# only 40% of the aew roster have been revealed so far



## patpat (Feb 17, 2019)

https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1160639448318709765

thoughts? 

personally it was a shock to me, it means we haven't even seen half of their roster and in the same thread cody does confirms that they do have some big guys and heavyweight guys but they haven't been released. 

while we knew not all their roster was revealed this percentage is quite shocking. 

earlier this week I also saw some kind of Mexican journalist say that aew is still hiring heavyweights guys who are heading there. 
thoughts guys?


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## Erik. (Mar 17, 2014)

I don't think it's that much of a shock.

I'm sure he's probably including those he can't legally confirm for now as they are contracted elsewhere but probably given word that they'll be signing for AEW as well as those they're willing to bring through on television who 95% of the worlds population probably haven't heard of therefore didn't need any big deal being made via Twitter or via YouTube etc.

Wardlow for example. He's signed yet they haven't confirmed anything and they're probably waiting for weekly television to start so they can just have him destroy some jobbers. No one knows who he is though so no point making him seem a big deal before he's signed. Let the audience make their mind up when shows start etc.


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## Illogical (Sep 28, 2017)

Can't wait to see "The Big Guy"!


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## Aedubya (Jul 12, 2019)

Only 40%!!
There is no way that only a weekly 2hr show will suffice 

I think they will hit the ground running with 2x shows weekly and havnt announced it yet.....


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## TD Stinger (May 9, 2012)

Feels like an over exaggeration.

They've got just a 2 hour weekly show. They've got 8 real tag teams plus more that you can put together, around 10-15 women on the roster, a good mix of top stars and unknowns, plus their agreements with OWE and AAA.

And that's less than half your roster? If that's true, it sounds like overkill for a 2 hour weekly show.


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## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

As I said in the other thread, the best approach would be to rotate who they use each week. If they actually have as big of a roster as Cody claims, they should leave a handful of their top guys off the show entirely during certain weeks so as to not overexpose them.

Going to two shows would be a bad idea.


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## Chan Hung (Dec 28, 2011)

Holy fuck!!! 40 percent only. I wonder who the 60 percent are? And do they have them locked up waiting or is it more of a prediction


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## patpat (Feb 17, 2019)

i do think they need a better midcard tho. the current one isn't extremely strong. so their main event and uppercased + their tag team is great so far. but their women division and midcard needs work
it'll be interesting to see tho


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## ThenWo/WCW (Jan 8, 2014)

I have feeling .. big cass Will come to AEW


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## LifeInCattleClass (Dec 21, 2010)

More tags - men and women

More hosses - couple of heavyweights - couple of part timers

I can see it.

60% is an over exaggeration though - has to be


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## Soul Rex (Nov 26, 2017)

Hopefully, as this current roster is pure garbage.

In fact I would be mad if wasn't like that.


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## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

Probably an exaggeration, but I assume most will be jobbers which is needed. How many will actually matter is the real intriguing part


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## Joe Gill (Jun 29, 2019)

very surpriing if true simply because they are doing few shows. Only about 2 shows a week..just over 100 a year. You dont need a large bloated roster when you dont have 5 hours plus of weekly tv and multiple touring house shows. 

Keep the roster slim and get rid of most of the mediocre trash.


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## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

A lot more women for sure - Ivelisse, Teal Piper and Jazz likely all signed. IIRC they need five more women still to get to 21 for the CBR. 

Three more tag teams would be six more hires as well. 

Also I wonder if they signed jobbers to a certain level of deal. 

No way they have 40+ more wrestlers not named yet. But I could see upwards of 20. Five more women, 6 more tag wrestlers and nine singles men. 

Rusev seems to be likely, Scurll likely. Is he counting PAC? Wardlow is known. What about non-exclusive deals with some AAA talent? Enzo and Cass is a real possibility as nZo's mouth aimed at WWE would be a fun thing. LAX are free agents. Jake Hager unfortunately. When does Cobb's contract expire?


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## Raye (Jul 23, 2018)

ThenWo/WCW said:


> I have feeling .. big cass Will come to AEW


Honestly, I feel like he's learned some hard life lessons since WWE, and he's been busting his ass off. I'd welcome giving him an opportunity.


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## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

Raye said:


> Honestly, I feel like he's learned some hard life lessons since WWE, and he's been busting his ass off. I'd welcome giving him an opportunity.


AEW road schedule would be better for his mental health as well. I don't think you bring him in without nZo though. 70 shows a year means you could sleep in your bed 5 nights a week. 

I know it sounds so little, but NHL and NBA teams play 82 games a year and some lesser players playing time is 5 minutes a game in the NHL and NBA players 10-15 often get the same or don't play at all - just suit up and ride the pine. 

Players also play half their games "at home" and all their road travel is handled by the team chartering planes and the like and they have an off-season.


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## taker1986 (Sep 14, 2016)

40%? Jesus, they already have close to 50 on their roster, if this is right that would be over 110 they would have plus the partnerships with other promotions. That's WWE size roster if this is accurate.


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## Black Metal (Apr 30, 2018)

40%?

Don't bloat the roster.


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## Bosnian21 (May 27, 2019)

*Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

https://twitter.com/codyrhodes/status/1160639448318709765?s=21

So more than half the roster hasn’t even been revealed yet according to Cody. I wonder who else they have in store?

A few easy guesses based off following closely:

Wardlow (name was on the whiteboard in a vid; he follows AEW, Cody, etc. on twitter)

Marty Scurll (obviously friends with the Elite)

Pac (should be rejoining now that he lost the Dragon gate title)

Someone from AAA?

Etc.


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## Blisstory (Apr 22, 2019)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

The hottest free agent at the end of the year is going to be Tessa Blanchard. I believe her contract is up at the end of 2019. Both AEW & WWE are going to want to add her. Tessa to WWE could beef up an already talented roster. Tessa to AEW can give AEW a legit face/backbone to their womens division. Will be interesting to see where she goes.


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## Stetho (Aug 3, 2015)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

As much as I want to see some more cool AAA characters, I hope the rest of the roster is more of serious type wrestlers. The roster is kind of "gimmick-heavy" at the moment for a company that allegedly wanted a serious sports-type approach.


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## Death Rider (May 18, 2011)

I hope they don't sign too many guys. One problem with wwe is they have too many people to juggle talent wise


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## Aedubya (Jul 12, 2019)

Doesn't make sense, how would they all got into 2hour weekly programming ?


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## Miss Sally (Jul 14, 2014)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

I hope the rest isn't terrible.


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## Daggdag (Jun 14, 2011)

It makes perfect sense. They already have a partnership with AAA. So a good number of guys will likely tour Mexico.

They are also going to allow their wrestlers to freely work the indies, as long as they don't appear on tv, dvd, webcast, PPV, etc. 
So there might be a few guys who appear mostly as jobbers or at house shows, and then work more on the indies as well.



DetroitRiverPhx said:


> AEW road schedule would be better for his mental health as well. I don't think you bring him in without nZo though. 70 shows a year means you could sleep in your bed 5 nights a week.
> 
> I know it sounds so little, but NHL and NBA teams play 82 games a year and some lesser players playing time is 5 minutes a game in the NHL and NBA players 10-15 often get the same or don't play at all - just suit up and ride the pine.
> 
> Players also play half their games "at home" and all their road travel is handled by the team chartering planes and the like and they have an off-season.



If AEW brought in Enzo, I would never watch them again.

He is a talentless bum. He has almost no real training, and has hurt people, including himself, because of this. He also is a complete asshole who refuses to take responsibility for his own BS and instead blames everyone else.

And I'm pretty sure AEW is gonna end up running about 160 shows a year once they get everything set up. 

That includes 4 PPV's, 52 weekly tv spots, and 104 house shows ran twice a week. 

And that's not including any special PPV/Supercards shows that they run aside from their main 4 PPV's.

That goes up to 168 shows if they choose to run a full 12 month PPV schedule.


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## Miss Sally (Jul 14, 2014)

If they're doing it like a sport maybe people are only there 3-6 months out of the year.'

