Why AEW Must Avoid Temptation of Debuting New Ex-WWE Stars for the Rest of 2021

AEW

Now would be a good time for All Elite Wrestling to put a soft rule in place for the rest of 2021: no more former WWE stars. 

It might seem like a silly stance to take, especially after stunning AEW debuts for CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole. Why not keep adding more and more talent to what is already one of the best pro wrestling rosters of all time? 

Because AEW—and fans—need time to breathe. 

It’s impossible to find fault with AEW for the acquisitions so far, of course. Acquiring can’t-miss talent is a no-brainer for a fast-rising company with a near-unlimited ceiling. This sort of “soft” rule goes out the window if, say, a Brock Lesnar or Charlotte Flair somehow slips their way to the free-agent market (and never say never given, well, Punk, Bryan and Cole). 

But AEW does run the risk of oversaturating the roster with former WWE stars who want a slice of the main-event scene, and even the mid-card scene. Other promotions—who we won’t name—quickly established reputations as realms for WWE castoffs, and it cost them dearly in the long run. 

AEW isn’t anywhere close to having that sort of reputation, obviously. The company is very, very good at getting deserving faces screentime and noteworthy feuds. 

But even a company with a stellar track record isn’t immune to stumbles. The last thing AEW needs to do is feel like a mini-WWE in the way it lets Superstars who deserve so much more toil in mid-card purgatory. Think about some of the guys who helped get things off the ground, like Joey Janela or the Dark Order. 

At some point, this is just the natural growth of things after AEW elbowed its way into the space, created a must-see alternative and attracted major Superstars. But the balance is a delicate, precious thing to find—and to the company’s credit, establishing a Friday show like Rampage helps with these potential long-term issues. 

Temptation on AEW’s part is understandable, though. Names like Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt are still out there. Somebody like Kevin Owens could be soon, too. We could spend hours and hundreds, maybe thousands of words on fun fantasy debuts and booking scenarios with those three names alone. 

But we could spend even more on the current crop of talent. Punk just had his first mini-feud. Bryan and Cole are only just starting. The Hangman Page thing continues to cook in the background. Jon Moxley is going international. We want to see can’t-miss things like Punk and MJF squaring off on the mic. The list is almost endless.

This hasn’t mentioned a ton of other talent for the sake of time and space. AEW will never match the sheer quantity and star level of WWE’s current roster (WWE hoarded talent and needed to make so many cuts recently for good reason), but it’s a stunningly great roster with a superb main-event scene, the best tag scene on the planet and a fast-rising women’s division with critical storytelling elements not necessarily found elsewhere. There’s only so much airtime per week to make it all work. 

A rule like this would serve doubly in another critical way—shock value. Letting some of the big-name WWE castoffs toil on the market for a while will only make an eventual debut that much better—like the waiting game with Punk, but on a much smaller scale.

Fans have almost come to expect former WWE guys to show up in AEW right away once news about a contract expiration comes out. AEW can leverage that in brutally smart ways to create unforgettable moments that kick off dream-match storylines. 

With that theme in mind, the period of leveraging major former WWE names to gain headlines and shock value is over. AEW has the big names now and the fans responded, and the viewing numbers are huge and will likely stay that way. Now it’s time to let things breathe. Show those new fans how the recently acquired, beloved talent will get used, not hamfist more former names into the company for the sake of it. 

Again, we wouldn’t suggest this if, say, Punk was still out there or a can’t-miss name hits the market. But those are exceptionally rare circumstances at this point. And to AEW’s credit, the way it has handled 95 percent of things, learned from mistakes (early Dark Order, for example) and treated legends tactfully only inspires confidence that this is already an idea making the rounds at the promotion. 

Still, other promotions struggled with this. Behavior and habits from the big kid on the block keeps fans cautiously optimistic, but they are not just blindly throwing faith into pretty much anything. With some smart maneuvering on this front, AEW can reassure fans that things really are different now.