I guess the grass WASN'T greener....

[Chili]

Would it be right to nominate The Brain Busters. Left NWA had a decent year and won the WWF tag gold but felt underpaid to what they earned in Crockett and then left and get even less money because Tully got popped for coke and fucked them both over a bit.

Edited December 17, 2023 by Chili

[RedRooster]

Chris Harris must be the ultimate example of this. He was well on his way to becoming a main event player in TNA, and likely would have won their world title at some point. ‘Braden Walker’ destroyed him to the point he didn’t even get picked back up by TNA after his release; while his former partner, James Storm, moved on to Beer Money and singles success of his own.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

28 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

I think Bret always knew the grass was not going to be greener in WCW.

Definitely. Bret knew that the grass had been set on fire, put out with weedkiller and then slabbed over with spike embedded paving slabs. 

[Doog]

So many of those smart fan faves from the 2017-2020 era of WWE have been brutally exposed by leaving for AEW. The grass wasn't greener and they just aren't very good. Miro, Aleistar Black, Buddy Murphy, Andrade, even Ruby Riott to an extent.

Aside from Riott all tipped for superstardom and criminally underused according to the IWC, nah they're just shit.

[LaGoosh]

Miro, Malakai Black and Andrade didn't jump ship. They were all sacked! They don't count!

[RedRooster]

14 minutes ago, Doog said:

So many of those smart fan faves from the 2017-2020 era of WWE have been brutally exposed by leaving for AEW. The grass wasn't greener and they just aren't very good. Miro, Aleistar Black, Buddy Murphy, Andrade, even Ruby Riott to an extent.

I couldn’t disagree more. Miro was excellent at first, and Black was brilliant during his feud with Cody. Andrade has always had excellent matches in AEW, and Buddy Matthews hasn’t been given much to do. Ruby Soho is pretty crap though, I’ll give you that.

They simply haven’t been booked well. Given that AEW hands talent a lot of creative freedom, that might be on them - but I’m not trying to place blame here; I just don’t think it’s accurate to say that they’ve been exposed as not being very good. 

EDIT: As LaGoosh said though, they were all sacked.

Edited December 17, 2023 by RedRooster

[Infinity Land]

25 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Chris Harris must be the ultimate example of this. He was well on his way to becoming a main event player in TNA, and likely would have won their world title at some point. ‘Braden Walker’ destroyed him to the point he didn’t even get picked back up by TNA after his release; while his former partner, James Storm, moved on to Beer Money and singles success of his own.

Wasn't he considered a bit of a bust when he first left TNA. James Storm showed more personality in their singles feud getting to be the heel, which wasn't saying much at the time. They both meandered in the horrible garbage filled mid-card of not good enough for the main event (Angle, AJ, Samoa Joe, Christian, Sting) and not flippy enough for the X-Division.

[LaGoosh]

Mike Awesome went from the ECW Champion and coolest, craziest motherfucker in wrestling to That 70s Guy and the Fat Chick Thriller in WCW then a nothing run in WWF.

Though from a financial perspective he probably got paid significantly more to be a dickhead in WCW than a killer in ECW and ECW wouldn't have been able to afford to pay him if he had stayed a few months longer so I guess it probably was for the better for him.

Edited December 17, 2023 by LaGoosh

[Chili]

2 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Mike Awesome went from the ECW Champion and coolest, craziest motherfucker in wrestling to That 70s Guy and the Fat Chick Thriller in WCW then a nothing run in WWF.

Though from a financial perspective he probably got paid significantly more to be a dickhead in WCW than a killer in ECW and ECW wouldn't have been able to afford to pay him if he had stayed a few months longer so I guess it probably was for the better for him.

Always figured if Awesome wasn't out the door for that WCW contract he'd be out the door by end of May 2000 with the pay issues. I almost think anyone leaving ECW bar Shane Douglas is exempt because leaving ECW in 2000 was easy on a wrestlers bills if they weren't in the tri-state area or too young, dumb, hungry, needing the exposure or on wages decent enough to placate a bad phase.

[Lorne Malvo]

When NXT went through their first 'talent acquisition' phase and stated hiring everyone and their dog, I always remember Eric Young feeling like a really weird signing. Sanity were okay on NXT and a load of nothing on the main roster and it was obvious they weren't interested in doing anything with him. Surely if he'd have stuck it out in TNA during the 2016/17 wilderness years he'd have been given another title run as a day one-er. This was the period that Eddie Edwards and Eli Drake were getting title runs so Eric Young would've been near the top of the card surely.

Then again, you could make the case he'd done everything there was to do in TNA and a change of scenery did him good, but I thought his entire WWE run was a waste of time.

[Chili]

Eric Young being in the WWE is something that at least tells me his long I've not watched the product. I had absolutely no idea he ever appeared for WWE or was signed. Bloody hell.

[Infinity Land]

12 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

When NXT went through their first 'talent acquisition' phase and stated hiring everyone and their dog, I always remember Eric Young feeling like a really weird signing. Sanity were okay on NXT and a load of nothing on the main roster and it was obvious they weren't interested in doing anything with him. Surely if he'd have stuck it out in TNA during the 2016/17 wilderness years he'd have been given another title run as a day one-er. This was the period that Eddie Edwards and Eli Drake were getting title runs so Eric Young would've been near the top of the card surely.

Then again, you could make the case he'd done everything there was to do in TNA and a change of scenery did him good, but I thought his entire WWE run was a waste of time.

The Sanity run was fine. Certainly compared to when he went back last year.

Gets murdered on-screen with Impact to go back. Then does nothing but collect cheques for about 6 months.

[Loki]

32 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Miro, Malakai Black and Andrade didn't jump ship. They were all sacked! They don't count!

They were part of that odd Covid exodus, most of whom were hired back within months.  Those three had all been making exit noises for ages beforehand so they may well have volunteered for it.  So technically, you're absolutely right, but I think moving on to AEW was always the plan for them.

[Chili]

I have another. Tenryu in AJPW 1990. Leaves a spot as No. 2/1a to Jumbo Tsuruta and leads money mark group SWS which eventually dies in 1992. He launches WAR which does ok but is always no. 4 or 5 in Japanese promotions. Gets welcomed back to AJPW in 2000 after Baba carked it, EVERYONE bar two roster members left AJPW and Mrs. Baba was on her arse, but the sun had sailed for Tenryu by then . Good as he still was.

[RedRooster]

40 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

Wasn't he considered a bit of a bust when he first left TNA. James Storm showed more personality in their singles feud getting to be the heel, which wasn't saying much at the time. They both meandered in the horrible garbage filled mid-card of not good enough for the main event (Angle, AJ, Samoa Joe, Christian, Sting) and not flippy enough for the X-Division.

I wasn’t - for want of a better term - much of an ‘internet fan’ back then, so you may be in a better position to comment on the general consensus, but it certainly seemed to me that TNA wanted to push him, and he was presented as being a real threat to Jeff Jarrett when he was NWA Champion. During the tail end of his TNA career, he struggled with injury, didn’t he? I may be misremembering but I think circumstances outwith his control affected him somewhat. 

On the subject of TNA, Monty Brown and Awesome Kong are also worth mentioning here. Who knows what would have happened had it not been for Kong’s pregnancy, but there wasn’t anything stopping them from using her upon her return. 

I can’t really remember what happened with Brown, but his decline and disappearance felt incredibly sudden.