Like if you're in a hot story line you're active for X amount of time.

If not then you get time off, can compete other places until needed.


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## Tag89 (Jul 27, 2014)

yes, but how many of those will get used?

unless they're using a rotation system

i.e a month or 2 a time for a storyline then disappearing


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## Chris JeriG.O.A.T (Jun 17, 2014)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

Hopefully all the interesting talent are in that other 60% because aside from Jericho, MJF, Spears and Darby Allin there's nobody else I see myself getting invested in.


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## LifeInCattleClass (Dec 21, 2010)

Daggdag said:


> If AEW brought in Enzo, I would never watch them again.
> 
> He is a talentless bum. He has almost no real training, and has hurt people, including himself, because of this. He also is a complete asshole who refuses to take responsibility for his own BS and instead blames everyone else.


All of this.... is what i thought until i started watching clips of his shoot interview on youtube

Changed my opinion of him by some margin


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## Necrolust (Mar 4, 2015)

If this means we will not be subjected to the same main event guys on every show, that is great news. That’s death for WWE; they don’t have enough interesting stuff for their top tier talent with that much exposure.

I hope this means storylines for all people in AEW.


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## 304418 (Jul 2, 2014)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

Just be careful bloating the roster. AEW is in a good spot with a 2 hour weekly show.


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## Saintpat (Dec 18, 2013)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

CM Punk is the other 60 percent or we riot!


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## FrankAndersson (May 26, 2019)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

Jake Hager please.


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## Ohoh (Jan 24, 2019)

Blisstory said:


> The hottest free agent at the end of the year is going to be Tessa Blanchard. I believe her contract is up at the end of 2019. Both AEW & WWE are going to want to add her. Tessa to WWE could beef up an already talented roster. Tessa to AEW can give AEW a legit face/backbone to their womens division. Will be interesting to see where she goes.


Womens wrestling sucks and still isn't over.


You see, Vince sold half of his company well technically 49%. He has to meet the demands of the cable companies and the stock owners. They are the ones forcing him to push the left wing agenda down our throats.

No matter how hard they along side Stephanie McMahon have pushed, the real fans of wrestling have resisted.

Its why RAW's rating are the worst they have been since 1993, because of people like you. THANKS ALOT

It would appear women's wrestling is over on the wrestling forums because, well we all know what kind of people usually spend their days on wrestling forums. Same kind of sexually frustrated people who spend alot of time in anime. No Alexa Bliss doesn't want to sleep with you because you bought her t-shirt, she likes alpha guys who are hairy and muscular and can man handle her and show her who's boss. It's why she dating that Buddy Murphy guy.


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## Erik. (Mar 17, 2014)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

Yeah, as mentioned before, I assume this includes everyone on non-exclusive contracts who may come in here and there for television or perhaps a PPV event. Also includes those who are currently contracted elsewhere but have probably given their word that they will be joining once contracts are up (Marty for example) and then those who have been signed but are so low profile that they haven't announced them via social media or on YouTube so they come across as unknown guys they can build from scratch when live television comes about (Wardlow for example).


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## Aedubya (Jul 12, 2019)

Orange Cassidy then
Does he even wrestle?


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## Fearless Viper (Apr 6, 2019)

I doubt that. I think it's more how they have 60% more wrestlers they want to sign and are just waiting for their contracts to run out imo.


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## TripleG (Dec 8, 2004)

Interesting...


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## Ohoh (Jan 24, 2019)

That's not a good idea.


Sign 10 - 15 more guys max

3 tag teams, 5 women wrestlers, CM PUNK for sure, Teddy Hart come the fuk on do it for the controversy.


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## bradatar (Mar 30, 2015)

ThenWo/WCW said:


> I have feeling .. big cass Will come to AEW


plz bring Zo


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## Beatles123 (Jan 26, 2010)

Ohoh said:


> That's not a good idea.
> 
> 
> Sign 10 - 15 more guys max
> ...


But Teddy's clean now and doing great. :aries2


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## Blisstory (Apr 22, 2019)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*



Ohoh said:


> Womens wrestling sucks and still isn't over.
> 
> 
> You see, Vince sold half of his company well technically 49%. He has to meet the demands of the cable companies and the stock owners. They are the ones forcing him to push the left wing agenda down our throats.
> ...


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## Chan Hung (Dec 28, 2011)

Well Cody after signing that piece of non-redeemable garbage Cassidy I hope you can sign somebody decent because he's going to make your company look even more Bush League


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## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*



Chan Hung said:


> Well Cody after signing that piece of non-redeemable garbage Cassidy I hope you can sign somebody decent because he's going to make your company look even more Bush League


Wait you aren't trolling lol


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## SPCDRI (Mar 15, 2010)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

"We've only revealed 40 percent of our roster!"

Last two signings are Marko Stunt and Orange Cassidy, lol. 

Maybe we don't want to see the other 40 guys.


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## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*



SPCDRI said:


> "We've only revealed 40 percent of our roster!"
> 
> Last two signings are Marko Stunt and Orange Cassidy, lol.
> 
> Maybe we don't want to see the other 40 guys.


Ivelisse was a good signing. Jazz can still go even at 45yo and is good depth and experience. Teal Piper seems to be a bit of a gimmick hire - but we'll see what their plans are with her.


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## SPCDRI (Mar 15, 2010)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

Okay, of all of that, Ivelisse I think is the only person that makes them a penny. We'll see. for the men, I think its going to be what the OP said for a minimum and I am seeing Big Cass work with more and more AEW people at more and more dates, wonder if they are thinking about bringing big cass in?


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## Chan Hung (Dec 28, 2011)

RapShepard said:


> Chan Hung said:
> 
> 
> > Well Cody after signing that piece of non-redeemable garbage Cassidy I hope you can sign somebody decent because he's going to make your company look even more Bush League
> ...


Lol....nope..not a fan of him but still hopeful AEW doesnt sign other fools like him again


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## Daggdag (Jun 14, 2011)

LifeInCattleClass said:


> All of this.... is what i thought until i started watching clips of his shoot interview on youtube
> 
> Changed my opinion of him by some margin


I don't give a flying fuck how good he is on the mic. He's still worthless, and DANGEROUS in the ring. He doesn't take ring work and in-ring safety serious, and he blames others for his fuck ups. Ask Simon Gotch what it's like working with Enzo. He's very clear that he has no respect for people like Enzo who don't take the dangers of pro wrestling seriously, and many other wrestlers agree, and have said numerous times that they will never work with Enzo.



Beatles123 said:


> But Teddy's clean now and doing great. :aries2



He may be drug free, but he's still a peice of shit who doesn't take the business serious. 

He refuses to sell. 

He pulls stupid stunts on people without telling them and has almost killed more than one person because they weren't repared for a spot he attempted. 

He's just plain dangerous to work with. 

And play 90% of the people who work with him end up hating his guys because of how much of an egotisical asshole he is.


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## LIL' WINNING FOOT (Sep 21, 2004)

A likely exaggeration to keep the hype going into the TNT show. Definitely not 40%.

That said, I do believe more talent have been signed or have agreed verbally or otherwise that they are planning to sign but some of them are tied up with a contract from other promotions. Once the TNT show kicks in, we'll likely see those talent spread throughout the show.


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## patpat (Feb 17, 2019)

WINNING said:


> A likely exaggeration to keep the hype going into the TNT show. Definitely not 40%.
> 
> That said, I do believe more talent have been signed or have agreed verbally or otherwise that they are planning to sign but some of them are tied up with a contract from other promotions. Once the TNT show kicks in, we'll likely see those talent spread throughout the show.


