MR. TITO: WWE Wrestlers Upset with Vince McMahon? They Should Rethink Leaving and Joining AEW
“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side”. That’s a phrase that many “disgruntled” WWE wrestlers should realize if the return of Vince McMahon to an “expanded” WWE role offends them to the point where they’d want to exit the company. Worse yet, was your head in the sand for the past year? Vince McMahon was still in control and always has been as the #1 shareholder. Triple H and Stephanie are related to him and both aren’t fully qualified in their roles to operate without him. Trust me, he was calling shots from his couch from August through December, and then much of this year as Board Chairman.
So where ya gonna go if you leave WWE?
NWA? Barely any exposure.
Impact Wrestling? TV ratings are so small they don’t even make evening Cable TV charts.
New Japan Pro Wrestling? Enjoy that travel to another country, as it burns most wrestlers out.
Indy scene? I hope that you like wrestling dangerous hardcore matches.
Oh, and then there is that one promotion called All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
See, anytime that I write a WWE-based column here at NoDQ.com and usually when I rip that same company, I’m labeled an “AEW mark” and that I’d never say bad things about AEW. First of all, check out my Mr. Tito Column Archives at NoDQ as I’ve been crapping on AEW since I arrived in August 2020 and if you dig deep into the Internet Archives, you’d see that I’ve been ripping AEW since their 2019 Double or Nothing event (the “peak” of their company) at Lords of Pain. As much of a CM Punk fan and supporter that I have been (remember, I wrote that “CM Punk Was Buried” column during September 2011), I have been hesitant on his AEW run and my fears were confirmed when the Young Bucks and their stooges began their backstage and dirt sheets attacks.
I’m just going to be very open and honest with you… AEW SUCKS. It SUCKS hard. Why else would someone with a cushy Executive Vice President job named Cody Rhodes run the hell away from it? He’s just a wrestler in the WWE, but he had actual creative power and could have used that EVP title to build himself as a manager to go anywhere. Nope, he decided that the tougher WWE road schedule was more for him. AEW Dynamite can barely sniff 900,000 viewers at times and needs “surprise” gimmicks to even sniff being near 1 million.
While I like Tony Khan‘s enthusiasm, he’s NOT a good creative mind for wrestling and he has surrounded himself with current talents who don’t know how to get others over. All of his executive wrestlers work hard at getting themselves over and maintaining the jobs of their close buddies rather than the interest of the AEW company. AEW has bad creative and a roster full of guys who aren’t careful inside the ring. Botchamania, AEW Botches, and other places are having a field day with all of the botched moves, announcing, and production errors that AEW repeatedly has. As bad as the WWE’s creative can be, at least their wrestlers aren’t piling up the injuries and the production for WWE always looks tight.
Rumor has it that CM Punk may actually return, but I’ll predict to you that it will be MORE OF THE SAME. Young Bucks, Jon Moxley, and Chris Jericho struggle to look at the big picture for wrestling and would rather get into Social Media fights and shoot on each other in real life. For pro wrestling, your promoter needs to rule backstage with an iron fist and Tony Khan is ruling with his tiny bare hands. He has no balls and all of these current wrestlers walk all over him. I used to think that Dixie Carter was a weak leader, all about herself, and easily manipulated… Tony arrived and said “hold my beer”. He is a complete clown and that entire AEW locker room is laughing each time they cash their paychecks.
Where is that damn video game already? The one that has been in production for like 3 years and has caused AEW to actually be unprofitable? Oh yeah, you put non-video game programmer and lack of computer science degree Kenny Omega in charge of that and he has probably caused lots of extra work for the programmers to make his 6 year old video game wishes come true.
Sooooo… This is what you want to escape to from the WWE?
Sure, just go ahead and ask the many, many former WWE wrestlers who joined that AEW roster.
– Jim Ross – Great mind for talent and backstage operations, just used as an announcer.
– Chris Jericho – Good at first, but then reduced to a dancing segment and trying to defeat father time in the ring. I’m shocked that he hasn’t actually helped AEW grow more, based on how he always kept himself relevant and reinvented himself… Not yet translated in his new backstage role.
– Jon Moxley – Again, good at first but now has resorted to blading in every single match and against midcarders. Looks so bad.
– CM Punk – Signed up for the wrong environment for his personality, father time has also caught up to him.
– Bryan Danielson – Signed up for the wrong environment, especially given his past injury history.
– Miro – Come on with this one. Completely wasted.
– Matt Hardy – Love the guy, but the “Broken” gimmick was only fun in TNA and he has also joined an unsafe environment (those Sammy matches, ugh).
– Saraya – Women’s division is awful in AEW and injury history as Paige has limited what she can do against the weak division.
