5 WWE Wrestlers Who Should Jump To AEW (And 5 Who Shouldn't)
Mustafa Ali, Cesaro, Andrade - who should become All Elite, and who might WWE actually book better?
AEW needs to be selective about which performers they sign next.
Every pro wrestler needs reps. The pandemic era renders this difficult. The Top Flight team of Darius and Dante Martin got over immediately, and while an injury suffered by Darius kept them out of the Revolution Casino Battle Royale, there simply isn't enough TV time around which to map their development. By shedding the grey t-shirt, Tay Conti has impressed considerably in 2021 - AEW has earned plaudits by encouraging her to work a style informed by her legit credentials - but how much better would she be if she was working top talent week in, week out?
Conversely, the paradigm that shifted in 2019 is already in flux. It's not quite as simple as previously thought.
"Under-utilised WWE star makes a mockery of the broken system" is not, in the case of Miro and Matt Hardy, the open goal Jon Moxley tapped in. Miro has potential to break out, and Hardy is a valuable behind the scenes asset doing some of the best promo work of his career, but it would be generous - or agenda-driven - to rave about that which they've brought to AEW. Neither man feels indispensable. Neither frames AEW as the utopia it once felt like.
Of course, there are certain wrestlers AEW would be daft not to make All Elite...
10. SHOULD - Chad Gable
Dax Harwood of FTR has recently alluded to the fact that this could well become an evident possibility.
Dax is a known rascal who loves to tease the idea of matches he can't possibly deliver - he recently labelled Edge and Christian "overrated" in character, hyping a dream match that will remain just that - but he let slip that Gable is unable to acknowledge him publicly for another "two months". He also, in response to a fan raving about the seminal Revival Vs. American Alpha match from TakeOver: Dallas, said "Maybe we should run this one back soon..."
Gable meets the AEW profile: as under-utilised as he is brilliant, he's a phenomenal tag team wrestler in a promotion that values the genre more than any other in history. A superb technician with a mind-blowing core strength, he grasps that which cannot be taught, and that's where this pitch transcends basic "good wrestler should work for good promotion" message board fan-casting.
With his gleeful love of puns and ability to pull fans into the emotional core of his matches, Gable is a perfect fit for the irreverence and warmth of All Elite Wrestling.