 I know they have two big guys signed, one is warlow ( who is being trained by Lynn and Billy gunn) and the other one is a Mexican power house ( reported by a Mexican journalist on twitter but he said he cant reveal the name if I remember well). they also have not reveal the full potential of the women division according to omega who said he has much more cards up his sleeves and take it with a grain of salt but I have seen some very cryptic interaction between good ol Jr and fatu ( a young samoan) he already teased going to aew on twitter and lately again teased on twitter about being all in and Jr responded to him ( forgot the answer). they also have interest in Jacob fatu ( weird that we haven't heard of him yet, wwe didnt sign him yet even tho he is free). the common thing between all those guys is that they are heavyweights. even the young bucks said we haven't seen every performer from the tag division. 
again like cody said on the jr podcast, he very well understand the importance of big guys and heavyweights and he has been working on scouting them for months. 
people might end up surprised when their full roster looks a lot more different, I won't understimate those guys, they are smart.


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## LIL' WINNING FOOT (Sep 21, 2004)

I suspect many women and big hosses are going to be signed moreso than anyone else. They need to flesh out the roster a bit in that regard.


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## 304418 (Jul 2, 2014)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*



Ohoh said:


> Womens wrestling sucks and still isn't over.
> 
> 
> You see, Vince sold half of his company well technically 49%. He has to meet the demands of the cable companies and the stock owners. They are the ones forcing him to push the left wing agenda down our throats.
> ...


It’s not left wing. It’s trying to protect the company from being seen as backwards and bush league, and not with the times in the mainstream. Or did you forget about women main eventing UFC, you know, the place where all the Attitude era fans are supposed to have went?

Can’t believe I’m being made to defend WWE here. fpalm
---
On topic, expanding on my thoughts further; yeah, it’s understandable if they have a large roster. If they’re going to run G1 style tournaments in the future, then yeah they’ll need a big roster. If they’re going to swap talent in an out to give them a break, it’s also important. It’s just important that they don’t have too many talents, although I don’t get the sense that the roster is gonna balloon to 200 people like was the case with WCW. They just don’t need put themselves in a position where they need to extend it to a 3 hour weekly show, even if they can manage a 3 hour weekly show far better than the other company.


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## TheDraw (Jun 27, 2019)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*

Judging by Cody's track record so far.......I dont jave high hopes.


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## Le Duff Fluffer (May 12, 2014)

who else do you think is part of the roster from WWE? Any huge huge legends?


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## Beatles123 (Jan 26, 2010)

Le Duff Fluffer said:


> who else do you think is part of the roster from WWE? Any huge huge legends?


Stick to fresh talent.


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## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

I wonder if Texano is the Mexican powerhouse. I know he tried to make it in LU to get American exposure but didn't catch on in any appreciable way. He then was in the ring teaming against Cody at AAA's recent Triplemania appearance. 

I think Rusev is pretty likely as well - something is definitely up with him sitting out these last months. I know the official story is he asked for time off, but I don't think he would have did it if WWE would just add time on the end of his deal. So it's more likely that he refused to re-sign and they took him off television rather than try to job him out or embarrass him on his way out as fans are too smart to that now. 

I'd like to bring in Jeff Cobb as well. 

These guys are more the big men type I'd like to bring in - the squat power base types. Given the size of the AEW roster I'd be wary of bringing in guys like Cass or Hager - 6'7" muscled up types because they're too big in comparison to the current top guys main eventing AEW.


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## patpat (Feb 17, 2019)

DetroitRiverPhx said:


> I wonder if Texano is the Mexican powerhouse. I know he tried to make it in LU to get American exposure but didn't catch on in any appreciable way. He then was in the ring teaming against Cody at AAA's recent Triplemania appearance.
> 
> I think Rusev is pretty likely as well - something is definitely up with him sitting out these last months. I know the official story is he asked for time off, but I don't think he would have did it if WWE would just add time on the end of his deal. So it's more likely that he refused to re-sign and they took him off television rather than try to job him out or embarrass him on his way out as fans are too smart to that now.
> 
> ...


maybe, I also thought of Texano. we do know he is Mexican tho because it was from a Mexican reporter if I remember well. Jeff cob is also someone I thought about, cob Jacob fatu ( wwe didnt pick him yet...it's weird I think aew took him), and I also think rusev. Dave seltzer did say they could get him if they want. his contract is up soon. 
i also know Jr is in contact and probably recruited S.Fatu , he isn't a "big" guy as we see it but I think he got a food size.


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## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

Jacob Fatu is currently the MLW champion - I have to believe he's still signed there. He only signed with them this year and debuted in February, so in the very least I'd assume he's there until the early new year. Contra Unit did recently add a new member, maybe they're doing so with the knowledge Fatu is a sure goner when his contract is up as there will be a bidding war for him and MLW obviously can't compete moneywise.


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## Lethal Evans (Dec 18, 2013)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*



TheDraw said:


> Judging by Cody's track record so far.......I dont jave high hopes.


DON, Fyter Fest, FFTF all huge failures.


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## reyfan (May 23, 2011)

If so it's another step to being WCW 2.0 with a bunch of guys with no room for them to all be featured but all being paid a shit ton for the sake of it, I hope this report is false.


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## patpat (Feb 17, 2019)

DetroitRiverPhx said:


> Jacob Fatu is currently the MLW champion - I have to believe he's still signed there. He only signed with them this year and debuted in February, so in the very least I'd assume he's there until the early new year. Contra Unit did recently add a new member, maybe they're doing so with the knowledge Fatu is a sure goner when his contract is up as there will be a bidding war for him and MLW obviously can't compete moneywise.


 yeah, mjf was with mlw too and had a double contract until his contract was up. they seem to have a good relationship with MLW. we will see how it turns out, rikishi already teased on twitter once about both wwe and aew being interested in his boy lol. 
anyway my point is aew could very well secure him even tho he is with mlw by putting him on a contract like they did with mjf and wait until his contract expire to give him a full aew contract. the fact that they can let their guys do indy is an advantage here, if mlw hands them fatu and he becomes a huge deal he will still be able to work the Indies times to times and hence go back there and boost their numbers. I think that was their reasoning with mjf..


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## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

Signing could be to non-exclusive deals. AEW is running two shows a week, with the idea if you work one you probably won't work the other. So there is a lot of time for their talent to work elsewhere if they choose. 

Could be US/Canada exclusive, no US television/stream, AEW right to first refusal on dates type contracts. This could be their "developmental" of sorts - scout indie talent that might not be ready yet and sign them to modest money deals that gives them enough to be able to wrestle full time largely while staying in the indies, but used on AEW television on occasion to also increase their name brand to charge more on the indies. 

Now for this type of contract to work AEW would need to have a right to match stipulation whereby at the end of this type of deal they could retain the wrestler on a full time deal rather than being poached into NXT.


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## Britz94xD (May 17, 2019)

Maybe he means that CM Punk is 60% of the star power of the entire company, which would be kinda true.


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## TheDraw (Jun 27, 2019)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*



MrEvans said:


> DON, Fyter Fest, FFTF all huge failures.


I mean when it comes to roster additions. The ppv's where fine so far.


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## Lethal Evans (Dec 18, 2013)

*Re: Cody: “We’ve revealed about 40% of the roster. Sometimes it’s better to let the painter paint and then judge the picture.”*



TheDraw said:


> I mean when it comes to roster additions. The ppv's where fine so far.


Omega, Bucks, Cody, Moxley, Jericho, Hangman. Yep. Not stars at all.


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## validreasoning (Jul 4, 2012)

According to wiki there are 50 men and women on aew roster. In comparison Raw has 55 men and women and SD 50.

So numbers wise that makes no sense. 40% suggests there is 80 people still to be unveiled bringing roster to 130, much bigger than raw/SD combined yet far less tv to produce and unlikely to be six houseshows weekly like WWE


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## RKing85 (Mar 22, 2010)

no way they have only announced 40%. They have enough for a weekly 2 hour show already. 38 men and 12 women according to wiki.

I would think that is closer to 80% maybe. No way it can be only 40%.


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## LongPig666 (Mar 27, 2019)

As long as Joey Ryan is in that 60%, I will be happy!


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## the_flock (Nov 23, 2016)

Le Duff Fluffer said:


> who else do you think is part of the roster from WWE? Any huge huge legends?


Cody has said they want new stars, not old ones when someone mentioned not getting Goldberg to him, he said its 2019.


