2018 was a defining year in
what is becoming a storied career for “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes. The
son of the late great “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and brother of Goldust saw
his career skyrocket to all-time highs as he continued to wrestle for every
significant promotion in the world not named WWE with Ring of Honor, New Japan,
and the NWA to name a few, capturing titles, and establishing himself as a
household name along the way. It’s easy to say the man who once carried the
moniker Stardust has left those days far behind.
Cody and The Elite even
produced what was arguably one of, if not the, best pay-per-views of the year
with the hugely successful All In. Cody wasted no time ensuring his momentum
would continue at its frenetic pace, barely into 2019, as he unveiled an all
new wrestling promotion last week along with his Elite cohorts, The Young Bucks
and Hangman Page. The promotion, appropriately coined All Elite Wrestling or
AEW, announced its initial roster and it is loaded with a bevy of talent
already.
Here is the roster at the
time this article:
Cody Rhodes
Matt Jackson
Nick Jackson
Hangman Page
Christopher Daniels
Frankie Kazarian
Scorpio Sky
Cima
El Lindaman
Joey Janela
Maxwell Jacob Friedman
Pac
Takehiro Yamamura
T-Hawk
Chris Jericho
Brandi Rhodes
Britt Baker
Penelope Ford
Billy Gunn (Producer)
B.J. Whitmer (Producer)
Aside from The Elite, other
highlights of this list include the former Ring of Honor stable SoCal
Uncensored (Daniels, Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky), Pac (formerly known as
Neville in WWE), and the bombshell signing of the Ayatollah of Rock’n’Rolla,
Chris Jericho. Additionally, the rumors have already begun to swirl with fans
speculating whether this will be the promotion to sign Kenny Omega and
potentially draw C.M. Punk back to the world of pro wrestling.
The next point to explore is
whether this company can be a legitimate competitor to the WWE. Since the
demise of ECW and WCW, no other promotion has really applied the pressure on
WWE. Sure there are a lot of great promotions out there but for one reason or
another, they just don’t have the complete package put together to contest for
brand supremacy. TNA/Impact continues to be able to pull cable TV deals and
produce pay-per-views but unfortunately it’s been a necessity for them to
operate with an economical approach by proceeding with practices such as
completing their TV tapings in clusters and sharing talent with other
promotions, while only being able to fill venues that hold maybe a few thousand
at most.
New Japan Pro Wrestling is
arguably the largest promotion in the world outside of WWE but their exposure
to the North American audience is limited to streaming and their major events
air live when most people are sleeping.
Ring of Honor is a phenomenal
promotion but unfortunately they haven’t had a national TV deal since they were
dumped by Destination America and have become the WWE’s source of talent
vulturing - some examples include Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson), Seth
Rollins, The Undisputed Era, and War Raiders (War Machine) to name a few.
Here’s how AEW appears to set
themselves apart from these promotions: 1) They have already announced their
first show labeled “Double or Nothing” which will emanate from the MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV on May 25. 2) There are apparently several
possibilities for TV deals with rumors swirling of potential suitors including
the Paramount Network (formerly Spike TV), WGN America, TNT/TBS, and even DAZN.
3) They have the financial backing of multi-millionaires Shahid and Tony Khan
who are the owners of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars (starting to get a sense
of déjà vu??).
Now nobody should be
disillusioned to think they will become an instant competitor to WWE but at
least there’s a glimmer of hope - hope that a metaphorical fire will be lit
under the ass of WWE to put some effort into their product. I personally find
NXT to be the most entertaining and fresh programming they produce outside of
an occasional episode of Smackdown. Other than those exceptions, the product
has become stale with poor storytelling, mediocre promos put forth by the
talent, and mismanagement of the roster.
When one explores the history
of WWE, their most entertaining eras were the days when Hulk Hogan, The
Ultimate Warrior, and Randy Savage were regular headliners and, without
question, The Attitude Era. The Attitude Era wasn’t just entertaining because
of the TV-14 rating, but also because it was the only time they’ve ever been
legitimately challenged by another promotion. The future looks very promising
for AEW and WWE certainly took notice after the Jericho signing which was
evident by their immediate movement of his profile on their website to the
Alumni section.
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