the sponsorship deals with WhatNot, PBR, etc.

20 is not an insignificant amount.

[porksweats]

26 minutes ago, Shartnado said:

Would that be the Fyter Fest tag title match that they were building towards on that episode I just saw? Yeah, I need to watch that Fyter Fest! And just for the record, I did find that Cody vs Kingston episode finally and was glad that it was the opener, too! Yes, it was really good!

I'm doing a rewatch, darks and all and this is where I'm at. Great stuff.

[Casey]

1 hour ago, TheVileOne said:

20 is not an insignificant amount.

Way to miss the fuckin' point.

[Red King]

The AEW rankings list on their site don't have September 2022, another sign of moving away from them. They already reduced mentions of the system and taken off the rankings from Wrestlers graphics.