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## the_flock (Nov 23, 2016)

LAX
Enzo & Cass
The Revival

Marty Scurll
Rusev
Jeff Cobb

Sasha Banks
Tessa Blanchard
Lana

I know Cody said no to older talent, but with Matt Hardys contract being up at the end of the year, I can see them ringing him in to creative/part time role.

Then there are people who are seemingly retired like Ryback, CM Punk, The Bella Twins etc who could potentially be available.

Don't forget they also have people like DDP, Jake Roberts, Tully Blanchard who are working with them, they could count towards the roster.


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## looper007 (Dec 20, 2014)

I be shocked if they sign many more onto their roster with a two hour show and a few ppv's a year, not many will be seen a lot of TV time. So I can't see many joining the ranks, maybe it's over a few year period with them signing on more names.

I think you might see a few more Joshi's joining the women's division and maybe another one or two American indie women talent.

Maybe another tag team or two like LAX. Probably a big name or two over the next two or three years maybe.

I can't see them bringing in more names over the next few PPV and shows.

I expect a debut or two at All Out. Maybe a debut or two on their first couple of TV shows. But I be surprised after that we see any more names debut unless they are top notch indie talent or big names from WWE Roh, NJPW or Impact.


----------



## Reggie Dunlop (Nov 2, 2015)

RKing85 said:


> no way they have only announced 40%. They have enough for a weekly 2 hour show already. 38 men and 12 women according to wiki.
> 
> I would think that is closer to 80% maybe. No way it can be only 40%.


Do you really want this to be like WWE where you see the same handful of people in the same matches week after week? I don’t. I’m up for some variety. I’m fine with not seeing a favorite for a few weeks, especially if it means getting different people, different styles, and different matchups every week. Variety is how you avoid over saturation, which is just one of the many problems with that other promotion.


----------



## Morrison17 (Feb 16, 2013)

Cause it works so well for WWE.

To have more wrestlers that you can fit in storylines on TV every week.


----------



## Stellar (May 30, 2016)

AEW is already showing a good size of a roster on their website now. Like over 40 wrestlers. Imagine that only being 40%. If they signed 60% more, that would be overkill for a 2 hour weekly show. Even if they rotate the roster, that would be too much talent to satisfy and get their moneys worth from.

I'm sure that AEW will grab some talent out there eventually that are currently signed elsewhere but if the 40% thing is true and they do have 60% more of the roster planned to still reveal then a ton of the lower card guys will suffer from it. Guys that are not well known and want to be used, but aren't because eventually the upper card guys want to be used more. That will happen if what Cody says is true.

That is why I have been saying for awhile that AEWs roster is already full of talent.

WWEs problem is putting on the same matches with the same guys/women every week. Mysterio vs. Andrade for example. AEW can avoid that with only a 40 person roster easily. Just don't book Moxley vs. Spears or Young Bucks vs. SCU on every show for a month like WWE would do.


----------



## MoxleyMoxx (Sep 24, 2012)

I think some of you might be taking what he said a bit too literally. There might be a ton of signings that haven't been announced yet, but I doubt it's anything close to 60.


----------



## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

the_flock said:


> Cody has said they want new stars, not old ones when someone mentioned not getting Goldberg to him, he said its 2019.


Which is why Jericho has a good chance of being their first champion lol. Cody is a promoter now, like Dana White and Vince McMahon take his words with a grain of salt.


----------



## the_flock (Nov 23, 2016)

RapShepard said:


> the_flock said:
> 
> 
> > Cody has said they want new stars, not old ones when someone mentioned not getting Goldberg to him, he said its 2019.
> ...


Jericho has never stopped, he's been an active wrestler for 20 + years. Goldberg had a decade off.


----------



## CRCC (Sep 25, 2017)

If the rest 60% are wrestlers like Cassidy or Stunt I'll start getting worried.

But it can't be right? Right?


----------



## Natecore (Sep 16, 2013)

Reggie Dunlop said:


> Do you really want this to be like WWE where you see the same handful of people in the same matches week after week? I don’t. I’m up for some variety. I’m fine with not seeing a favorite for a few weeks, especially if it means getting different people, different styles, and different matchups every week. Variety is how you avoid over saturation, which is just one of the many problems with that other promotion.


That’s such an interesting take for prowrestling. Very much more of a UFC mold than established American tv booking. I don’t think AEW would completely abandon a wrestler for a month plus but I’m not opposed to the idea.

Definitely have to have a big roster for this model. Also required to have a bunch of different wrestlers over because if somebody’s Favorite isn’t on a show and they see a bunch of dudes they don’t like it’s easy to start grumbling.


----------



## Natecore (Sep 16, 2013)

RapShepard said:


> Which is why Jericho has a good chance of being their first champion lol. Cody is a promoter now, like Dana White and Vince McMahon take his words with a grain of salt.


It’ll be interesting to see if this is true or if Cody breaks with tradition and actually shows some honesty behind his words. 

I’ll give him the benefit so far and not think he’s 100% working me.

Or maybe Tony is supposed to be the honest promoter and Cody can lie directly to us.


----------



## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

Natecore said:


> It’ll be interesting to see if this is true or if Cody breaks with tradition and actually shows some honesty behind his words.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think they'll both be a mixture of both. In business and promoting sometimes you just have to lie. Whether it's something small like keeping a surprise under wraps or lying to protect themselves from something they did bad or wrong


----------



## imthegame19 (Oct 12, 2008)

the_flock said:


> Jericho has never stopped, he's been an active wrestler for 20 + years. Goldberg had a decade off.


Plus Jericho can still put on decent 15-20 minute matches with right guys. He's more on level of Triple H who can still wrestle at older age. Then say Goldberg who has 2-7 minute matches.


Let's keep in mind that Triple H was champion at 47 still. While Goldberg was also champion just two years ago as well lol. If Jericho wins the title he will be champ at 48-49. 


I know everyone assumes Jericho winning the title and he very well could. But trying to push younger guy is exactly why he might not. Especially we are all under estimating how high Cody and everyone are on Page. Having him beat Jericho then put in a long feud with someone like Moxley. Might be there way of making him a big star. I guess we will have to wait and see.


----------



## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

the_flock said:


> Jericho has never stopped, he's been an active wrestler for 20 + years. Goldberg had a decade off.


"But Jericho's been an active wrestler for 20+ years" is a terrible argument to use to dispute my point. The fact that Cody and Tony have Jericho who'll be a 30 year vet next year in position to be the first AEW champ just burns away the idea they won't use old names. Especially older names with a name. I mean they gave Glacier a spot in the Battle Royale and brought in Tully Blanchard. They clearly aren't above using old names in places they think make sense.


----------



## NXTSUPERFAN (Oct 19, 2018)

imthegame19 said:


> the_flock said:
> 
> 
> > Jericho has never stopped, he's been an active wrestler for 20 + years. Goldberg had a decade off.
> ...


I prefer a page win, but I also feel a Seabiscuit vs MJF fued is just sitting there ripe for the picking, as is a Jericho vs Cody fued. I would prefer the later have the title involved


----------



## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

Jericho is winning because TNT wants him to be the champion heading into the TV show. It's really as simple as that.


----------



## Erik. (Mar 17, 2014)

AEWMoxley said:


> Jericho is winning because TNT wants him to be the champion heading into the TV show. It's really as simple as that.


Where's your source for that?


----------



## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

MJF said:


> Where's your source for that?


Dave Meltzer.


----------



## Erik. (Mar 17, 2014)

AEWMoxley said:


> Dave Meltzer.


And can you share?


----------



## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

MJF said:


> And can you share?


It was a tweet from a couple of months ago. I'm not going to go search for it, but I'm sure he's spoken about it in his newsletter, among other places, as well.


----------



## Stetho (Aug 3, 2015)

They've put themselves in a pretty bad position with this title match imo. Page is far from ready to be a World Champion even if they're trying really hard at the moment, and Jericho well, you can't deny he's an old vet way past his prime. 
Overall I think they're lacking potential top guys in their roster right now. Page, MJF and co aren't ready for a big main event scene and on the other hand it seems they're reluctant to give a strong push to Cody or Kenny regarding their company status. I hope they have some surprises up their sleeves.


