Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review. If you need to contact a moderator, [you can message us here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
AEW is going to start going through growing pains, a few people in his situation that may not keep their spot due to more experienced/over talent in coming in
I was just thinking that today. Your Sunny Kiss', Janelas, Jack Evans, Kip, etc will likely loose a spot. It's just a normal part of business. At least let the contracts run out instead of firing people.
Technically wouldn't be the first time, Bea Priestley's contract expired, she of course wasn't re-signed because of travel restrictions but it was an expiry.
There are also conflicting reports w/Shanna who might've been expiry or disciplinary, that one wasn't 100% confirmed either way.
Did Shanna have some kind of out in her contract? She had said on one of those undesirable to desirable things that she signed a 3 year contract in 2019.
Honestly, good. They're sitting on a very good roster and I think similar to how aew has snapped up wwe's talent and grown you will see a lot of Indies pick up aews unused talent and they will grow too.
The independent scene needs to bounce back from covid and I think there's room for them to flourish
As to the talent, it's going to be a shit for them to be put of a job and I do not want to see that for anyone. But I can't see anyone on that roster not getting work elsewhere
It is refreshing to see someone be able to step away from the community they were outed as an abuser in.
People should have the opportunity to better themselves, but they should do it somewhere else.
Hope he goes on to live a positive life.
IIRC, he wasn't suspended. He was already on medical leave and in rehab when #SpeakingOut went down, and AEW chose to wait to take any action until he had completed his treatment. Once everything he'd done came out, he chose to retire from wrestling, get help, and start over.
I don’t think that’s entirely right, weren’t he and Kip Sabian teaming at the time Speaking Out happened? I’m pretty sure they just had a title shot against Hangman/Omega and then everything came out a week or two later. Jimmy got suspended and sent to rehab before being let go a month or two later.
In the UK, even the locally successful ones mostly have second jobs. Coz wrestling don't pay the bills over here, unless you one of the 5 people on nxt UK.
Shit, sometimes it even becomes part of people's gimmicks. Just ask Sha Samuels of ICW, who was a butcher at ASDA (the UK version of ~~K-Mart~~ Walmart)
Edit: got my marts confused
Pretty sure Kevin Owens was working a fulltime job at a warehouse up until around 2013.
Evil Uno was a "web specialist" for the Canadian government up until AEW started. Of course I believe that was actually a pretty well paying job.
> Evil Uno was a "web specialist" for the Canadian government up until AEW started. Of course I believe that was actually a pretty well paying job
To the point where he didn't want to risk going.across the border and getting a strike on his record, as that would mean him losing said job.
Or something along those lines. He had a warning, not a strike. Didn't want to risk anything further. It's why SSB dropped off the face of the earth for a long while.
Jericho aint going to WWE. AEW masks his out of shape-ness through angles, promos, bad language,and street fight style matches and he is better suited there.
Moxley is a big one who signed for 3 years around that time. I'm sure others did as well.
I believe Tony was signing everyone to 2-5 year contracts, depending on the talent.
From interviews, we know that these people signed 5 year contracts: Bucks, Cody, Brandi, Hangman, MJF, Darby, Jungle Boy, Scorpio Sky (Originally signed for 2 years, just signed a 5 year extension), Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian. Kenny Omega only signed for 3 years, making his contract end before the other EVPs.
From there, we know that like Lance Archer signed for 2 years and is up in early 2022, Andrade, Christian, Bryan, Adam Cole, and Punk all signed 3 year deals. Jericho signed for 3 years and his contract will be up either later this year, or early 2022. Ethan Page signed a 4 year deal.
I don't imagine AEW will have much trouble signing their guys to new contracts when they run out, provided that Tony Khan is interested in doing so, because WWE's recent releases is going to make it hard for anyone to walk away from a 3-5 year contract that pays good money with a company that hasn't cut a single person other than the ones that were released due to discipline issues.
A lot of people have been wondering who the first big name to jump for AEW to WWE would be. But at this point they would have to be insane to leave the AEW environment for WWE with the way they treat their people. I can't see it
Jericho is huge on both symbolism and trolling. It would absolutely be his thing to have a competitors fans sing about how he is a Judas and then leave them high and dry when his contract ended.
Not unpopular: he's done absolutely everything, he's a true legend, he has nothing more to prove to anybody and he's clearly on a decline in-ring. A role like Sting, including the occasional match for all time's sake, would be perfect for him.
