10 AEW Stars You Will NEVER See In WWE
6. Sonny Kiss
Authenticity is important to Sonny Kiss, who has been given a blank canvas to express himself on AEW television that might not exist in the world's biggest wrestling promotion.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated last July, the LGBTQ+ wrestler spoke on other promoters trying to turn him into Adrian Adonis or Goldust, adding that if he wasn't allowed to be himself, people wouldn't connect:-
“When I first started wrestling, people didn’t know what to make of me. “They wanted to make me like Adrian Adonis or even Goldust. But I wouldn’t have thrived doing that. It wouldn’t have been real, and people can see through fakeness. For me, I was either going to the top as myself or I wasn’t. I’m not a gimmick, I’m myself. I don’t want to do anything that isn’t real. LGBTQ+ people are more than what you’ve seen in the past as ‘gimmicks.’ People need authenticity, and I’m that for them. If you’re not authentic, how can people relate to you? I won’t change, I’ll always be me.”
Given WWE's history, if Kiss were to make the jump, he'd unquestionably be put in a position where his character was made out to be just that: a gimmick.
WWE has a track record for diminishing creative freedom for their performers, so Kiss' authentic character would be taken away, put in the hands of creative and turned into something he wouldn't want. That's why he won't ever make the move to Stamford.