----------



## Erik. (Mar 17, 2014)

AEWMoxley said:


> It was a tweet from a couple of months ago. I'm not going to go search for it, but I'm sure he's spoken about it in his newsletter, among other places, as well.


Okay.

Thanks for nothing then.


----------



## ceeder (May 10, 2010)

Stetho said:


> They've put themselves in a pretty bad position with this title match imo. Page is far from ready to be a World Champion even if they're trying really hard at the moment, and Jericho well, you can't deny he's an old vet way past his prime.
> Overall I think they're lacking potential top guys in their roster right now. Page, MJF and co aren't ready for a big main event scene and on the other hand it seems they're reluctant to give a strong push to Cody or Kenny regarding their company status. I hope they have some surprises up their sleeves.


They’re putting the title on their most recognizable asset to non-hardcore fans. 

Why is that so hard to accept?

We all know the state Jericho is in ring-wise, but he’s still a great promo. He has TNT history. He is known to the casual fans. He adds legitimacy to the title right off the bat. 

It’s the most logical move the company could possibly make.


----------



## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

MJF said:


> Okay.
> 
> Thanks for nothing then.


I don't see why it's so hard to believe. Jericho and Moxley are their top two biggest names. Jericho has the overall biggest fanbase, because he was in the top of the card during the most watched era of pro wrestling. Of course TNT would want Jericho to be the first champ, not only due to his star power, but because a heel champ with a babyface chasing him is generally a storyline that draws well.

Moxley will likely be the one who takes it off of him, for similar reasons.

After that, they'll start giving title reigns to guys like Omega, MJF, Cody, etc., once they've established a solid casual following.


----------



## americanoutlaw (Jul 13, 2012)

are they going to signed Lt.Dan???


----------



## Ger (Jul 20, 2018)

Cautious with the 40%. It is just a number thrown by Cody and the other 60% will also contain jobbers, managers, valets, etc.


----------



## Erik. (Mar 17, 2014)

AEWMoxley said:


> I don't see why it's so hard to believe. Jericho and Moxley are their top two biggest names. Jericho has the overall biggest fanbase, because he was in the top of the card during the most watched era of pro wrestling. Of course TNT would want Jericho to be the first champ, not only due to his star power, but because a heel champ with a babyface chasing him is generally a storyline that draws well.
> 
> Moxley will likely be the one who takes it off of him, for similar reasons.
> 
> After that, they'll start giving title reigns to guys like Omega, MJF, Cody, etc., once they've established a solid casual following.


Because it's more logical to believe Jericho wins the belt because he's a big name and because he's established. As opposed to TNT wading their nose in and wanting HIM to be champion and essentially booking a wrestling show.


----------



## Raye (Jul 23, 2018)

Cody is right in regard to one aspect, let the painters paint the picture. I wouldn't be overly concerned about the state of their roster until after we've gotten through the PPV after All Out.


----------



## greasykid1 (Dec 22, 2015)

It's not surprising at all.

They will reveal people as the shows air, keeping that feeling that something new and unexpected can happen on any given episode. It's the way that RAW and SDL should be run. Announcing literally everything weeks in advance kills ratings.


----------



## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

MJF said:


> Because it's more logical to believe Jericho wins the belt because he's a big name and because he's established. As opposed to TNT wading their nose in and wanting HIM to be champion and essentially booking a wrestling show.


They aren't forcing them to put the title on him, but they do have input. I'm positive that AEW realizes themselves that they have to go with Jericho as their first champ.


----------



## Erik. (Mar 17, 2014)

AEWMoxley said:


> They aren't forcing them to put the title on him, but they do have input. I'm positive that AEW realizes themselves that they have to go with Jericho as their first champ.


I bet they're pleased with Dragon Gate for denying AEW the PAC/Omega title match we were supposed to have at ALL OUT.


----------



## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

MJF said:


> I bet they're pleased with Dragon Gate for denying AEW the PAC/Omega title match we were supposed to have at ALL OUT.


I certainly am. PAC is trash, and that would have been a horrendous main event.


----------



## Dat dude Savage (Aug 15, 2019)

AEWMoxley said:


> I certainly am. PAC is trash, and that would have been a horrendous main event.


Agreed, never liked the guy


----------



## Erik. (Mar 17, 2014)

AEWMoxley said:


> I certainly am. PAC is trash, and that would have been a horrendous main event.


So TNT didn't have a say then.. 

Thought not.


----------



## Reggie Dunlop (Nov 2, 2015)

Raye said:


> Cody is right in regard to one aspect, let the painters paint the picture. I wouldn't be overly concerned about the state of their roster until after we've gotten through the PPV after All Out.


This, but don’t stop at the state of the roster. I wouldn’t be concerned about anything - including story lines and who goes over whom - until we’re at least a few months into weekly tv. I guarantee people are going to be bitching about match results after All Out because they’re programmed to WWE’s 3-week PPV cycles. People need to wait and see how they all play out. Some stories will be quick hitters, some may take a few months to develop before we see where they’re going.


----------



## Stetho (Aug 3, 2015)

ceeder said:


> They’re putting the title on their most recognizable asset to non-hardcore fans.
> 
> Why is that so hard to accept?
> 
> ...


If you want your belt to be prestigious, it's not the obvious choice to put it on a 50 year old wrestler. 
My reference for prestigious title will always be the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Tanahashi is younger than Jericho, he was arguably way more important than him, but he's still off the title picture. 
I'm not saying Jericho is bad and they shouldn't have signed him. He's here. He's gonna be on TV, he's gonna put some eyes on the product, that's good enough. I don't think having him as your n°1 guy is the best move.


----------



## Natecore (Sep 16, 2013)

AEWMoxley said:


> Jericho is winning because TNT wants him to be the champion heading into the TV show. It's really as simple as that.


He’d be my first AEW Champ anyways.


----------



## La Parka (Oct 28, 2008)

they need bigger dudes. 

they really should sign a guy like Ryback.


----------



## Kaz (Aug 2, 2006)

Just had a look at their roster page. Mathematically, if 40% are revealed thus far and there are 60% left to be revealed, this would mean that there should be a total of about 80-90 men and 25-30 women wrestlers on the roster. The only way this could be possible is if they bloat their roster and have half or more of them barely show up, which would be a toal waste.


----------



## Jazminator (Jan 9, 2018)

Lance Hoyt said:


> Just had a look at their roster page. Mathematically, if 40% are revealed thus far and there are 60% left to be revealed, this would mean that there should be a total of about 80-90 men and 25-30 women wrestlers on the roster. The only way this could be possible is if they bloat their roster and have half or more of them barely show up, which would be a toal waste.


I get the feeling that most of the remaining 60 percent are wrestlers/managers/valets/announcers that will have "loose" contracts with the company. In other words, these wrestlers are free to perform for other smaller companies, but will be locked in AEW during certain weeks or months.

This way, AEW will be able to keep their talent rotating and almost have a "territory" feel to it, with wrestlers coming in and out of the company. There will be your constant presences, of course (Cody, Bucks, Omega, etc.), but this will help the rest of the roster avoid burdensome travel schedules like the WWE has. So it will be more wrestler-friendly that way.


----------



## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

Stetho said:


> If you want your belt to be prestigious, it's not the obvious choice to put it on a 50 year old wrestler.
> My reference for prestigious title will always be the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Tanahashi is younger than Jericho, he was arguably way more important than him, but he's still off the title picture.
> I'm not saying Jericho is bad and they shouldn't have signed him. He's here. He's gonna be on TV, he's gonna put some eyes on the product, that's good enough. I don't think having him as your n°1 guy is the best move.


Agree with you 100%, obviously Jericho is the most well known name. But having 50 year old Dad bod Jericho as your first champ is just not a great decision. He has a place, but at the top of the roster shouldn't be it at this point especially as first champ. First champ should've been someone in the prime of their career like Omega, Cody, or Moxley.