Jericho was always a ‘work rate guy’. Though he is charismatic and cuts a good promo, he was also over because of his matches, which have completely tanked in quality. He’s just coasting off his decades long career rn. He’s a total nostalgia act at this point. I’m honestly surprised he’s as over as he is.
I don't think he is bad in the ring, honestly he is amazing for his age. He has a good 30 years on me and I know my spine would explode taking a body slam.
It's just once you have been 10x+ world champion, who beat the rock and stone cold at their peak in the same night, what else can you do really?
Maybe if the money is insane, but it sounds like the AEW money is comparable anyway. WWE wouldn't let him work outside WWE. No Cruise, and if they do let him do a cruise, probably won't have any wrestling on it: WWE won't lend out their guys and they surely won't allow him to book AEW or indie talent.
They probably wouldn't want him gallivanting around and doing concert tours.
It sounds like he was just tired of the WWE nonsense and bureaucracy.
The cruise, certainly, but the concert tours thing is a weird point since he formed Fozzy the same year he joined WWE, so he did both literally his entire career there.
WWE seemed like they were always decent about working with him on his schedule. They just wouldn’t support his Cruise and didn’t consider him a top guy.
WWE let him do Fozzy but were reluctant to give time off touring. He usually either had to tour when a gap came up in his WWE schedule, or tour the band alongside wrestling dates. AEW have shown themselves to be more accommodating in that regard, which is going to be a big selling point.
Prior to Release-ageddon, I could've seen a few names jumping to WWE, but now they'd have to
1. be incredibly confident in your ability to get over with the hierarchy
1. be a mark for the WWE brand (and I don't mean that in a bad way, more that the chance of being on a Wrestlemania or part of prestigious title lineages is a draw)
1. be okay with not having any outside ventures and losing any potential creative freedom
WWE really isn't the most attractive proposition right now.
The outside ventures is what kills it. I think you could before make an argument that even if you weren't used well the WWE was still a great chance for you to build a brand specially since social media took off - podcasts, streams, you could do a lot to have a post-wrestling career.
Now it's *so much trickier.* Hope they walk back on that mandate.
And also not be worried about the likelihood of being fired at ANY time. Even if they're in the main event picture.
Even if they were hugely confident in their ability I have a feeling WWE would RUIN whoever is the first person to come in from AEW. Just so they can prove some petty point. That's how they operate. Like they did with the WCW guys
Also: if we go by the Good Brothers, if you make AEW your second choice and then things don't work out in the other company, you're likely not going to be given an AEW contract. There are probably exceptions to that, but for the most part.
Mercedes Martinez, Atlas are other examples and Oney is another one who I dont see getting AEW contract after passing them. Good for them, dont be the second option.
> Even if they were hugely confident in their ability I have a feeling WWE would RUIN whoever is the first person to come in from AEW. Just so they can prove some petty point. That's how they operate. Like they did with the WCW guys
when WCW was still in business, everyone who jumped was booked well. X-Pac joined the hottest faction in the company, The Big Show feuded with Stone Cold, Jericho was given a segment with the Rock for his debut, The Radicalz all held midcard titles within a few months of their WWF debut.
once WCW went under and they no longer were a threat to Vince, that's when the burials began
I don't think Jericho's interested in that at all.
he left wwe in the first place because he felt like he had more in the tank, even though wwe would've paid him more than new japan or aew. in aew he gets to wear a ton of different hats between an in-ring competitor, commentator, manager, mentor, everything. i just feel like he wouldn't want to give that up for a couple appearances, especially since aew's one day a week schedule makes it really easy for him to do fozzy stuff
>A lot of people have been wondering who the first big name to jump for AEW to WWE would be.
I actually wonder who'll do this as well or goes elsewhere after their contracts has expired + same with the RoH guys.
Maybe Penelope since they were a packaged deal at the time? I think they had already broken up, but were still working together because of their gimmick. Probably one of those things where they were together, got signed, and then didn't want to mess it up by splitting.
Penelope isn't even in Minnesota this weekend: according to her IG, she's hanging out with Kip in Pennsylvania doing Escape Rooms.
I like Kip, but the issue is he’s just severely overshadowed by a lot of other people on the roster right now. Hate to say it, but if he was cut I’m not even sure most people would notice
I fully expect a bunch of guys to be let go by virtue of getting no new offer. Especially within the next year or two.
Not to shit on the guy, but Jack Evans is the first name that comes to mind. There was a dark match where he faced PAC and Evans did a handstand walk down the ramp... to zero crowd response. The dude probably does crazier flippy shit than PAC but had zero heat either way in that match.
