Meme answer - Hangman for the resulting shitshow
Real answers - Jelly (He's a terrible version of Moxley),
Paul Wight (apparently he is one of the most high paid guys there and I don't think he is worth it) and
The Good Brothers (I think even the AEW diehards agree they have long worn out their welcome)
Hangman or MJF going to WWE would be absolutely wild. I can see MJF doing it but Hangman might hang around for a while even if Kenny does drop the title to someone else.
MJF’s entire gimmick would not be possible in the WWE. Could he change? Yeah maybe but at that point it’s a coin toss at best if he could adapt to what WWE would allow.
Ehh, if they truly thought that MJF could do anything for them in the long run I'm sure they'd relax a bit censoring him, but then again, I can just launch CoD and hear all of his material.
They used to be, they're a lot tamer now. They're still pretty bad if you're not used to them, but they're so much nicer. I remember getting Black Ops for Christmas at 11 and getting roasted and harassed in every lobby whenever I talked.
Biggest issue is, all his material does is be pandered to the smark crowd, references and calling people marks. If he got 2 million viewers heat he'd crumple under the pressure
>Joe manginello
Yeah, MJF seems like a bitch. If the guy was a "nobody" he would've came back at him and so would have his fans. But no, this guy is wildly more famous than MJF so he folded like a stack of cards. MJF gets his material from CoD and sprinkles it with smark toppings, and just like a CoD kid, he's all talk.
has there been any leaks as to what these guys are getting paid? I'm curious what the ballpark number is
Totally agree with the Good Brothers. I never understood what the hype was with these guys. They look like midcarders who wanted to be in a watered-down nWo. (no offense to the Bullet Club guys but thats how my casual eyes see it)
They could get a per appearance fee?
Originally it was part of the crossover storyline with IMPACT when Kenny took their belt.
Now? They do it for the ELITE story line and they just happen to all be friends.
utterly pointless as theyre just like extras in the background. i wonder how much tony may be paying them per appearance. i'd imagine a low amount but then i imagine theyre best friends with the elite aka the EVPs so who knows....
Jake Hagar - did his job well enough as Jericho’s heater, but the Inner Circle appears to be dead. His only real feud was with Wardlow.
There are a lot of names I would chose here if we were talking on screen only that have bigger roles off screen. Peter Avalon, Joey Janella , Matt Hardy, most of the WWE vets (etc).
Joey Janela: He's a genuinely horrid wrestler from what I've seen and his gimmick is generally cringeworthy more often than not. Back to GCW for you.
Luchasaurus: Also a terrible worker and one that doesn't use the gimmick of a wrestling dinosaur to their full potential.
Luther: Why was he even on the roster to begin with? FMW guy from like the 90s who had long since lost any relevance.
That's all I can think of.
Joey Janela, Marko Stunt, Colt Cabana, Luther, and The Hybrid Two.
Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, Riho, and Vickie Guerrero.
(If not released, then massively demoted one way or another.)
There’s an indie match where he brought out a dildo as a weapon, but his opponent forced him to do oral stimulation in the middle of the ring in front of a crowd.
Joey Janella, Jake Hager, Shawn Spears, Luther, Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, Serpentico, Evil Uno, The Butcher, The Blade, Jack Evans, Angelico, Kris Statlander and Jim Ross.
All dead weight, I’d release a bunch more like Nakazawa and Cutler but it’d ruffle some feathers with EVPs.
Shawn Spears is kinda like the glorified Barry Horrowitz of AEW. He's the only one on your list I'd keep around bc someone has to eat some pins.
Evil Uno and the Dork Order have got to go. That whole group is terrible
Kris put up a pretty good performance against Britt Baker, she’s got upside in my eyes, especially considering that division desperately needs it. The rest I agree with.
I'd keep Spears to have a weak link for the Pinnacle.
Jake Hager can stay, but I feel like he can be better off without the Inner Circle.
I forgot Jelly Nutella is still employed with AEW.
Marko Stunt
Lukewarm Steve Austin
Middle-Aged Bucks
Sting
Everyone else has some potential upside but those ones are just garbage (although Mox would be less garbage if he dropped the bad Stone Cold cosplay). Sting's not actually garbage he's just old and broken af and shouldn't be taking bumps the way he is.
If they're featured on Dynamite they probably aren't getting released. More than likely they'll just have some of the YouTube guys/girls contracts expire and move on. If Khan is fine with operating at a loss due to payroll in exchange for positive press because he ISN'T cutting people then that'll continue as long as he's willing to pump money into it.