----------



## Reggie Dunlop (Nov 2, 2015)

RapShepard said:


> Agree with you 100%, obviously Jericho is the most well known name. But having 50 year old Dad bod Jericho as your first champ is just not a great decision. He has a place, but at the top of the roster shouldn't be it at this point especially as first champ. First champ should've been someone in the prime of their career like Omega, Cody, or Moxley.


All I gotta say to all this is, they have to start somewhere. It's gonna be Jericho or Page. They'll hold the title for awhile, and then it will be somebody else. Then somebody else after that. Any prestige will come from how that belt is won and lost, and by whom.


----------



## TD Stinger (May 9, 2012)

To add to the Jericho/Hangman debate honestly neither guy is the best option to be their 1st World Champion.

Hangman I just don't believe to ready to be THE GUY in a promotion and Jericho is a guy who will always be known as the WWE guy. But if I had to pick I still go with Jericho just because I think he would be a more interesting champion. And Hangman can be built in the future.


----------



## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

Reggie Dunlop said:


> All I gotta say to all this is, they have to start somewhere. It's gonna be Jericho or Page. They'll hold the title for awhile, and then it will be somebody else. Then somebody else after that. Any prestige will come from how that belt is won and lost, and by whom.


They have to start somewhere, but this is a bad choice either way imo. Not company killing or anything, but bad. They should've just pivoted to Moxley vs Omega for the title


----------



## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

Jericho will maybe defend the title three times before losing it. Jericho beat Austin and Rock on the same night. He's a legit legend in the business that is still active. Hopefully the AEW champion work schedule can hide him away and he can go with the idea I might not be able to bring it every night, but on any given night I can still be the best in the world. 

I think original plan was Omega vs PAC for the title in Chicago. I wouldn't be surprised if they hotshot the title onto Moxley quickly to be honest. I hope they don't, but it wouldn't be terrible. As soon as the Philly television date. 

I'd go Jericho vs Page in Chicago, Jericho/Page II in Philly, Jericho/Cody at next PPV and then Jericho vs Moxley where you put the title on Mox. Omega's redemption storyline could go through Jericho on the undercard, and then culminate vs Moxley down the line. I might leave the title on Moxley for a year though if he can stay hot. I'd have Omega earn his eventual title shot against Mox via winning a G1 style tournament to be #1 contender.


----------



## Bosnian21 (May 27, 2019)

DetroitRiverPhx said:


> Jericho will maybe defend the title three times before losing it. Jericho beat Austin and Rock on the same night. He's a legit legend in the business that is still active. Hopefully the AEW champion work schedule can hide him away and he can go with the idea I might not be able to bring it every night, but on any given night I can still be the best in the world.
> 
> I think original plan was Omega vs PAC for the title in Chicago. I wouldn't be surprised if they hotshot the title onto Moxley quickly to be honest. I hope they don't, but it wouldn't be terrible. As soon as the Philly television date.
> 
> I'd go Jericho vs Page in Chicago, Jericho/Page II in Philly, Jericho/Cody at next PPV and then Jericho vs Moxley where you put the title on Mox. Omega's redemption storyline could go through Jericho on the undercard, and then culminate vs Moxley down the line. I might leave the title on Moxley for a year though if he can stay hot. I'd have Omega earn his eventual title shot against Mox via winning a G1 style tournament to be #1 contender.


I like the overall idea of the title picture in that Jericho has a solid reign, loses the belt to Moxley. Moxley has a few solid defenses of his own before facing Omega for the title, who has rebuilt his credibility over several months time. 

Personally, I’m not sure I’d go with Jericho-Page II. I may go straight to Jericho-Cody for the next PPV while we have Jericho-Page as the title defense on TV.


----------



## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

Bosnian21 said:


> Personally, I’m not sure I’d go with Jericho-Page II. I may go straight to Jericho-Cody for the next PPV while we have Jericho-Page as the title defense on TV.


That's what I meant with Jericho v. Page II - They announced a World Title defense on the October 16th show. I either go a rematch there with the stip being if Page loses he can't fight for the title for a calendar year, or Moxley vs Jericho where I could see Mox taking the title. 

Moxley will beat Omega, and I assume Spears will beat Cody via nefarious means. Spears will have pinned Allin and Cody. Mox beats Spears in Boston on Oct 9th. So Mox would have beat Omega, Janela and Spears (who beat Cody and pinned Allin). Best case for a #1 contender if Page doesn't get a rematch. 

How much does Jericho want to work? If Omega/PAC was the original plan, than Jericho was supposed to lose to Omega at DoN. Makes me wonder if Jericho is just taking one for the team in a way when the original plans fell apart. Only two wrestlers could have won the title - Omega or Jericho IMO when plans were set. Mox came a bit after and is the wildcard. 

Jericho has outside interests and I also suspect he doesn't have the desire to keep himself in "world champion" shape. He can still be very valuable as undercard guy who finds a muse to feud with and then writes his own program for it and otherwise come and go as he pleases.


----------



## shandcraig (Mar 23, 2008)

People need to stop with this age issue. Nothing is wrong with a 50 year old being your first champion. Especially when people stop worrying about age and start thinking about what makes sense story wise and character. Jerichos character makes perfect sense right now to be the champion. I assume he will win clean but just hardly and at some point he will create a heel stable which will drive a storyline for probably at least 2 years. Biggest asshole int he company winning and holding the belt for a long time with a bunch of assholes to join him.It makes perfect sense,Not page. Page is epic and will be epic but he dont need a belt now.


People always forget that they dont just pick someone for the sake of it, This is not TNA thinking week to week. AEW has stated they have a while into the future planned for storylines

And ya most likely the tv show championship match will be a rematch and page will get screwed but lose clean at the ppv


----------



## the_flock (Nov 23, 2016)

Jericho will be the first AEW champion, then Moxley, then it depends if they get Punk or not. I think Omega will be a slow burn, think he will take a lot of losses, before building himself back up. I reckon Cody will be in the tag division, until they make a secondary title.

There's a rumour that Rey Mysterio is joining in the spring when his WWE deal is over too.


----------



## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

shandcraig said:


> People need to stop with this age issue. Nothing is wrong with a 50 year old being your first champion. Especially when people stop worrying about age and start thinking about what makes sense story wise and character. Jerichos character makes perfect sense right now to be the champion. I assume he will win clean but just hardly and at some point he will create a heel stable which will drive a storyline for probably at least 2 years. Biggest asshole int he company winning and holding the belt for a long time with a bunch of assholes to join him.It makes perfect sense,Not page. Page is epic and will be epic but he dont need a belt now.
> 
> 
> People always forget that they dont just pick someone for the sake of it, This is not TNA thinking week to week. AEW has stated they have a while into the future planned for storylines
> ...


No bruh it's stupid no matter how you want to slice it. A lot of the energy backing it is about supporting the younger wrestlers and wanting to see them shine instead of watching stars from yesteryear shine. Jericho being the first champ spits in the face of that. Jericho is just lucky he's always been a hardcore fan favorite because most will let him slide. 

The first champion going into TV being dad bod old man Jericho who's lost several steps is just silly and a bad look. Folk get on WWE all the time about building up legends instead of the faces of tomorrow and the same standard should be held to AEW. They can reap the benefits of having a vet and star like Jericho the title. 

Old man Jericho holding the title long and getting a stable is just underwhelming for a company thats supposed to be the rebels doing things different from the machine.


----------



## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

RapShepard said:


> No bruh it's stupid no matter how you want to slice it. A lot of the energy backing it is about supporting the younger wrestlers and wanting to see them shine instead of watching stars from yesteryear shine. Jericho being the first champ spits in the face of that. Jericho is just lucky he's always been a hardcore fan favorite because most will let him slide.
> 
> The first champion going into TV being dad bod old man Jericho who's lost several steps is just silly and a bad look. *Folk get on WWE all the time about building up legends instead of the faces of tomorrow and the same standard should be held to AEW.* They can reap the benefits of having a vet and star like Jericho the title.
> 
> Old man Jericho holding the title long and getting a stable is just underwhelming for a company thats supposed to be the rebels doing things different from the machine.