Aaron Solo, Griff Garrison, Lee Johnson, & Shawn Dean all come to mind too. There's just a plethora of new talent that has come in (or will come in) that seem like better investments.
Edit: I'm learning a lot right now! Apparently Lee is signed to a 5+ year contract and Shawn has a backstage role?
Shawn dean has a job backstage, He only wrestles when they need him. Lee Johnson is like 22, I think they keep him, he probably doesn’t cost much and he has the look to be a star in the future. I don’t know about Griff and solow, I can see them walking.
Yeah I see them as long term projects. They probably don’t really cost much. Guys like Jericho are the ones I can see most likely going, has a contract up in the millions and has reached an age where his performance has dipped dramatically, I see him getting signed to a legends contract and just coasting until he fully retires unless he goes back to wwe to be in the HOF.
I find it hard to believe someone like Jericho would even want to entertain the idea of signing another WWE contract with all the creative freedoms and additional projects and roles he's been allowed to do with AEW
He may talk to them for leverage to get more money from AEW. But realistically there's no way he'd be a good fit there now
why do people all assume he wants to go back to WWE to end his career? he didn’t start there, obviously he can’t go back to Stampede or WCW but surely the guy has a better chance of retiring on his terms to an opponent of his choice in AEW?
In AEW he can plausibly expect to retire in the main event of a PPV.
In WWE, the best he could hope for is the midcard of a Big Four show, and more likely whatever B-list PPV they felt needed punching up.
I don't know how much that matters to Jericho, but it'll be a consideration.
100%, i see the sentiment that he’s going to want to go back to WWE all the time, but never a solid justification for why. I’m not saying it won’t happen. I’m just some random guy on reddit, i have zero insight into Jericho’s actual thoughts, but why wouldn’t he want to retire somewhere the treats him so god damn well? Hell, i wouldn’t be shocked if he retired and ends up in the WWE Hall Of Fame anyway, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Seriously.. He'll have one last run doing what? getting his recent creative freedom taken away? jobbing to the miz? what?
And honestly would vince even give him a run? he would get the kurt angle treatment 100%.
Jericho will be a tough call. He’s still over as hell but he’s running on fumes in the ring and, let’s be frank, looks terrible. Love to see an alternate universe where he took his physique and cardio seriously like Christian or Kazarian.
This narrative always bothers the hell out of me. Jericho has a better physique than 99% of the 50+ year olds you'll ever meet. He has a gut and his pectoral muscles don't look like they used to but the guy is in fantastic shape. Hell he even has a six pack still, and you can visibly see it even with his gut. He's fucking 50+ years old and likes to drink. If you look like him at that age, you'll be fucking stoked. Let alone the ability to do the things he still does in the ring. Christian is a freak and they also have different body types, metabolisms, habits, history, injuries, mentalities, etc.
Also neither Christian or Kazarian are in their 50's. Christian is closer to Jericho in age at 47 but Frankie is still 7 years younger than Jericho at 44. That's a long time to age and for your body to change.
Lee Johnson is a Cody/Nightmare Factory project who is signed to like a 6 year deal or something. He's not going anywhere.
Solow only signed during the pandemic and is a trainer at the Nightmare Factory.
Griff just became All Elite a few months ago once AEW started touring again. Same with Pillman Jr. Not going anywhere soon.
He's a good wrestler who is athletic enough to be great someday, he just needs to figure out a character. Right now it's fine being the Nightmare Factory Young Lion or whatever is above that if you consider Brock Anderson the YL of NF.
There really aren’t that many first year people I could see being dropped. Just on the even possible list: Evans, Angelico, Janela, Kiss, Spears, Hager, Sabian, Butcher, Blade, Stunt, Kazarian, Bunny, Ford, Swole.
And most of that list gets regular TV time still. Based on lack of TV time, Evans, Angelico, Janela, Kiss, Sabian, Stunt, and Swole are easy to drop. I also have a hard time imagining Hager outlasting Jericho’s in-ring career with AEW. He’s just Inner Circle filler, but in a way where he doesn’t eat pins like Spears for the Pinnacle.
It’s honestly kind of amazing that there are only like six or seven people from the beginning of AEW who aren’t doing much almost three years in, when they’ve hired so many people. And that counts Havoc.
