10 Major AEW Stars Who Publicly Savaged The Company
Big Swole and Joey Janela both buried AEW on the way out. Huge stars buried it while STILL there...
The received wisdom is that morale in AEW is high, whereas the morale in WWE is low.
Beyond Cody Rhodes and possibly MJF, the queue to jump to one promotion is a lot longer than the other. AEW offers creative license, a competitive salary, and a comparatively relaxed schedule. This take however feels increasingly of the past; with a ridiculously overstuffed roster and Excalibur running down next week's cards like an auctioneer, there's very little space into which, for example, Johnny Gargano and Cesaro can make an impact. Still, despite a colder critical reception to which the promotion is accustomed of late, AEW remains a harmonious enough promotion from the outside looking in. Murmurings suggest it's no longer "Ellis Island," amid rumours of a chaotic backstage atmosphere - but publicly, discontent has only been expressed by the lower rung performers, some of which have previous in the art of sh*t-disturbing.
Brian Cage believes he's under-pushed. Ivelisse alluded to a culture of "mistreatment". Joey Janela, speaking for himself and on behalf of Marko Stunt, claimed that AEW's communication was poor, echoing Big Swole. But these were outliers.
Or so you may think...
10. FTR
AEW has missed something with its ranking system.
Maths are fun. Permutations are fun. The thrill of the G1 Climax at its peak, beyond the daily blasts of world class action, was in tracing a path to the final and determining who would have to win, and how often, to reach it. For fans of certain Premier League football clubs, the rankings is all they have to apply meaning to their seasons. With the 40 point goal in sight, it's almost more rewarding to drop off at the halfway point than to coast into 9th. There's drama in the struggle, catharsis in overcoming.
Wins and losses mean something in AEW, insofar as watching wrestling matches on television isn't a complete waste of time, but Tony Khan has yet to explore the system to its fullest. Given the sheer amount of stars he must book for in 2022, the slow, compelling rise up the ranks arc may have begun and ended with Darby Allin. There's always been a loose and inconsistent quality to the rankings, which have never been sufficiently explained, and sometimes, they are disregarded entirely.
FTR miss out on this week's three way Tag Title ladder match despite being ranked at the top. Perhaps they should have hovered outside the Young Bucks' hotel room and put their case forward to match-maker Christian Cage.
Dax Harwood, making this SmackDown 2004-level booking very plain, tweeted "Lololololololololololol" in response to the Road Rager match announcement.