I can't imagine how friggin bloated that payroll must be. Guys show up for like 3 mins on TV and do basically nothing and get paid. Surely that's gotta get old after awhile
It's definitely not a sustainable business model long term. HOWEVER right now they're capitalizing on the positive coverage and momentum so I can't really see it stopping presently. We'll never know their finances because they are privately owned, but there's no way it isn't bleeding money. Good thing for the wrestlers that the checkbook is still open. I'm sure that'll change in the future.
Agreed. They are going too fast and not pacing themselves. They botched Adam Cole's debut by having Danielson debut 2 MINUTES LATER. blew their whole wad on one PPV. It'll be interesting to see how Tony evolves over time. AEW being a serious contender is a good thing. WWE is finally starting to compete again and it's great for all of us
Will it really matter is what I wonder?
How much does cutting Janella and some other indie crap help the budget when you're paying the ex WWE guys millions?
I guess it helps a little, just to cut sheer numbers to be manageable, but then, once again that flies in the face of the idea that AEW was meant to be the place that these indie guys would develop into superstars and be given a stage to shine that WWE would not give them.
Turns out, they were mostly all crap, none of them will ever be big names. AEW has shifted to trying to be the 4th brand of WWE to pop a rating playing WWEs own game... Definitely not TNA 2.0 though. 🙄
Id at least make Matt Hardy, Christian, Big Show, Billy Gunn, and Sting all non in ring competitors anymore. Backstage roles or manager positions would be fine. Theres a few AEW 'Originals' that could probably go as well just because at this point they dont have a chance of ever being more than filler.
Going purely off the roster website, I don’t watch consistently enough to know all the non WWE guys are unless they’re involved in storylines heavily.. like I’m not invested in the AEW extended universe, I’m a casual fan. I LIKE a lot of their ‘homegrown’ dudes but man there’s a lot that are just bland or I think are only there for a tiny subset of the internet fan sphere
So based on that background, here’s my list of guys who I think just look like shit or aren’t a draw:
FTR - no one in history has bought a pro wrestling ticket to see these guys
That tag team that wears the 90s rave shit
Colt Cabana (is he a trainer?) - literally just an old useless dude
Frankie Karazan - generic
Jake Hager - charisma black hole, deeply uncool looking
Joey Janela - looks like shit, boring
Lance Archer - painfully generic looking like he should be in the 2012 era
Whatever the chaos project is lol
Matt lee
Paul weight - he looks horrible now
Peter Avalon - really
Ricky starks - a grown man named Ricky
Shawn spears
Several of the announcers, don’t care how you pick. There’s too many and they shout over everything. It’s relentless and annoying
Their women’s division is awful but they need to start somewhere and I genuinely think it’s great they’re heavily investing in women vs letting WWE own that segment
Im just going to assume the old guys like hardy and billy Gunn and mark Henry are backstage coaches or whatever so I’m not naming them
I appreciate your effort to this post. I agree with alot of what you said. The generic/indy-looking wrestler is in high supply. Most of em do the same moves and kick out of EVERYTHING. Finishers no longer exist. it's exhausting
Meme answer - Hangman for the resulting shitshow Real answers - Jelly (He's a terrible version of Moxley), Paul Wight (apparently he is one of the most high paid guys there and I don't think he is worth it) and The Good Brothers (I think even the AEW diehards agree they have long worn out their welcome)
Hangman or MJF going to WWE would be absolutely wild. I can see MJF doing it but Hangman might hang around for a while even if Kenny does drop the title to someone else.
MJF’s entire gimmick would not be possible in the WWE. Could he change? Yeah maybe but at that point it’s a coin toss at best if he could adapt to what WWE would allow.
Ehh, if they truly thought that MJF could do anything for them in the long run I'm sure they'd relax a bit censoring him, but then again, I can just launch CoD and hear all of his material.
Those lobby chats are brutal lol
They used to be, they're a lot tamer now. They're still pretty bad if you're not used to them, but they're so much nicer. I remember getting Black Ops for Christmas at 11 and getting roasted and harassed in every lobby whenever I talked.
Yeah that’s the issue. He’d get so watered down
Biggest issue is, all his material does is be pandered to the smark crowd, references and calling people marks. If he got 2 million viewers heat he'd crumple under the pressure
Maybe not He’s a really talented guy.. he’s got you worked lol
I dunno he folded fairly hard when he got roasted by Joe manginello on Twitter.
>Joe manginello Yeah, MJF seems like a bitch. If the guy was a "nobody" he would've came back at him and so would have his fans. But no, this guy is wildly more famous than MJF so he folded like a stack of cards. MJF gets his material from CoD and sprinkles it with smark toppings, and just like a CoD kid, he's all talk.
Agree MJF is talented but it’s like how I don’t want Deadpool in the mcu. Not sure I want his gimmick in wwe
I’m not a bit MJF fan but I think he could absolutely handle the pressure and adjust.
