WWE talent have hardly been surprised by the perceived high level of injuries that have occurred in AEW, it has been reported.
While injuries are a work hazard for any professional wrestler, many have pointed at Tony Khan’s promotion for having a higher rate of injuries than other companies of its size. Currently, top names including Adam Cole, Adam Copeland, and Jamie Hayter are all out of action with injuries. Bryan Danielson has seen much of his AEW run disrupted due to injuries and similar setbacks also caused issues throughout CM Punk’s All-Elite tenure.
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WWE Talent On AEW Injuries
Talent in WWE have not been surprised by the apparent high rate of injuries in AEW, Mike Johnson of PW Insider reports. The belief is that instead of lowering the risk of injuries, AEW’s more relaxed schedule which sees talent compete maybe once or twice a week is actually making their situation worse. The reasoning is that with long breaks between matches, AEW talent aren’t able to callus their bodies which has resulted in bumps and moves hurting more. In contrast, WWE hosts events almost every night of the week which keeps talent toughened up in the long term.
WWE Superstars were forced to wrestle much less during the COVID-19 pandemic when events happened behind closed doors, either at the Performance Center on inside the Thunderdome. The report adds that talent felt “off” by a few steps after touring resumed in July 2021 but were pleased that they would finally be able to compete more and therefore callus their bodies.
Bayley was an unfortunate victim of this situation as mere weeks before touring resumed, she suffered an injury during training. The Role Model, who had been considered a highlight of the Pandemic Era, would miss a year of in-ring action before returning to TV at SummerSlam 2022.
While it may seem antithetical, it appears wrestling more is decreasing the chances of injuries, at least when it comes to WWE talent. While AEW has flirted with untelevised shows in the past, it remains to be seen if the promotion will ever have a schedule close to WWE.
