Why a return doesn't really matter outside of WWE Submitted by Josh Mansfield on 03/06/2021 at 05:42 PM
Why A Wrestling Return Doesn't Really Matter Unless It's in a WWE Ring
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Much ado has been made about Paul Wight, formerly The Big Show, announcing that AEW will be signing a “Hall of Fame-worthy” mega superstar to the company at the AEW Revolution PPV, with Tony Kahn letting it slip that it is a “he” and is one of his all time favorites. With that, the IWC rumor mill has been running on overdrive since Wednesday with everyone trying to figure out who it is, with multiple former superstars being interrogated by wrestling Twitter fans, and denying it at every turn (Punk and Batista being prime examples one and two), and some even teasing that it’s them (looking right at you Kurt Angle, Bully Ray, and Pat McAfee).
Now before I get into the depth of my article, allow me to do my own speculation on the possible names:
It won’t be any current Hall of Famer. Wight specifically said, “Hall of Fame worthy” so for it to be someone who is already in the Hall of Fame would really just seem like a big slap in the face. Granted, AEW is in itself a slap in the face to Vince and his cerebral son-in-law, but AEW can’t risk to troll their fans as much as WWE likes to.
It won’t be Brock Lesnar. Flat out. There is literally 0 way in which Vince will let Brock slip through his fingers. Whether we like him or not (I’m fine with him when he doesn't have a title around his waist that he keeps home for months at a time), Brock is money and Vince really likes money.
It won’t be CM Punk. Punk has already said no. The fact that Punk has already said that he’s over his former grievance of wanting to main event WrestleMania, and that is no longer a factor, I honestly doubt Punk would want to return to any “major” promotion. If anything, Punk would just do an indie show once in a while (he already technically has) if he wanted to come back.
It won’t be RVD. RVD is currently working on a WWE documentary. Signing with AEW would toss that out the window faster than The Rock burying Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32.
It could possibly be Christian, but I’m not going to put money on it. Despite the back and forth of him being under contract or not, with the latest word looking like not, there is really no conceivable way that Christian, having just been cleared and reuniting with Edge at the Rumble, would just turn around and leave Edge to go to AEW. Granted, AEW tried to get Edge at one point, but with The Rated R Royal Rumble Winner firmly planted in WWE, I don’t see Christian leaving that behind. If talks have fallen through, WWE will want to do what they can to resume talks. An Edge and Christian vs. The Usos feud is too good for WWE to pass up on. If it is Christian, though, I still won’t be terribly shocked, however.
And literally every other name under the sun has been thrown out there. There are some possibilities, don’t get me wrong. Jeff Hardy’s contract status could be up, but there is typically the 90 day no compete clause in a contract.
But honestly, at the end of the day: it really doesn’t matter who it is that AEW signs, cause no matter what, it’ll disappoint because a return doesn’t really matter much unless it happens in a WWE ring.
Now, let me get something clear before I get pelted with “So you’re saying that returning Superstars don’t matter at all and you’re insulting those wrestlers”. No. I’m not saying that at all. For wrestlers who have been out for many years, or who are returning from injury, their return does mean something very special. To them. And rightly and deservedly so. And as fans of those Superstars, we should, at the very least, feel happy for them. They worked hard to come back to the sport that they loved, no matter what capacity it’s in. But to the fans, a return or a signing to a company really won’t matter much in the long run, unless the name of the company on the contract reads WWE.
No matter what other companies will try to say, no matter their marketing techniques, no matter even the consensus of internet wrestling fan opinion and those that pander to them (*cough* Dave Meltzer), WWE will still continue to be the be all and end all top league. And that is because WWE has been made into a global multi million dollar media empire that's reach knows no bounds. Say what you want about Trips and Steph and their philanthropy and engaging with other charitable and wellness organizations, no one can say that it doesn’t continue to get the WWE name and brand out there. WWE has become so huge, they may not necessarily be the full monopoly that they had been for the better part of 20 years, but they are still the top dog in the yard, despite how many prop thrones Cody tries to smash with a sledgehammer.
Let’s look at a few examples of how a wrestling return outside of WWE didn’t matter.