WWE is an established company that peaked at 7-8 million viewers at the height of its popularity. They didn't need to bring back legends to increase product awareness or attract casual fans. All they needed to do was to continue putting out an entertaining product, which they've failed to do in recent years, as the plummeting ratings and attendance indicates.

AEW is literally a brand new company who hasn't been on TV in front of a big audience yet, and hasn't had an opportunity to build up their young stars yet. The way you do that is by first attracting a wider casual audience, by using your biggest names in the most prominent spots on the card. Having two guys that no one knows feuding for the world title doesn't make them stars if no one is watching.

Also, Jericho is going to be a full time member of the roster as champion. The legends in WWE are all part timers.


----------



## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

I'm convincing myself to the idea that Moxley wins the title in Philly. He'll need to drop the NJPW title he currently has though before. 

Jericho wins and does all the mainstream media stuff (which he's very comfortable at) between AO and for the first couple weeks of the television launch and them BOOM Moxley wins the title in Philly. 

Jericho was the brand name, the only NA one AEW could get their hands on early, but Moxley is hot as hell right now and well known himself in NA. 

AEW will have the titles on Moxley, Penta/Fenix and Shida to best maximize their outreach to establish marketshare.


----------



## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

AEWMoxley said:


> WWE is an established company that peaked at 7-8 million viewers at the height of its popularity. They didn't need to bring back legends to increase product awareness or attract casual fans. All they needed to do was to continue putting out an entertaining product, which they've failed to do in recent years, as the plummeting ratings and attendance indicates.
> 
> AEW is literally a brand new company who hasn't been on TV in front of a big audience yet, and hasn't had an opportunity to build up their young stars yet. The way you do that is by first attracting a wider casual audience, by using your biggest names in the most prominent spots on the card. Having two guys that no one knows feuding for the world title doesn't make them stars if no one is watching.
> 
> Also, Jericho is going to be a full time member of the roster as champion. The legends in WWE are all part timers.


If Jericho is this big name that's going to draw in viewers he'll do that belt or not. He can still be a big part of the show without being the world champion. I wouldn't have a problem with the Jericho thing if he was Moxley or even Spears age. Hell even him being in shape probably would've helped more. But I can't imagine most folk are going to turn in see a fatter slower Jericho than they remember and think positive things. This move just reminds me more of when you see a regional promotion flyer and they've dragged in some old out of shape legend to try and sell extra tickets. Now obviously Jericho isn't that shitty, but still.


----------



## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

RapShepard said:


> If Jericho is this big name that's going to draw in viewers he'll do that belt or not. He can still be a big part of the show without being the world champion. I wouldn't have a problem with the Jericho thing if he was Moxley or even Spears age. Hell even him being in shape probably would've helped more. But I can't imagine most folk are going to turn in see a fatter slower Jericho than they remember and think positive things. This move just reminds me more of when you see a regional promotion flyer and they've dragged in some old out of shape legend to try and sell extra tickets. Now obviously Jericho isn't that shitty, but still.


Wrestling fans don't think like that. They just want to be entertained, and Jericho is one of the best entertainers in the business.

The reason you put the belt on him is because the champion receives top billing and is advertised above everyone else. That's how it should be for a guy who is one of your top two stars by a wide margin. If you put the title on someone like Page, and still advertise Jericho to the extent that they do now in order to attract viewers, it would just outshine whatever is going on in the title picture. That's a bad look for the title. You don't want it to take a back seat right out of the gate.


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## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

Isn't Tiger Woods still the biggest television audience draw by a wide margin? That guy is broke down and missing cuts all the time. 

But he also won the Masters.


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## CHAMPIONSHIPS (Dec 14, 2016)

RapShepard said:


> No bruh it's stupid no matter how you want to slice it. A lot of the energy backing it is about supporting the younger wrestlers and wanting to see them shine instead of watching stars from yesteryear shine. Jericho being the first champ spits in the face of that. Jericho is just lucky he's always been a hardcore fan favorite because most will let him slide.
> 
> The first champion going into TV being dad bod old man Jericho who's lost several steps is just silly and a bad look. Folk get on WWE all the time about building up legends instead of the faces of tomorrow and the same standard should be held to AEW. They can reap the benefits of having a vet and star like Jericho the title.
> 
> Old man Jericho holding the title long and getting a stable is just underwhelming for a company thats supposed to be the rebels doing things different from the machine.


AEW's ENTIRE ethos, the CORE thrust of their spirit is that "we are the fresher, more innovative alternative to the WWE". 

So logically put your first world championship on a 50 year old WWE legend right :lmao 

I'm a massive Jerichoholic. Grew up watching every stage of his career, how could I not be? And still love his work and current gimmick. 

But there's ZERO justification for him being champion. The only argument is that he'll "bring eyes to the product" 

Can I say this loud and clear: CHRIS JERICHO DOES NOT NEED TO BE WORLD CHAMPION TO BE A DRAW. You can market Chris Jericho just as much whether or not he's champion. He can be on just as many posters, do just as many interviews, he'll draw exactly the same whether or not he has the belt. He doe not need the belt to be one of their drawing names

It just seems like a hairbrained move. I really hope they put it on Page. If nothing else, a young and relatively unknown wrestler grappling with instant legend status could create some compelling and incredibly fresh stories 

And its a shame those are their best options when the logical and best thing to do would have been to have a heel Omega vs Jon Moxley your first world title program. That was like the biggest match in the world outside of the WWE, for the title of Ace in a new company where many people expected Omega to be Ace but then you have an even brighter star jumping ship - it was perfect. 

Not going with that match was a MASSIVE cock up 

I hope AEW succeeds but by making Y2J they lose any and all high ground to the WWE and earn all the equivalency comparisons that will follow


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## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

Communist Anti-capitalist said:


> Can I say this loud and clear: CHRIS JERICHO DOES NOT NEED TO BE WORLD CHAMPION TO BE A DRAW. You can market Chris Jericho just as much whether or not he's champion. He can be on just as many posters, do just as many interviews, he'll draw exactly the same whether or not he has the belt. He doe not need the belt to be one of their drawing names
> 
> It just seems like a hairbrained move. I really hope they put it on Page. If nothing else, a young and relatively unknown wrestler grappling with instant legend status could create some compelling and incredibly fresh stories
> 
> I hope AEW succeeds but by making Y2J they lose any and all high ground to the WWE and earn all the equivalency comparisons that will follow


If you're marketing Jericho just as much, but you put the title on Page, who no one knows, you're telling your audience that whatever Jericho does is more important than your top title. Your top title immediately takes a back seat to Jericho right out of the gate. That's a horrendous idea. Putting the title on Page will always be a bad idea, because the guy sucks, but it's even worse if he's your first champion.


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## CHAMPIONSHIPS (Dec 14, 2016)

AEWMoxley said:


> If you're marketing Jericho just as much, but you put the title on Page, who no one knows, you're telling your audience that whatever Jericho does is more important than your top title. Your top title immediately takes a back seat to Jericho right out of the gate. That's a horrendous idea. Putting the title on Page will always be a bad idea, because the guy sucks, but it's even worse if he's your first champion.


I didn't say market Jericho MORE than the champion. You market him just as much as you want and you make sure you market the champion (and others) just as much too.

Dear God, now if the vision is Jericho as the sole face on all the marquees this shit really will be dead lmao


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## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

Communist Anti-capitalist said:


> I didn't say market Jericho MORE than the champion. You market him just as much as you want and you make sure you market the champion (and others) just as much too.
> 
> Dear God, now if the vision is Jericho as the sole face on all the marquees this shit really will be dead lmao


Why would you market a completely unknown guy like Page, who on top of being unknown, isn't very charismatic either, as much as you would market Jericho? That would be terrible for business. You promote your biggest names more than anyone else (Jericho and Moxley) which is exactly what they've done so far, and rightfully so. That's how you develop a large audience. Then, once you have eyes on your product, you build up the younger guys.