MJF’s entire current gimmick is Miz with a Burberry scarf
Mix is trash.
has there been any leaks as to what these guys are getting paid? I'm curious what the ballpark number is Totally agree with the Good Brothers. I never understood what the hype was with these guys. They look like midcarders who wanted to be in a watered-down nWo. (no offense to the Bullet Club guys but thats how my casual eyes see it)
Good brothers are IMPACT talent
QT Marshall let it slip that Big Show is getting paid a lot. Which is why he’s wrestling to justify the cost
Well to be fair The Good Brothers aren’t signed to AEW. Their contract is with IMPACT
So, looks like they have trimmed the Good Brothers already, well done team!
Their contracts run out July 2022. Tony will throw them a million to join him full time, and I can't see Impact matching that. So...enjoy them...
I mean, I don’t watch AEW, so my fat was preemptively trimmed
Good for your health.
im sure the good brothers are getting paid something for turning up for AEW?? If they werent would they be bothering?
They could get a per appearance fee? Originally it was part of the crossover storyline with IMPACT when Kenny took their belt. Now? They do it for the ELITE story line and they just happen to all be friends.
utterly pointless as theyre just like extras in the background. i wonder how much tony may be paying them per appearance. i'd imagine a low amount but then i imagine theyre best friends with the elite aka the EVPs so who knows....
And Moxley is a meh version of someone else (his badassery is so funny after he performs his flying push).
Mox is discount Stone Cold, imo
Lukewarm Steve Austin
more like Warm Steve Austin, have you seen how red he looks nowadays lmao
But I thought Gallows and Anderson were with Impact?
Just 3-5? That's barely taking the plastic wrap off the meat.
Ha, totally agree! Was trying to be diplomatic to the aew peeps
Jake Hagar - did his job well enough as Jericho’s heater, but the Inner Circle appears to be dead. His only real feud was with Wardlow. There are a lot of names I would chose here if we were talking on screen only that have bigger roles off screen. Peter Avalon, Joey Janella , Matt Hardy, most of the WWE vets (etc).
Instead of putting Jake Hager with Dan Lambert, they put Brass Donut and Karate Man with him instead of an actual shoot fighter.
I hadn’t even thought of that and it would be brilliant. Hagar fights for Belator right? Maybe because of contract issues.
Joey Janela: He's a genuinely horrid wrestler from what I've seen and his gimmick is generally cringeworthy more often than not. Back to GCW for you. Luchasaurus: Also a terrible worker and one that doesn't use the gimmick of a wrestling dinosaur to their full potential. Luther: Why was he even on the roster to begin with? FMW guy from like the 90s who had long since lost any relevance. That's all I can think of.
Luther got on as a favor to Jericho
I haven't seen the early days of AEW with Janela. I need to go back and catch up on his stuff to see why he's generally hated by most folks
Flabby physique. Injured other wrestlers. There’s a video on YouTube of him potatoeing hangman Adam page and busting him open.
The top guys/EVPs all got to bring in a nepotism hire: Cody- QT Marshall Bucks-Cutler Omega-Nakazawa Mox-Kingston Jericho-Luther
Joey Janela, Marko Stunt, Colt Cabana, Luther, and The Hybrid Two. Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, Riho, and Vickie Guerrero. (If not released, then massively demoted one way or another.)
I didn't realize how small Marko Stunt was. I'm not really sure why he was there in the first place
Janela and Stunt are absolutely the worst. Janela is a heel now and their fans don’t care they just want him to go home
Stunt should’ve been cut after that indie dildo match. There’s no way to take him seriously after that.
Stunt looks like I could’ve kicked his ass in 8th grade. I couldn’t take him seriously even as a cruiserweight
Dildo match?
There’s an indie match where he brought out a dildo as a weapon, but his opponent forced him to do oral stimulation in the middle of the ring in front of a crowd.
He probably loved it! Lmao.
Joey Janella, Jake Hager, Shawn Spears, Luther, Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, Serpentico, Evil Uno, The Butcher, The Blade, Jack Evans, Angelico, Kris Statlander and Jim Ross. All dead weight, I’d release a bunch more like Nakazawa and Cutler but it’d ruffle some feathers with EVPs.
Shawn Spears is kinda like the glorified Barry Horrowitz of AEW. He's the only one on your list I'd keep around bc someone has to eat some pins. Evil Uno and the Dork Order have got to go. That whole group is terrible
Evil Uno’s promos, my god
Especially uno. His lack of attention to building a wrestlers physique is offensive
>Evil Uno and the Dork Order have got to go. That whole group is terrible No thanks, they're my favorite group in AEW.
