10 Wrestlers Who Were Critical Of AEW
8. Booker T
WWE's insane-pundit-in-residence Booker T has been one of AEW's more vocal critics since its 2019 launch, offering several critiques and unfavourable comparisons following episodes of Dynamite.
Like certain others on this list, it's easy to be cynical to his motivations beyond these being his actual thoughts, but this comparison to a former work place has at least so far not come to pass. Speaking on his podcast about the company signing a lot of new talents, the former World Heavyweight Champion said;
“Those guys (WCW) came in with contracts where they had creative control, they were paid more money than all of us guys that had been there all of those years. They jobbed everybody out, and had in their contracts where they couldn’t lose. I don’t think in return, we got what they got. I don’t know what’s going on with AEW or anything like that, but my thing is this: when AEW first started, I thought we were getting ready to see something new. I didn’t think we were getting ready to see a revamp of WCW, and I’m not knocking them or anything like that, but I thought we were getting ready to see The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and a group of these young guys that – I don’t know – felt like they knew a whole lot more about the business than the older guys, create something that these old guys had never seen before in their life. And now, we’re seeing everything the old guys have seen for the last thirty years.”
AEW's roster is at the point that some would consider overloaded, but the veracity of this specific take remains to be seen. And at present, the rotation actually keeps Dynamite and Rampage marginally fresher than the typically stale and stoic average week on Raw and SmackDown.