Which AEW signings were mistakes?

[simonworden]

Quite a few could honestly piss off and make AEW better for me. I was far more invested in a roster of people I didn't know who were developing characters and momentum but it's getting a bit TNA and many of them are stalling in my opinion.

Tiny eyed Cole can do one immediately as well as reDragon. I don't mind Bobby Fish but Kyle can sod right off he looks like he should be sorting the bags out on the merch stand. I've got no interest in seeing their act over some AEW home grown guys. 

Jay Lethal is a complete rotter and him and Dutt weren't over in TNA land so I don't really understand why AEW would even consider giving them screen time (India deal notwithstanding which could be done without the scumbag).

Andrade is someone who has/d potential but has really been lost in the wave of new talent. He is someone who would have been better off saving himself by working in AAA/CMLL/NJPW etc for a year or two until AEW needed something fresh. 

 

 

[RedRooster]

14 hours ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

@RedRooster I'm usually with you on most things, but this 2.0 slander is disgusting. Why do you hate them so much? 

I genuinely can’t remember a wrestling act that I’ve found as irritating as 2.0! To be fair, the fact they’re in AEW probably doesn’t help them, in the sense that they’re part of a product I really enjoy, and there’s no one else there that grates on me to this degree meaning they stick out more significantly than they would if they were part of the WWE roster. 

[WeeAl]

On 4/15/2022 at 8:39 AM, HarmonicGenerator said:

Ignoring the people who were with AEW at the start who I wouldn’t necessarily keep on…

Tony Nese 

Jay Lethal 

Brody King and Buddy Matthews 

Red Dragon 

Absolutely on board with all of these. I see why they would sign the two tag teams. Can't be having Redragon. However I can see why you would bring them in short term, to have a few wins then put over others instead. That they are featured as prominently, likely long term and are going to have to be kept strong is really disappointing. Even doubly so for their terrible mate, who doesn't add any benefit to the show in my eyes. 

King and Matthews are fine additions to bump up the roster, but there's no disputing that Black is less over and less relevant with them than without them.

I'm not fussed on Lee or Swerve, but it's giving  Hobbs and Starks who I do really like, something to get their teeth into so are their signings a mistake? No, too early for that, lots of room to see where they go from here.

The Hardy's are clearly physical wrecks but I absolutely would have signed them in the same spot. After the next month or so though I would drastically scale down their in ring appearances. Give them a few wins, get a Bucks feud out of them, have them put them over and then slot them into a semi regular role. 

Overall though I'm not sure there are loads of mistake signings in a bubble, but maybe more to do with how some of those are used/how they affected others being used is quite different than what I'd do or how I perceive their value. Overall I like the depth that the huge roster offers to try and avoid people getting stale, but it does cause some people to get lost in the shuffle that maybe should be featured better than their new co-worker. 

 

[Merzbow]

The thing that sold me completely on Cole being the dirt worst mistake was the very short time Jay White turned up and came across as a proper superstar heel, totally eclipsing Adam in my opinion.

But then I've been a big fan of Switchblade after his evolution as a bad guy.

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 minute ago, Merzbow said:

The thing that sold me completely on Cole being the dirt worst mistake was the very short time Jay White turned up and came across as a proper superstar heel, totally eclipsing Adam in my opinion.

But then I've been a big fan of Switchblade after his evolution as a bad guy.

I’d never seen Jay White before and - whilst I’m not saying I was immediately bowled over and thought he was the best of the best - he came across like Adam Cole but done well.

I’d trade Cole for White in a heartbeat.

[Jazzy G]

Jay White's been putting on banger after banger in Impact the last months. Had a brilliant match with Alex Shelley at Sacrifice, and stole the show with Eric Young at No Surrender. Hopefully he gets a match against Josh Alexander soon. 

[The King Of Swing]

Unless he's facing a top guy I find White bland as fuck.

[Vamp]

Jack Evans. Possibly Angelico too. Nothing takes me out of wrestling more than Jack Evans. 

