AEW Releases

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Apr 1, 2024 23:50:40 GMT -5 Starshine said:

Apr 1, 2024 22:59:54 GMT -5 drougfree said:

Slim J

I know he was around for a couple of years, but I still cannot wrap my head around the fact the Special K's Slim J of all people was signed to a major company in 2023.

Even crazier is he was really great in ring when he was used, didn't miss a beat for being one of the innovative early 2000's high flyers of that time

[Feargus McReddit]

I’m not going to read through all of this (because if the AEW section has a reputation for, it’s not exaggerating things for ridiculous effect. People here are good at that so I won’t bore myself on the logic and thoughtful responses) so apologies if any of these are points already brought up.

- This sucks. Releases suck regardless and for the people involved, even the ones not used very much, it sucks. I hope we find out context one way or another or TK has a Supercard of Honor conference to answer for these things but it sucks regardless. Especially with Henry who was still injured (but he might not be now somewhat? Who knows? But he should be called out for it if he was).

- If this is a move for having brought in a COO to be the Johnny Ace style bad guy, I hope these people know who made the decision. It wasn’t Kirby, it was TK. Again; these need more context and such but just to put that out there.

- At the very least, the glimmer of positivity is that it seems they’ll be able to go somewhere else and none of this 90 day BS the other company does. That should be how it works, you’re not able to fulfill the contract, you can’t have them beholden to you anymore. There’s a part of me that does hope they get the lump sum from not being able to do that but I’m not hopeful either.

- I can’t say right now if any releases are “justified” in the financial sense but I also know it ain’t my money and I stand by that. Some people online are being weird about people being signed to full time deals and I get it but also…cool? Like, regardless of what deal is signed, it’s not my business because I can’t buy shares or be involved in that process. Punk was right in saying AEW will be around as long as TK puts money in it which that’s how private businesses work, glad he can understand that.

This whole thing sucks and again, I hope context comes out for it and if a SOH presser happens, he is asked about it repeatedly.

[Mid-Carder]

Apr 1, 2024 21:02:22 GMT -5 KME said:

I don't see a lot of tweets from people involved in writing about wrest-lint that don't make me want to hit them but Ibou seems like a rare good egg, seems to enjoy just about any promotion as long as they're putting on a good show, would be surprised if he's alluding to Punk or any conspiracy.

If I had to guess I'd say he might be alluding to the why being obvious as these releases are going to be those we don't see that much of.

This is why people should say exactly what they mean instead of deliberately dropping vague hints that leave people to speculate.

[Bo Rida]

Ffs. TK having some decency and never releasing anyone without reason, even through a pandemic, was a huge positive about aew.
This is a shitty wwe like move and so disappointing to see. Especially if one of them is injured.

Assuming they're not mutal agreements of course but that many of them, including Dasha, and Amanda's reaction strongly suggests they're not.

[Rave]

Cue up "Leave the Memories Alone", folks...



And the associated thread.

[Feargus McReddit]

Oh, and the people being like “This guy got fired but THIS guy didn’t?!” (and I don’t know if anyone here is doing it but seeing it a lot on Twitter)?

They can frankly go eat a dick. No, I don’t care if you don’t like Sammy or Jericho or Miro or whoever, nobody deserves that treatment unless there’s justified reason to it.

[cookiedoh85]

Releases suck. Especially these since it’s truly the first go round for this with AEW.

As some have said, doing the whole ‘why is X still there if they’re releasing people’ is stupid.

These seem to be heavy ROH releases, probably means Fridays PPV is either a big reset or the start of a scaling down.

Jose and Henry being released are head scratchers but based on some of the tweets from those with way more knowledge of the Mexican scene it seems he was more of a buddy hire for Rush. Genuinely curious what this means for Rush moving forward. He’s been on best behaviour but after this? Will be interesting.

Also wondering what this means for JD Drake. Is he just going to be an entry level big guy gatekeeper? Definitely odd.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Apr 2, 2024 3:23:01 GMT -5 Feargus McReddit said:

Oh, and the people being like “This guy got fired but THIS guy didn’t?!” (and I don’t know if anyone here is doing it but seeing it a lot on Twitter)?

They can frankly go eat a dick. No, I don’t care if you don’t like Sammy or Jericho or Miro or whoever, nobody deserves that treatment unless there’s justified reason to it.

Yeah, our usual rule of no wishing for people to lose their job is in effect here like the WWE release thread.