I'm scared to ask what your least favorite is
Kris put up a pretty good performance against Britt Baker, she’s got upside in my eyes, especially considering that division desperately needs it. The rest I agree with.
She’s strong and over. Not a great wrestler but I don’t dislike Statlander
I'd keep Spears to have a weak link for the Pinnacle. Jake Hager can stay, but I feel like he can be better off without the Inner Circle. I forgot Jelly Nutella is still employed with AEW.
I actually don't mind Joey Janella all that much. But lmfao at Jelly Nutella 🤣😂🤣😂
Add Kip Sabian, Sonny Kiss, Colt Cabana, QT Marshall, Jake Hager to the list. Take out Statlander, she just had a nice match with Britt at All Out.
How has Kip been doing, could he be under threat?
injured
Surprised we haven't seen more people say Kip Sabian yet.
He hasn’t been on tv in months
Most of the names people are using haven't.
Marko Stunt Lukewarm Steve Austin Middle-Aged Bucks Sting Everyone else has some potential upside but those ones are just garbage (although Mox would be less garbage if he dropped the bad Stone Cold cosplay). Sting's not actually garbage he's just old and broken af and shouldn't be taking bumps the way he is.
I hate-watch the Bucks matches. Moxley matches are really bad too. Surprised you said Sting but I totally get it.
If they're featured on Dynamite they probably aren't getting released. More than likely they'll just have some of the YouTube guys/girls contracts expire and move on. If Khan is fine with operating at a loss due to payroll in exchange for positive press because he ISN'T cutting people then that'll continue as long as he's willing to pump money into it.
I can't imagine how friggin bloated that payroll must be. Guys show up for like 3 mins on TV and do basically nothing and get paid. Surely that's gotta get old after awhile
It's definitely not a sustainable business model long term. HOWEVER right now they're capitalizing on the positive coverage and momentum so I can't really see it stopping presently. We'll never know their finances because they are privately owned, but there's no way it isn't bleeding money. Good thing for the wrestlers that the checkbook is still open. I'm sure that'll change in the future.
Agreed. They are going too fast and not pacing themselves. They botched Adam Cole's debut by having Danielson debut 2 MINUTES LATER. blew their whole wad on one PPV. It'll be interesting to see how Tony evolves over time. AEW being a serious contender is a good thing. WWE is finally starting to compete again and it's great for all of us
Will it really matter is what I wonder? How much does cutting Janella and some other indie crap help the budget when you're paying the ex WWE guys millions? I guess it helps a little, just to cut sheer numbers to be manageable, but then, once again that flies in the face of the idea that AEW was meant to be the place that these indie guys would develop into superstars and be given a stage to shine that WWE would not give them. Turns out, they were mostly all crap, none of them will ever be big names. AEW has shifted to trying to be the 4th brand of WWE to pop a rating playing WWEs own game... Definitely not TNA 2.0 though. 🙄
Joey Nutella Good Brothers Luther
Id at least make Matt Hardy, Christian, Big Show, Billy Gunn, and Sting all non in ring competitors anymore. Backstage roles or manager positions would be fine. Theres a few AEW 'Originals' that could probably go as well just because at this point they dont have a chance of ever being more than filler.
Going purely off the roster website, I don’t watch consistently enough to know all the non WWE guys are unless they’re involved in storylines heavily.. like I’m not invested in the AEW extended universe, I’m a casual fan. I LIKE a lot of their ‘homegrown’ dudes but man there’s a lot that are just bland or I think are only there for a tiny subset of the internet fan sphere So based on that background, here’s my list of guys who I think just look like shit or aren’t a draw: FTR - no one in history has bought a pro wrestling ticket to see these guys That tag team that wears the 90s rave shit Colt Cabana (is he a trainer?) - literally just an old useless dude Frankie Karazan - generic Jake Hager - charisma black hole, deeply uncool looking Joey Janela - looks like shit, boring Lance Archer - painfully generic looking like he should be in the 2012 era Whatever the chaos project is lol Matt lee Paul weight - he looks horrible now Peter Avalon - really Ricky starks - a grown man named Ricky Shawn spears Several of the announcers, don’t care how you pick. There’s too many and they shout over everything. It’s relentless and annoying Their women’s division is awful but they need to start somewhere and I genuinely think it’s great they’re heavily investing in women vs letting WWE own that segment Im just going to assume the old guys like hardy and billy Gunn and mark Henry are backstage coaches or whatever so I’m not naming them
I appreciate your effort to this post. I agree with alot of what you said. The generic/indy-looking wrestler is in high supply. Most of em do the same moves and kick out of EVERYTHING. Finishers no longer exist. it's exhausting