Honestly, AEW should focus more on the talents they have, and less on consistently signing new talent. In just 2021, AEW signed over 20 new talents. 13 of those 20 talents were signed to AEW after previously wrestling with WWE. Every single one of these talents got a big debut into All Elite Wrestling and it seemed as if we would be seeing these new talents on top of the ladder for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, only a slight few of these new talents actually stayed on top.
We saw talents such as Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk signed to All Elite Wrestling in 2021, and those superstars have managed to be some of the top talents in all of AEW in just months. However, do all of these new signings allow for some of the original AEW superstars to be forgotten?
In the debut year of AEW, we saw tag teams such as Private Party, SCU, Santana and Ortiz, and Jurassic Express take the world by storm on TNT as Wednesday Night Dynamite began. These teams were seen on almost every single Dynamite throughout 2019 and early 2020. Now, we see Private Party barely wrestling on Dynamite, SCU broken up, Santana and Ortiz wrestling on really only AEW Dark and Rampage, and fortunately Jurassic Express still wrestling on all shows. Through the four teams named above, only one of those teams is consistently wrestling on TV. The other three have slowly over time transitioned from wrestling big matches on Dynamite, to wrestling meaningless Dark matches on Youtube.
Now, we see the point. Why are there so many original AEW superstars who are so talented, barely being used on TV? The answer simply is the amount of signings AEW has made. With Tony Khan consistently bringing in new talent, more and more great talent is just being shoved away from TV and storylines, and towards AEW Dark and meaningless matches. For example, we look at Private Party. In 2019, Private Party exploded with amazing matches with the Lucha Brothers, Young Bucks, SCU, and more. Private Party was a fan favorite through the beginning days of AEW and never failed to put on a good match. Now, they are teamed up with Matt Hardy and have rarely even wrestled on TV. In their last seven matches, they have wrestled on TV only three times, and only two of those times were on Dynamite. The rest were on AEW Dark Elevation. In just the span of three years, Private Party went from a top tag team to jobbers. With every new debut, there is always hype behind it. The awesome “All Elite” graphic, the usual big surprise on Dynamite or on PPV. There is always an awesome pop for a new debut. However, when such talented superstars are being shoved to the ground just so AEW can debut more and more new talents, it makes the product more stale. We see less of our old favorite superstars who made AEW what it is today, and more of the new WWE alumni.
Not only does consistently bringing in new talent bury lots of talented superstars, but some of these new talents that were once hyped up when they debuted, have fallen right off the hill one they stepped foot on AEW turf. Jay Lethal was a former ROH World and World Television Champion. Lethal debuted in AEW in November and immediately got a title shot as his first match against Sammy Guevara. Lethal and Guevara put on a good match and Guevara retained his title. Ever since he main evented an AEW Dynamite two months ago, he has wrestled only five matches in AEW. One of those five matches was on TV and it was a battle royale. The other four matches were during AEW Dark Elevation tapings. Tony Khan signed Jay Lethal, gave him a title shot on the main event of their weekly program, and then immediately cut him out of the picture and took him off TV for more than two months. We saw this exact same trend with superstars like Lio Rush, and Ethan Page. The superstar is hyped up in a debut, gets a big match or two on TV, and then immediately is pushed towards AEW Dark tapings or even completely off the program.
Should AEW slow down on signing new talents and let their current packed roster continue to shine? Or should Tony Khan continue to sign new talents to boost the ratings of their program? That answer is up to you.
