All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is looking to change the professional wrestling industry. Tuesday’s AEW rally in Jacksonville answered a lot of questions about the new venture. Particularly who will be involved with the promotion. Names like PAC, Cody, The Young Bucks, Adam Page, and Chris Jericho have already been revealed. One aspect many are particularly interested in is health insurance.
Fans and professional wrestlers have been calling for health insurance from their respective promotions for quite some time. Perhaps this is something AEW could consider in the future in order to entice potential talent. This was a topic of discussion during yesterday’s rally. Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks had this to say on the matter:
“I don’t know if it’s something that [AEW President] Tony [Khan]Â would want to talk about further, but the big thing for All Elite is that we want to take care of the boys,” Matt said
“So many times you hear stories from wrestlers past or legends where they don’t have anything left and there’s nothing to show for it. One thing that we’ve always wanted to do is, if we started a wrestling organization, we wanted to take care of the guys. So, that’s one thing we’re working on.
“The executives are gonna have benefits and stuff. They’re gonna get taken care of. We’re in the day one process of that and we’re still working on it. But that’s the plan.”
Never Say Never
AEW executives include Cody and The Young Bucks, who are all three Executive Vice Presidents, and Brandi Rhodes, who is AEW’s Chief Brand Officer. When Matt Jackson commented on AEW talents one-day receiving health insurance, the former IWGP Tag Team Champ said “never say never”:
“Maybe one day. Never say never,” said Matt. “We’re early on. We’re creeping up with that door barely open, so hopefully one day we can swing it wide open.”
As for Cody, he confirmed that AEW will be “100 percent” take care of talents who are hurt in their ring:
“A lot of concerns that guys will have is what happens if I get hurt in the ring? Because that’s the one thing WWE covers and we can confirm anyone that gets hurt in an AEW ring will be 100 percent taken care of by AEW,” Cody said.
Cody also mentioned he’d one day like to see wrestling reach a point similar to Hollywood, who insures their actors through labor unions such as SAG-AFTRA:
“I’d like to see wrestling just like the television industry,” said Cody. “I’ve done a few bit roles here and there but that treatment and that care you get for your time on-screen, you have a comparable influence as a pro wrestler. You’re just as recognizable and you should be just as taken care of.”
What do you think about Cody and The Young Bucks’ comments on AEW possibly offering health insurance?
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
