By all accounts, Tony Khan is a genuinely good guy that legitimately cares about his roster, that notion sincerely is a wonderful part of the existence of All Elite Wrestling, specifically from an internal perspective. Granted, being a genuinely good guy doesn’t qualify Tony Khan to be a pro wrestling booker or automatically make him a successful promoter, which is why one of the many criticisms of his promotion is that it often resembles more of a vanity project that can be paid for by his billionaire family than a serious business venture that has to make a profit to sustain itself. Tony Khan is undoubtedly a better person than Vince McMahon will ever be, but won’t get even close to the success of the former emperor of the WWF. Thankfully, Triple H is proving, at least so far in his tenure as the head of the WWE, that it’s possible to run the company very successfully without scandals.
A part of Tony’s generosity, he certainly gives opportunity, and while there’s definitely something truly wholesome about a performer getting a chance to land their dream job of a national contract, the number of talents signed to AEW deals, particularly those that pay them full-time money, is almost comical at this point.
In some ways, it makes me wonder if Tony inks certain talents to contracts just to have them on the roster without any plan for them going forward, or simply to prevent them from potentially signing with WWE, assuming that he will find something for them to do at some point. The ironic part of that is, some of those grapplers might not have been on WWE’s radar anyway.
Don’t get me wrong, if a talent can make full-time money in sports entertainment then good for them. Making the most money possible for as long as possible is the entire point of the business, especially when they aren’t any pension or retirement plans after a performer hangs up their boots. Hopefully, the current generation can avoid the pitfalls of talent from the past to make sure they have financial security on a long-term basis as a way to learn from those cautionary tales, but at the same time, the fact remains that most talents have to consider the opportunity to make a specific amount of money at any given time compared to pursing opportunities to boost their value to make bigger money in the grand scheme of things.
Sometimes, I wonder if some of those All Elite contracted performers, who through no fault of their own that are lost in the shuffle or a healthy scratch if Tony doesn’t have something for them to do, take the short-term money because of the undoubted financial security it provides now at the expense of possibility a much bigger run elsewhere.
Again, please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t blame anyone, especially those that had to grind their way through the dirt-stained canvases of the independent circuit previously, that takes the bigger money and stability of a national contract. However, as I said, I wonder if they are selling themselves short as far as their value in the bigger picture.
Last week, I penned an article about some of the recent shuffle of the free agent market, including Josh Alexander’s decision to ink an AEW deal, and Mina Shirakawa’s exit from Stardom. That was based on possible arrivals to the organization, but on the other end of the spectrum, there are some performers, even those that were recently released, that might be better off to explore their options than to remain in purgatory, as far as not being used by AEW.
I randomly heard the name Scorpio Sky on a recent podcast, and it actually reminded me that he still had a job, but then the question was, where is this guy? Apparently, at least from what I could find from a quick online search, he’s healthy, just simply not being used by the promotion. The last match he had in AEW was September 2023 and then he worked a ROH taping the month after that so he hasn’t done anything for the company in any form or fashion in a year and a half, but he’s still under contract. Did the office forget that he worked there? Is this a situation similar to when WCW forget about The Iron Sheik’s contract in 1990? Listen, I’m not saying that Scorpio Sky would be a Wrestlemania main eventer if he wasn’t still under an All Elite deal, and I don’t blame him for taking the cash since he’s being paid by the terms of the agreement, but what’s the point of sending the guy a check if the company isn’t going to use him for anything? At 42, maybe Sky doesn’t think it’s worthwhile to try to start fresh somewhere else, but it seems like a waste of his skills, and a waste of All Elite payroll for him to be kept home since the end of 2023.
There were a series of AEW releases recently, as I’ve written about the more well-known names at the time that they left the company, and some of them, including Ricky Starks have already made their way to WWE. Fightful Select reported this week that Miro, the former Rusev, re-signed with the company as well. A side note about Miro, I’m somewhat surprised that the WWE would offer him another deal since his rocky tenure in AEW, particularly when he refused any suggested storylines, seemed to suggest that he might be difficult to work with at this point in his career. Furthermore, as I wrote previously, I don’t think Miro did enough in his All Elite stint to truly boost his stock as a performer so I could see him being regulated back to the mid-card upon his return to WWE. It goes without saying that Malakai Black will be back into the WWE fold sooner rather than later. The same can be said for Rey Fenix, who finally got his release from the company after he was kept on ice for several months.
However, it was also reported that Abadon won’t see their contract renewed, which I have to say is a shame since they got in the best shape of their career recently, but were MIA from AEW programming. The gimmick and the presentation was very well done, but they were signed to an All Elite contract when they only had about a year of experience so the argument could be made that they weren’t TV ready at the time. Still, with someone that unique, especially if they were under contract for almost five years, it seems like it would’ve beeen worth the investment to try to develop Abadon as a performer. Unfortunately, all things considered, despite the nearly five years under an AEW contract, I don’t think they truly got the chance to show anything beyond just a basic TV match so the structure or lack thereof within the organization probably hinder their ability to evolve as a performer.
The same could be said for Leyla Hirsch, as she was under contract for a few years, but was never put in a position where she could showcase her skills or truly move up the card as anything more than a preliminary wrestler. Granted, she had a knee injury during her All Elite tenure, but given her amateur wrestling background, it seems like the company could’ve done more with it. Nick Comoroto is another wrestler that won’t have his contract renewed, but is more or less in the same category. He was sidelined with an injury at one point, but even outside of that wasn’t given the chance to be anything other than one of the countless preliminary wrestlers on the roster that got lost in the shuffle.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying any of these competitors are automatically the next top-drawing stars in the business, but if they aren’t given the platform or at least the chance to show what they bring to the table than there’s a possibility that it could be a missed opportunity.
That’s where there’s somewhat of an “opportunity cost” so to speak for those that opt to stay under an AEW contract since being lost in the shuffle or in the witness protection program of the Ring Of Honor project minimizes their value on the industry. As mention, they have the security on a national contract and the solid money that goes along with it, but are some talents sacrificing the prime years of their careers and thus the chance to make bigger money elsewhere when they’re stuck in catering at a Dynamite taping? Taking into account how thin the current New Japan roster is because of how many of their marquee stars were signed away in recent years, it’s possible that underutilized talent could find a platform to showcase their ability in the Japanese organization.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