– Ruby Soho – Started off good, but just another wrestler. Also in an unsafe environment.
– Buddy Matthews – You’ve done OK, but not standing out just as seen in WWE too.
– Andrade – Fighting backstage, rumored to be out of his contract soon. Gee, WWE wasn’t so bad, was it?
– Christian – Been solid, but at an older age and in that high risk environment, injuries have happened.
– FTR – Oh my oh my… They just posted today that they have lost their last 5 AEW matches and may be wrestling their last match coming up. Young Bucks quickly disposed of them.
– Dustin Rhodes – He’s been solid, especially for his older age. Honestly, I wish he’d join Cody in the WWE and become a coach for the Performance Center. Guy can work and cut promos, which is what that center needs.
– Jake Hager – Why is he wearing that hat?
– Keith Lee – He somehow got worse than his WWE run. Looks like the NXT years were his peak.
– Adam Cole – Injury risks in that environment.
– Malakai Black – Where is he? Poorly used and then just disappeared, granted an early release.
– Sting – I’ve enjoyed his use in AEW, but he’s much older veteran who is limited on what he can do.
– Pac – Been decent overall, not earth shattering.
– Samoa Joe – Still looks like the older version of Joe. Father time caught up to him too quick.
– Athena – Had some issues injuring other talent, though I do like her aggression.
– The Bennetts – Eh, been OK there I guess. WWE really didn’t have much opportunity to use them together as intended.
And many, many others who have tried the AEW promotion. The AEW system either fails them or maybe, just maybe, Vince McMahon was correct in his assessment of them.
It’s very rare that ANY wrestlers, whom Vince McMahon let go early of their contracts, have succeed elsewhere.
So go ahead, ask for your WWE release. In fact, do the WWE a favor by not releasing you unexpectedly anyway. Once this Endeavor deal gets up and running, I have a distinct feeling that Endeavor will begin funneling declining UFC talent to the WWE to be reformed as pro wrestlers. That WWE Developmental System is going to be soon PACKED with former MMA fighters. The successes of Brock Lesnar, Matt Riddle, and Ronda Rousey is what Endeavor is going to model their burned out UFC fighters after, as someone like Conor McGregor can easily convert into a WWE talent once those UFC loses pile up. Because once you leave the WWE, this new Endeavor UFC pipeline to WWE will block you from ever coming back. The problem with the WWE is the lack of ex-athletes trying to become pro wrestlers lately, but this connection with UFC immediately solves that.
If I were a WWE wrestler, I would just put the nose to the ground and keep plowing. This Endeavor deal could be very financially lucrative, as it may result in a big boom of a new TV deal and the return of Pay Per View should boost wrestler paychecks. WWE and UFC can now cross-promote on each other’s shows, too, which will create more exposure and opportunity.
Thus, STOP sending your grievances to Dave Meltzer or the other insiders who want your gossip to sell newsletters or paywall subscriptions. Get on board with what could be a financial gravy train.
And let’s be honest about Vince McMahon… He’s going to SCREW UP again. He just issued almost $20 million in sexual harassment based payoffs and signed NDAs… Do you think that is the end of it? Those are just the incidents that came up. And do you think he can be a respectful guy around the office? NO! He’s gonna mess up again and Endeavor will probably terminate him down the road. As a wrestler, if you really want him out, then leak a valid incident that you know about to remove him from office. Stop crying to Dave about leaving the WWE and start telling us WHY Vince McMahon shouldn’t be running Creative or managing the WWE. Almost $20 million of payouts that we know about… Come on. If the female wrestler whom he messed with in the late 2000s would reveal herself and tell that story, Vince would be toast.
And Triple H is still there and not going home… If you have issues, go straight to him because if HHH walks away, WWE has a major perception issue.
AEW is a bad working environment… Unsafe, Tony is a bad leader, and they are 1 bad meeting in the Discovery/Warner Bros. offices from being financially finished. If AEW loses that TV deal, it’s over. All it takes is a bad injury or an unscripted promo that goes wrong, and AEW loses its TV deal. Looking at the Cable/Satellite landscape right now, there aren’t that many good places to go.
Tony Khan needs real help managing at the top and NOT from current wrestlers. He needs true business minds and wrestling veterans. More importantly, AEW needs someone to tell the younger wrestlers to STOP with the insane high risk moves in ever match. Not only is an injury risk, but doing it every show and within most matches waters down the effect these high risk moves could have.
AEW is a joke and should be much better. With this Endeavor deal, there is a chance that it could go bad and sadly, AEW doesn’t have the infrastructure to grow upwards and challenge WWE.
So just chill… till the next episode!