And by the way, MJF is by far the best choice to build up, given that he's actually charismatic and can cut a promo.


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## CHAMPIONSHIPS (Dec 14, 2016)

AEWMoxley said:


> Why would you market a completely unknown guy like Page, who on top of being unknown, isn't very charismatic either, as much as you would market Jericho? That would be terrible for business.


Because Page would be your world champion, because you would be stupid to put a world title on someone and not promote the hell out of them. But you would ALSO be stupid to put your belt on an aging WWE guy. So you take the lesser of two evils and you stay IN-BRAND and if your brand is fresh alternative to WWE then you DON'T put your world title on an OLD WWE wrestler because that is fucking stupid 



> You promote your biggest names more than anyone else (Jericho and Moxley) which is exactly what they've done so far, and rightfully so. That's how you develop a large audience. Then, once you have eyes on your product, you build up the younger guys.
> 
> 
> And by the way, MJF is by far the best choice to build up, given that he's actually charismatic and can cut a promo.


Sure. Here's what your failing to realize - MJF isn't in the title match. Moxley isn't in the title. Moxley in the match would make sense. Omega would make sense. UNFORTUNATELY we are STUCK with two shitty choices and that's Jericho and Page. And UNFORTUNATELY Page is the only choice that doesn't take a massive Vince McMahon shaped dump on the spirit of AEW 

So now the only thing that makes sense is Page. So UNFORTUNATELY they need to elevate Page earlier than they should and promote him alongside Jericho and all the others. 

Jericho winning the belt isn't going to bring EXTRA eyes to the show, so stop saying that. All they need is his face on a poster


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## AEWMoxley (May 26, 2019)

Communist Anti-capitalist said:


> Because Page would be your world champion, because you would be stupid to put a world title on someone and not promote the hell out of them. But you would ALSO be stupid to put your belt on an aging WWE guy. So you take the lesser of two evils and you stay IN-BRAND and if your brand is fresh alternative to WWE then you DON'T put your world title on an OLD WWE wrestler because that is fucking stupid


Which is exactly why you don't put the title on Page.

What does "in-brand" mean? Jericho and Page have been part of the AEW roster for the same amount of time. We're not talking about some life long AEW guy having to put over some newcomer from a different promotion. This is a brand new company, and Page doesn't have a longer history in the promotion than Jericho does.



> Sure. Here's what your failing to realize - MJF isn't in the title match. Moxley isn't in the title. Moxley in the match would make sense. Omega would make sense. UNFORTUNATELY we are STUCK with two shitty choices and that's Jericho and Page. And UNFORTUNATELY Page is the only choice that doesn't take a massive Vince McMahon shaped dump on the spirit of AEW
> 
> So now the only thing that makes sense is Page. So UNFORTUNATELY they need to elevate Page earlier than they should and promote him alongside Jericho and all the others.
> 
> Jericho winning the belt isn't going to bring EXTRA eyes to the show, so stop saying that. All they need is his face on a poster


Page, even at 29 or however old he is, is still a much worse option than Jericho. One is an entertaining and charismatic guy who can cut a promo and has a big following, and the other is not.


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## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

AEWMoxley said:


> Wrestling fans don't think like that. They just want to be entertained, and Jericho is one of the best entertainers in the business.
> 
> The reason you put the belt on him is because the champion receives top billing and is advertised above everyone else. That's how it should be for a guy who is one of your top two stars by a wide margin. If you put the title on someone like Page, and still advertise Jericho to the extent that they do now in order to attract viewers, it would just outshine whatever is going on in the title picture. That's a bad look for the title. You don't want it to take a back seat right out of the gate.


Page nor Jericho should've been champ. Omega or Cody if not them Moxley. But you can still promote Jericho without outshining the champ. The even funnier part is this Jericho vs Page program is already taking a major back seat to Moxley vs Omega and Cody vs Shawn Spears of all people. I mean can anybody honestly say it's the match they're looking forward to the most?



Communist Anti-capitalist said:


> AEW's ENTIRE ethos, the CORE thrust of their spirit is that "we are the fresher, more innovative alternative to the WWE".
> 
> So logically put your first world championship on a 50 year old WWE legend right :lmao
> 
> ...


You get it lol. Like obviously you need to use a Jericho and his name value while you can. Page vs Jericho for the title was a real serious fumble as it's not even really a match folk are looking forward to. The best choice like you said would've been Omega vs Moxley or Cody vs Moxley/Omega. It's obviously not a death blow or anything. But Jericho being your first champion really fails to live up to the "the attitude era is over, it's about the stars of today" spiel.


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## Jeripunk99 (Oct 16, 2017)

the_flock said:


> LAX
> Enzo & Cass
> The Revival
> 
> ...


No way the Bellas go anywhere other than WWE...not that anyone wants to see them anyway


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## Aedubya (Jul 12, 2019)

Eva Marie & Cameron from wwe maybe?
Even though they were both poor in the ring - though a few years ago


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## RiverFenix (Dec 10, 2011)

Jericho is a brand name, a house hold name. His SM following is 6x the official AEW twitter following, 3x Cody Rhodes. 

I bet vast majority of folks don't know he turns 49yo in three months (WWE twitter should absolutely wish him a happy 49th in November if he's still Champ). Most probably really don't think about wrestler ages.


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## Reggie Dunlop (Nov 2, 2015)

WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO'S GOING TO WIN THE MOTHERFUCKING MATCH YET! STOP THIS SHIT ALREADY.


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## RapShepard (Jun 20, 2014)

Reggie Dunlop said:


> WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO'S GOING TO WIN THE MOTHERFUCKING MATCH YET! STOP THIS SHIT ALREADY.


When both outcomes are pretty poor there's no need to wait. I'm sure DoN will still be a pretty damn good show, and I'm sure the match will be cool. The outcomes aren't ideal whatsoever though.


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## Sensei Utero (May 1, 2016)

Can't wait to see who else is revealed. Loving the Road to All Out eps.


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## TD Stinger (May 9, 2012)

The thing with the Jericho/Hangman debate is I get both sides.

Jericho is a WWE legend, and it's gonna take a lot of time in AEW/NJPW to put a dent in that. And while he can still deliver in the ring, yes, he's not as good as he used to be. So with regards to that, why put the belt on him?

Especially when you have a guy like Page. A guy who was built from the ground up by The Elite. They took a guy in ROH who just felt like another guy and have made him one of the brightest young stars in the business. Looking at just that he seems like the perfect candidate to be champion.

Except I just don't think he's at THAT level yet. Not at the level of being THE MAN on a show and carrying the belt in a big way. Jericho, for all his faults, from a promo and story perspective I think could do a lot more with the belt than Hangman could right now.



DetroitRiverPhx said:


> I'm convincing myself to the idea that Moxley wins the title in Philly. He'll need to drop the NJPW title he currently has though before.


I just can't see them crowning their 1st AEW Champion and then him losing on the 1st title defense. Unless the idea is to have Mox hold it for a long time, I wouldn't go that route.


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## Reggie Dunlop (Nov 2, 2015)

RapShepard said:


> When both outcomes are pretty poor there's no need to wait. I'm sure DoN will still be a pretty damn good show, and I'm sure the match will be cool. The outcomes aren't ideal whatsoever though.


We don’t know who’s going to win it first. We don’t know who’s going to challenge for it. We don’t know if there will be a rematch. We don’t know how challengers will be determined. We don’t know shit other than Jericho or Page will be the first title-holder, which is absolutely insignificant in light of all the other things we don’t yet know. All the bitching about the first champion being either the old out-of-shape dad body or the kid who hasn’t proven himself yet is pointless, because the outcome of this one match is just the first step in what we hope will be a very long story. This is why I can’t give two shits about who wins. I want to see a good match, and I want to see how they follow it up to make sure the title actually means something. I don’t want to waste my energy speculating and arguing about what’s going to happen — I want them to take me for the ride of my wrestling-fan life.


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