Pro Wrestling Contract Season

[mim731]

7 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Really? All Man United down there aren't they? </Keith>

Oddly, and not to take a massive tangent, but her Wikipedia says her all time favourite player is Yaya Sanogo, which is surely a bit of tremendous editing mischief at play.

Edited April 15, 2025 by mim731
my error

[Devon Malcolm]

Mariah May's different though from almost all the others who have jumped. She's 26 years old and has the majority of her career ahead of her rather than a minority. She has huge upside as a character and a worker, she's a good promo, she has the look and has some acclaimed work behind her. She's a 'homegrown' star rather than someone who has been around for ages or has been in WWE before. It's a blow for AEW and a potentially great signing for WWE.

[Snitsky's back acne]

1 hour ago, Statto said:

Whilst I'm a little disappointed to see Mariah leaving AEW, there's also a nice nostalgic feel to the run she's had. 

Come in, work pretty much everyone of note over the course of 18 months or so, do the honours blowing off a feud on the way out (the fact it was the end of an overarching storyline spanning the entire run is even sweeter) and move on to fresh pastures.

More of this, honestly.

Seconded. It's how the territories worked for decades. Short(er) term contracts in wrestling are a good thing.

[LaGoosh]

The idea of Mariah heading off then returning to AEW years later interests me way more than anything she could have done if she stayed. Hope it happens. The idea of returning to the Toni/Mariah story years later is an exciting one.

But overall, this doesn't hurt AEW at all. They've built a really strong women's division and May had done pretty much everything she could do for now. I hope she has great success in WWE, I think she will. Or at least more than Jade Cargill, the last woman to jump ship and everyone said how bad it was for AEW ?.

Edited April 15, 2025 by LaGoosh

[Kamran]

5 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

But overall, this doesn't hurt AEW at all. They've built a really strong women's division and May had done pretty much everything she could do for now. I hope she has great success in WWE, I think she will. Or at least more than Jade Cargill, the last woman to jump ship and everyone said how bad it was for AEW ?.

Agreed, instead of looking like it's a negative for AEW I think there are positives to this. You'll often see comments online about how inferior AEW is to WWE but something like this adds more legitimacy to them. WWE pursuing AEW talent might mean you get a few more WWE fans checking out AEW if they like what they see from May/Fenix etc. 

I loved the Monday Night Wars and it was always exciting to see talent switch between companies.

[LaGoosh]

32 minutes ago, Kamran said:

Agreed, instead of looking like it's a negative for AEW I think there are positives to this. You'll often see comments online about how inferior AEW is to WWE but something like this adds more legitimacy to them. WWE pursuing AEW talent might mean you get a few more WWE fans checking out AEW if they like what they see from May/Fenix etc. 

I loved the Monday Night Wars and it was always exciting to see talent switch between companies.

For sure. Instead of the view being "this is bad for AEW because they're talent is leaving for WWE" you could just as easily make the argument of "WWE is getting it's best new talent from AEW" and this shows that AEW is a place where there is great talent worth poaching and therefore worth watching. Back in the day when someone jumped ship to WWF my reaction wasn't "ECW must be shit" - it made me want to check out their old stuff.

Edited April 15, 2025 by LaGoosh

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Sorry lads but this does hurt AEW. They are losing one of their top female stars. This isn't Stephanie Vacquer having one match then signing for WWE, this is one of the top 3 stars in the company who has been the focus of a long overarching storyline leaving for WWE. There are a number of wrestlers who would have benefitted from working a programme with Mariah, AEW has some promising female talent who now won't have the opportunity to work with her. To say this doesn't hurt AEW at all is not correct. 

 

[LaGoosh]

Hurt it how, though?

She's been off TV for weeks now anyway and the women's division is easily the best thing going on in AEW currently. It's always a shame to lose top talent but I really don't think it'll have any negative effect long term.

Edited April 15, 2025 by LaGoosh

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

So you can see no benefit from having the other women on the roster work with someone as good on the mic or as competent in the ring as her? 

[LaGoosh]

4 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

So you can see no benefit from having the other women on the roster work with someone as good on the mic or as competent in the ring as her? 

Did I say that? 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Just now, LaGoosh said:

Did I say that? 

No you said her leaving doesn't hurt at all. I gave you an example of how it would hurt. 

[LaGoosh]

...I suppose I meant more in a general overall long term AEW business way rather than a specific minutiae way.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Helping the other women get over and get better is the most long term help possible. 

[Supremo]

I’ve watched enough AEW to know it’s probably best for everyone if Mariah leaves on that high and comes back in three years.

No-one has jumped ship and then jumped back yet, have they? That’s going to be a real moment when the prodigal son/daughter comes home.

It’s a very clear pattern at this point. The Second Album Bottler. Tony Khan has a real knack for reaching these big crescendos with these big characters, then having absolutely no idea what to do afterwards. Sometimes you can power through via sheer talent, which I think Toni Storm is doing now, but there’s every chance you can just exist in stasis for the next couple of years. That should factor into Mariah’s decision. She’s not going to top what she’s already achieved. It’s a masterpiece.

It wouldn’t have made much sense since the entire angle was built around him winning an AEW contract, but looking back, the perfect jumping off point for Wardlow was the night he beat MJF. He’d have been much better jumping ship to WWE after that rather than stumbling about and slowly getting less and less over. He’d probably say as much himself, if anyone on the planet knew where he was to ask.

Edited April 15, 2025 by Supremo

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Hurt it how, though?

She's been off TV for weeks now anyway and the women's division is easily the best thing going on in AEW currently. It's always a shame to lose top talent but I really don't think it'll have any negative effect long term.

It is, but her title reign and feud with Toni Storm was a huge part of that. If they couldn’t figure out what to do with her next (and there’s no reason to believe that’s the case), that would be more on them than her - she’s not feuded with a good number of their best female wrestlers, including Mercedes Mone. She’s brilliant in-ring, and solid on the mic - I think losing her is a huge blow. It feels like her story is only half-told.

52 minutes ago, Supremo said:

It wouldn’t have made much sense since the entire angle was built around him winning an AEW contract, but looking back, the perfect jumping off point for Wardlow was the night he beat MJF. He’d have been much better jumping ship to WWE after that rather than stumbling about and slowly getting less and less over. He’d probably say as much himself, if anyone on the planet knew where he was to ask.

May is much better than Wardlow though, and I don’t see the same limitations. If she moves to WWE, and I still hope she doesn’t, she’ll be a huge star for them. But the standard of the women’s division in AEW is so high right now that if she stayed, there would be an opportunity for them to continue building something special - I’d love to see them make a bold move and have Collision essentially be the women’s show; still with men’s matches, but with them being the minority division in that 2-hour bloc. I’d also love to see a more even split with their PPV main events - their women’s division has the quality now for a level of parity that WWE is unable to offer at this time.

56 minutes ago, Supremo said:

No-one has jumped ship and then jumped back yet, have they? That’s going to be a real moment when the prodigal son/daughter comes home.

A bit of an aside, but I reckon Cody will jump back before his career comes to an end.