The main one that gets talked about as proof of this is from 11 years ago, Monday January 4th, 2010 when TNA decided to go head to head with Monday Night Raw to see who could draw more with both shows having big returns/debuts. TNA had the debut of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Eric Bischoff while WWE had the return of Bret “The Hitman” Hart. WWE won easily in the ratings that night, even though it was a 3 on 1 mega star return. And why is that? Because no one really cares where major stars go unless it’s back to the WWE. No matter what fans or stars will tell you, the main place to end up in wrestling is the WWE. Even though AEW would have you believing otherwise.
Speaking of AEW, let’s take a look at them, shall we? While TNA used to be called the “New WCW” with how many former WWE stars they used to lap up at every opportunity (many of which eventually made their way back home to Titan Towers), AEW has been very quick itself to scoop up as many disgruntled former WWE stars as they can. Let’s take a look at just a few of them, shall we?
Cody and Brandi Rhodes
Chris Jericho
Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose)
Miro (fka Rusev)
Pac (fka Neville)
Jake Hagar (fka Jack Swagger)
Sting
Vance Archer
Taz
Matt Hardy
Billy Gunn
Arn Anderson
Dustin Rhodes (fka Goldust)
Jake Roberts
Tully Blanchard
Vickie Guerrero
Jim Ross
Paul Wight (fka The Big Show)
Now, while some of these names may have made their name in wrestling before going to WWE (Taz, Anderson and Blanchard), each of these names have been associated with WWE for some time. And yet, with all of those names, AEW still has not reached over a 1.0 TV rating for a night of AEW except a handful of times. And the reason is because it really doesn’t matter that AEW has all of those stars, because at the end of the day, it’s still not the WWE.
Those names may get someone to tune in once or twice, but that’s it. I’ll admit, I was a big Matt Cardona (fka Zack Ryder) fan. WrestleMania 32 was the very first WrestleMania that I got to watch live and I remember everyone thinking I was crazy for picking Ryder to win the Intercontinental Title. And then I remember almost jumping through my friend’s roof when he won the thing (sorry about your shaved head, Aaron). I remember being so sad when WWE let him go last year amidst their awful roster clean out during the start of the pandemic. When he turned up on AEW, I’ll admit, I got excited for a second. I went and watched his debut after I heard it happened and I watched the next AEW to see him wrestle. And that was it. Cardona has since signed with Impact and to this day I have not watched an episode of Impact in at least 7 or 8 years. Because wrestling in another promotion is not the same thing as wrestling in WWE.
Just because you are a big name or a known competitor in the big leagues doesn’t mean that following will follow you to the minor leagues. That doesn’t mean that I’m no longer a fan of Cardona, far from it. I’m still a big fan of his, I bought his one shirt when he was still a free agent, and follow him on social media. I am just not a fan of the company and product he is currently employed by. Now, if you are an indie darling on the other hand and you go to play in the big pond, your following typically does follow you as you go up the ladder to the WWE. Daniel Bryan and A.J. Styles have proved this better than anyone. And if one day they ever left for Daniel to return to Ring of Honor or A.J. to return to Impact, they may bring some fans with them, but at the end of the day, a return to one of those promotions doesn’t mean that those shows succeeded, it just means WWE stupidly failed to put pen to paper.
When Paul Wight was moved to the alumni section of the WWE roster without any fanfare or send off from WWE only to be announced as AEW’s latest signing only hours later, the IWC rightly exploded with shock. WWE letting a loyal assumed to be lifer go like that to a rival minor league company seemed ludicrous (and still does). But to say that it was the best thing for AEW since sliced bread is kidding yourself. So to whichever star it is that is debuting at Revolution, congratulations to you in your return to wrestling or debut in AEW. Good luck in your future endeavors! I still probably won’t be watching AEW.
Looking at people like Jericho, like Sting, like Cody, like Moxley and Miro on AEW, they’re still good wrestlers, but they do not have the star power that they did in WWE simply because they are not in the WWE. Did their debut/ return in AEW turn some heads? Yes it did. I’ll admit, this past year I gave AEW a chance and tried to watch it. But how many of those heads have since turned back like mine? If one day they decide to return to Raw, SmackDown, NXT, or a PPV then that will be far bigger than anything that they do in AEW. Because, like Vince’s theme song says, when push comes to shove, everyone else vs. WWE, everyone else has got “no chance in hell”.