Possibly controversial, but I think signing both Pentagon and Fenix at the same time was probably a mistake. It caused them to put them in a team, and once they were done with their PWG act with Young Bucks they seem to have become inconsequential. 

 

[The King Of Swing]

2 hours ago, Vamp said:

Possibly Angelico too. . 

 

Not having that. 

Evans can get in the bin though. 

[Jazzy G]

I don't think they're bad signal ngs, I just think they've been used badly because he's got too many people on the roster and only so much time to use people the way they should be. 

[FLips]

Having a think about it there is easily a dozen wrestlers I would get rid of/not sign in the first place. Going through them alphabetically on the roster page:

Aaron Solo, Danhausen, Jay Lethal, Lee Johnson, Lee Moriarty, Marko Stunt, Matt Sydal, Michael Nakazawa, Paul Wight, Shawn Dean, Tony Nese.
AQA, Leva Bates, Mercedes Martinez, Paige Vanzant, Red Velvet, Ruby Soho, Toni Storm.

If we're talking personal preference of who I'd want rid of because even though I see their value but just have no interest/don't like them:

Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly, Andrade, Buddy Matthews, Ethan Page, Frankie Kazarian, Kip Sabian, Swerve Strickland, Jamie Hayter, Leyla Hirsch.

I feel this many years into AEW, some of the "give the boys jobs through the pandemic" style hiring and the "anyone of name value who left WWE" hiring has left us with a bunch of people who are just there doing nothing. They'll debut strong and vanish to Dark forever or to the opposite effect will be on TV all the bloody time when other people could be in their place and doing better. The roster is cluttered.

 

[Merzbow]

You had me until Jamie and Leyla, leave my thicc women alone.

[Vamp]

Selfishly I'd rather they not have signed Hayter because I loved seeing her in EVE and feel like she's mostly been an afterthought whenever I've seen her since in AEW. I've got a friend who watches regularly and whenever I ask "what's Hayter doing" the answer always seems to be "not a lot."

Toni Storm is a license to print money. But so are Thunder and Baker and yet for all their breakthrough moments they still don't feel like focal points somehow. 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

From personal choice of those not doing much or not really having a role worthwhile within the company:

Andrade - just meh to me

Anthony Henry - maybe because I only watch Rampage and Dynamite but I just can't place him on the roster.

Anthony Agogo - had a lot of promise but just seems to have sunk without a trace

Arn Anderson - what's he doing on screen since Cody left?

Danhausen - just don't get it at all.

Jack Evans

Jake Atlas

Jay Lethal

Jay White - seemed to have a role when he came in but hasn't been seen since

Joey Janela - forgotten man (possibly Colt Cabana be in this category)

Keith Lee - I like him and is a different look to others, but just seems a bit out of place.

Kip Sabian - took a pasting off of Miro and not been since. Not that anyone has noticed.

Lee Johnson - Not sure what he's done of note

Lee Moriaty - as above

Marko Stunt - Jurassic Express are much better without him

Paul Wight - love the big man but what's he done?

Penelope Ford - gorgeous but has 0 purpose in AEW

Ryan Nemeth - Dolph Ziggler from Wish

Satnam Singh- no idea who he is or what he'll bring to AEW but most people's views seem to be 'eh?' About him signing.

Sonjay Dutt - ummm 

Tony Nese - no idea what the big deal is and wouldn't be a loss to AEW.

 

 

There's a few others but to be honest I don't want to look even more of a dick than usual.

[69MeDon]

There's quite a few. But a lot of them are just hindsight being 20/20. I could kind of see the reasoning behind signing almost everyone they have - it's like, "oh, shit? Andrade is released? Got to have him. Oh, shit, they released Keith Lee? Got to have him. Oh, shit..." and so on.

The main ones I'd personally want rid of is Adam Cole and ReDragon. I know it's never going to happen and I know I was very on board for Cole coming in at the time but fuck me if they dont drag down every, single thing they're involved with.