[Kalmia]

Releases suck full stop. Sucks when WWE does it and now sucks when AEW does it. Unless the talent asks for it or there are other reasons (disciplinary, visa etc) I hope they never happen.

[Mid-Carder]

Unfortunately, "hire everyone, never let anyone go" is a nice idea in principle but AEW is still a business

[Talent Name]

Kinda of weird about Jose as he was getting real swole looking like he may want to wrestle sooner than later, LFI is a bust just let RUSH do his own thing

[bearned]

I don’t want anyone losing their jobs but at some point AEW was going to have to start trimming the roster a bit. Maybe this is the start of TK letting other people run the business to lighten his load.

[CeilingFan]

Parker Boudreaux had potential. If Tony had turned ROH into a real Developmental league Parker could've slowly improved his game.

[HMARK Center]

Releases always suck, but curious about the report saying they’re considering what’s good for the wrestlers when picking names here. Not sure what that means, but guess we’ll see.

The most baffling ones are Dasha and Henry. With Henry, I’m guessing he was on a per appearance deal, so I won’t be shocked if he’s back sooner than later once he’s healed up. But Dasha? She was good at her job, always came across great at live events with the fans, not sure what the reasoning is there. Also, kind of have a minor crush on her, so selfishly that sucks, as well.

Apr 2, 2024 0:24:23 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave is Correct said:

Apr 1, 2024 21:02:18 GMT -5 DrBackflipsHoffman said:

Weird to think now how along ago Smash Bros wear tearing up PWG with tons of other AEW and WWE names, like they were part of that insane Threemendous III ladder match. Always better than their usage would suggest to people. They had amazing and funny matches just all the time.

They also had some real great matches in CHIKARA... before Quack basically drove them out by forcing Stu into a mask.

Apr 1, 2024 23:25:02 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

I like Dalton a lot and his act is fun but I also feel like he's designed to be at a certain level doing that in perpetuity. It could be a risk to try something new but he's talented enough to evolve the act as time goes by.

sounds like We need the return of 'Smooth Sailing' Ashley Remington >_>

Oddly enough, he had a split second cameo on ROH a couple of weeks ago; Dalton told Johnny TV he was bringing in a “friend” to face him, and when Lexi tried to find out who it was (there was a dressing room door hastily marked as “Dalton’s Friend”), Dalton briefly stumbled out in a captain’s hat.

The Boys being gone mid storyline is weird, too, but it wouldn’t be the first time Dalton did his act more on his own or with others in the Boy roles.

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

Apr 1, 2024 22:26:10 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

The Henry one is just weird in that I would expect them to treat Anthony and JD as a packaged deal. They're better together than separate. And if you were to release one, you'd think it would be the one who isn't hurt.

Hopefully this means they're about to give J.D. Drake that evil professional bowler gimmick and a giant push

[UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm]

Apr 2, 2024 6:55:00 GMT -5 Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite said:

Apr 1, 2024 22:26:10 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

The Henry one is just weird in that I would expect them to treat Anthony and JD as a packaged deal. They're better together than separate. And if you were to release one, you'd think it would be the one who isn't hurt.

Hopefully this means they're about to give J.D. Drake that evil professional bowler gimmick and a giant push

qt marshall is gonna be pissed about this one

[polarbearpete]

The whole being released immediately instead of in 90 days thing is a double edged sword. If a talent is making more on their AEW contract than they will elsewhere, they lose out money-wise.

[THE FVNKER]

I don’t see how this is either a surprise, or unjustified from TK or AEW’s standpoint in general.

AEW is still a business, and if releases need to be made to help improve the bottom line it’s going to happen.

I don’t say that coldly.. it’s actually really possible that I could (along with tons of my friends/coworkers) be looking at losing employment due to a company merger in the near future. It sucks, and personally I’m a little upset about it but I understand that a company is going to meet the needs of itself first.

Probably sounds a little luke warm at best given how upset it seems like everyone else is about these releases but that’s just life folks. Especially if you’re an independent contractor. I do genuinely hope they find gainful employment elsewhere though.

[Kalmia]

I can understand that it's business while still thinking it sucks and wishing it never had to happen.

[Feargus McReddit]

Apr 2, 2024 7:23:17 GMT -5 Kalmia said:

I can understand that it's business while still thinking it sucks and wishing it never had to happen.

Same.

And for my personal preference, if you can’t commit to the three year deal you’re offering, don’t offer people three year deals. There shouldn’t be a reason to opt out of that unless the people involved are genuinely bad for your company.