AEW: Where Big Men’s Careers go to Die

By Christopher Connor

What do Big Bill, Keith Lee, Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs and Lance Archer have in common. They are all big men who can wrestle and have gotten over with the crowd.

And they are all either jobbing to much smaller men and being ignored in AEW.

One of the biggest facts in pro wrestling is that a good big man will usually do good business. Just look at some of the biggest box office draws and it will back it up. Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Big Van Vader, The Rock, Andre the Giant and more were all over 6’2 and weighed more than 220 pounds. Even guys like Kane, Big Show, Bam Bam Bigelow, Kevin Nash and Bobby Lashley drew good business simply because they could work, and they were the image of imposing.

But in AEW, Tony Khan has seemingly neutered his big men by having them loose or take a back seat to guys like Orange Cassidy. And its having a negative effect on not just the product but on all of the bigger men in AEW’s careers.

Key example is Wardlow who at first was positioned as AEW’s big bad monster. After finally turning face and then dispatching MJF, his career has stalled often being in minor feuds until finally losing his TV title to Luchasaurus and disappearing from TV.

Meanwhile Keith Lee went from being big time free agent signing to quickly being an afterthought on AEW. Powerhouse Hobbs has been reduced to being stuck in catering as an afterthought. And Big Bill is basically a glorified gatekeeper/jobber to the stars.

Tony has fallen too much in love with a lot of smaller wrestlers who look like they would be the water boys for an NFL team. Indy darlings who are the size of high school juniors are allowed to beat up guys who are 6’9 and 280 lbs.

It’s not just unbelievable but also insulting to wrestling fans who want to have some feeling of believability. As much as people hated Roman Reigns as a babyface, you knew looking at him that he could handle himself if he was in a real fight. You couldn’t see him losing to a guy like Enzo or Drew Gulka. Same with Brock Lesnar and trying to have him lose to Ricochet or Rey Mysterio.

But Tony Khan has done that putting Hook (6’0 200 lbs) against Big Bill (6’9 280 lbs) and having Hook beat him. How that is even considered semi believable is beyond crazy and shows how bad big men have it in AEW.

Impact Wrestling showed that Big Bill could be a star and when he did loose to a guy like Eddie Edwards, it was because of the use of steel chairs and other plunder. Same with guys like Moose, Steve Maclin and Bully Ray who are all much bigger than 90 percent of AEW’s roster. But once Big Bill went to AEW for more money and exposure, he quickly went from big deal to almost an after thought in a month.

Once must wonder how long Wardlow and Powerhouse Hobbs will stay with AEW before jumping to WWE. You must believe they have seen guys like Jinder Mahal and Baron Corbin get bigger and longer pushes and feel that is their future.

Until then… AEW is going to treat the talented big men as if they are Willy Coyote and smaller wrestlers are the Roadrunner.

Its utterly depressing and shows how much Tony has failed big wrestlers.

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