The importance of re-inventing yourself after leaving WWE

I read a comment that Dave Meltzer wrote after Dynamite last night on X. He mentioned how the Hurt Syndicate looked great and seemed like stars, but he also noted that there were way too many ex-WWE guys on the show. This got me thinking: maybe one of AEW’s problems right now is that a lot of the talent featured on television are ex-WWE wrestlers who haven’t yet shaken off the “WWE stench,” which could be turning fans away from the product.

Back in the ’80s and early ’90s, it was easier to go from WWE to somewhere else, or vice versa, because outside of WWE, not many companies had national TV deals—and even fewer had international ones. So when someone from WWE was released and went to WCW, the UWF, or another smaller promotion, they could often get away with doing the same things they did in WWE. For a lot of fans, it was just a shift in location when a wrestler left for another promotion; many fans didn’t know the other companies, so if they were able to watch, it was just another guy joining a different organization.

Today, with social media and the greater exposure WWE and other companies, including AEW, have, it’s really hard for talent to shake the “ex-WWE” label. That’s why it’s so important for wrestlers to reinvent themselves when they move elsewhere. Looking at the current AEW roster, there are around 20 ex-WWE wrestlers. Out of those, only about 5 have successfully shed the WWE association: Jon Moxley, Swerve Strickland, Toni Storm, Christian, and PAC. I wanted to include Miro, but I’m not sure if he’s still with the company, so I left him out. That’s roughly 1/4 of the talent pool. The rest still carry the WWE stench because they’re doing pretty much the same thing they did in WWE. Why would fans want to watch them do the same things in a smaller company if they weren’t interested when these wrestlers were in the major league?

To illustrate my point, let’s look at a few ex-WWE wrestlers who have joined AEW over the last five years.

Starting with FTR: a great team, but what’s the real difference between FTR and The Revival? Not much, aside from not being forced to do the lame comedy they did in WWE.

Next up is Claudio. What’s different between Claudio and Cesaro? Nothing, aside from winning more championships in AEW than in WWE. He’s still doing the same things.

Then there’s Chris Jericho. He used to know how to reinvent himself but seems to have started phoning it in as he got older. When he first left WWE, he found a way to reinvent himself with the Painmaker in Japan and later as “Le Champion” in AEW, leading the Inner Circle. That was great stuff and helped fans forget the Y2J persona from WWE. But when he dropped the Inner Circle to start a new faction similar to it, leaning more into WWE-style comedy, fans started turning against it. Now with the “Learning Tree” gimmick, which feels like a rebranded JAS with WWE-style presentation, fans aren’t interested.

This is just one example of wrestlers rehashing old material, hoping it’ll work in another company. Mercedes Moné and the Hurt Syndicate are also guilty of this in my opinion, which doesn’t help their perception.

Meanwhile, look at how Toni Storm and Christian have been able to reinvent themselves and become two of the hottest acts in AEW. Swerve Strickland has also become one of the biggest stars in the company because he reinvented himself. Fans are talking about them, not because they’re ex-WWE talent but because of what they’re doing in AEW.

In the end, WWE is the major league of pro wrestling. When casual fans talk about wrestling, they’re usually talking about WWE. If they didn’t like a wrestler or what they were doing in WWE, what makes you think they’ll like it more in AEW? That’s why it’s crucial to reinvent yourself when you show up in AEW or any other company with national exposure. Having a few ex-WWE wrestlers isn’t a problem, but when a lot of them are on your roster and featured on TV weekly, you risk becoming “WWE Lite,” making it harder to shake off the WWE association.