5 Ways AEW Has Changed Professional Wrestling For The Better
3. Out With The Old, In With The New
This year alone in the WWE, Goldberg has had two title shots. Edge has had the same and John Cena returned for a crack at the belt. As exciting as it may be to see some of these stars, think back to when they all debuted in the WWE.
For years, the WWE has treated the stars of yesteryear as a much bigger deal than the current crop. Dolph Ziggler rightly labelled it the ‘Gratitude Era’, where upcoming stars would rather cosplay as their heroes than try and become one themselves.
AEW has brought in legends but do any of them feel like they are taking the limelight from the new wave of stars? Chris Jericho was a great stalwart for the first title reign and has done brilliant work to bring through Sammy Guevara as well as looking up at the lights for Orange Cassidy and MJF. Hell, he even put Jungle Boy on the map in late 2019.
Bad faith takes are that AEW is full of ‘ex-WWE’ guys, but AEW has shown it can very capably make its own stars. They draw numbers, they elicit electric reactions from the crowd. In five years’ time, when the current crop moves aside, AEW has already created its next main event scene.
Legends can be used effectively. The work that Sting has done with Allin and Cage is currently doing with Jungle Boy is making the new guys look better, not as if they couldn’t lace their boots.