A former five-time WCW Champion sees a lot of similarities between his old stomping grounds and AEW.
Some have criticized AEW for having a bloated roster. There are many times when some notable names aren’t seen on the main shows Dynamite and Rampage, but they will have matches on Dark or Dark Elevation, both of which air on YouTube and mostly showcase squash matches.
Booker T believes it’s a similar problem that WCW had.
Similarities
Taking to his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker explained why he sees a lot of similarities in how AEW handles hiring talent to how WCW handled the process (h/t ewrestlingnews.com).
“Yeah, there’s been a lot of guys on the show. They try to get a lot of guys on that show and highlight as many things as they possibly can. A lot of things get lost in the shuffle, of course, in doing that. WCW, back in the day, they hired a bunch of guys.
“Most of the guys, they just hired them just so they wouldn’t go to WWE. WCW had signed a bunch of guys and they were sitting at home, making money. They just didn’t want those guys to go to the WWE or back to WWE.”
It’s become a meme on social media that whoever is signed to AEW will end up on Dark in two or three weeks. While the company uses the YouTube shows to pad records, most people who tune into AEW TV aren’t watching the online shows.
Recently, the company has been letting contracts expire for wrestlers they aren’t doing anything with. Recent names include Jack Evans and Marko Stunt.
Stu Grayson’s contract also expired, but AEW tried negotiating with him.