10 Best Times AEW Threw Shade At WWE
6. Jon Moxley Is A Different Breed Of Cat
It is imperative for AEW to differentiate its stars from their WWE days.
The argument is that these digs are unnecessary. The opposite is true in many cases; WWE's very, very patchy creative normalises or outright ruins so many of its talents. The stark fact of the matter is that AEW needs to promote stars. The most efficient, buzz-generating means of doing so is by burying their former employer for failing to maximise them; this way, the blame is shifted away from the performer, who is then perceived as this great renegade of limitless potential.
This approach invites a mythology to which they must live up. Jon Moxley has achieved that, proving that, in his specific case, WWE is a failing wrestling promotion in the strictest traditional sense, he has the tools to be a true superstar, and AEW has the nous to promote him as such. It's not petty, it's not unnecessary; it's invaluable PR.
On the fifth episode of Dynamite, Moxley adapted his post-WWE rhetoric for the TV audience and his feud with Kenny Omega by raging against a machine that, in storyline, was attempting to suppress his violent tendencies, in what was an obvious analogy of WWE, who patronised him with the "different kind of cat" tag.
He had been dealing with it "for years", he seethed, in an incredible promo that harkened back to those ace pre-FCW YouTube supercuts.