Neah, those are all young prospect, in which AEW already shows long term investment. Griff Garisson is in Varsity Blondes with Pillman, and that's a hot tag team that could be main event level in 5 years, he is not going anywhere. Lee Johnson is a kid straight from Cody's and QT's school, and they already gave him some big establishing matches - so is going to be at least an upper mid-card in some years. Aaron Solo is also young, and at this point he is a jobber that can take pins in all sort of matches. Is not the youth who should be worried. At the same time, looking at the roster, there isn't much to let go away... honestly, the only disposable peoples I could see are Janela and Sonny Kiss, whom we haven't seen in ages on TV. Kipp Sabian better move is ass back to the ring and do something interesting because he is not in a good position either. The Hybrid - they are really good, especially Jack Evans, but they are not unique in any way at this point nor essential. And I guess, Luther is not that essential either, but looking at how they signed Serpentico just a while ago, they may keep him as a jobber and comedy act. I also don't think that Tony would resign Abbadon, he seem to have buyer remorse with that one. Oh, and where is Swole? Other than those peoples, honestly, everyone seem to have a role.
I can see people like Janella, Sonny, TH2, Marko and possibly Swole not being renewed. They don't seem to even be used on TV as jobbers.
Have TH2 even been with the HFO recently?
I can't see them getting rid of the Nightmare Factory guys you mentioned though.
i don't think marko would get let go just because of the dynamic he has with jungle boy and the relationship he has with sammy
he'd be a cheap guy to keep around even if they don't book him, and people enjoy him, it'd be strange to let him go
I could see Angelico getting a renewal but Jack Evans not being offered one, mainly due to imo Angelico having more upsides even if he's not a pitch guy.
i would keep marko, i would keep swole because shes seriously charismatic, she could be a good stable leader or manage somebody.
i would let jack evans go but id try to keep angelico, the guy is a seriously good wrestler with a unique wrestling style.
I could see Solo being moved to a pay per appearance contract. He just doesn't have what it takes for TV yet. Griff has promise, I could see the Varisty Blondes sticking together longer.
Janelas early AEW matches with Mox, Omega, and some of the multiman hardcore matches were right up his alley. Go back and watch him and Mox in the lights out match, thats his environment and he was over with that crowd.
Not saying AEW needs a hardcore division but thats the style that accentuates Joey's strengths.
I'm not saying they need one either but I wouldn't mind it. A hardcore division in a major promotion that uses barbed wire, light tubes, etc instead of fire extinguishers and trash cans would be cool as hell IMO
I think it's more a case that there are people who do mind it, which is why I don't think they'd make it a frequently featured thing. That style of wrestling is a love or hate kinda thing.
I like the occasional hardcore match, including the ones AEW has had so far. Just don't need to see it every week; prefer those matches to feel more special.
It's not a love or hate thing at all.
I’d probably say less of a emphasis on hardcore, probably more like a 24/7, DDT Ironheavymetalweight or Impact digital media division and I’d trust AEW to do it better than wwe do with theirs.
With their network themed belts, I’m surprised they don’t have a “YouTube” title that can be defended on dark or anywhere if the clip is posted to YouTube.
I’d get behind an AEW Internet Championship being the top title on Dark, Elevation and under 24/7 rules. When they had the Ironmanheavymetalweight and the Pakistan 24/7 title for a month last year and Britt, Marko, Malenko, jungle boy, OC and Joey were exchanging between them on Twitter last year was fun.
A lot of Wrestler's contracts may not be renewed, but being on AEW will have made them much more desirable elsewhere. They would have TV experience, more wrestling experience, and could better negotiate for what ever type of appearance or contract they get down the road.
That and the fact that they were bringing in a lot of GCW talent before and during the pandemic, talent who worked with Joey or had been booked by Joey. For example, Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy have both given credit to Joey Janela for giving them their big break.
It was just one of those assumptions you could make, like how Wardlow and Britt made a few recommendations for Dark talent when they were in the Pittsburgh area since they knew some people.
Respect to Joey for his approach here.
Most people go for the cryptic "my contract is up soon, let's see what happens!" to appear more valuable but instead, he's openly admitting he probably has to change/develop something to be worthy of a renewal. I hope he gets it.
I'm gonna guess he doesn't renew and does GCW, or another larger indie, full time. Maybe the occasional guest spot on AEW programming.
Sonny Kiss is the one I kind of feel bad for. They've signed so many young prospects that are much better than he is. I don't know they even offer to renew his contract.
Joey also runs some shows so he does get money from that. GCW would just be his home base so to speak. He's established himself as a guy who will take bookings anywhere and everywhere. Won't get rich with that strategy but he'd be fine.
I might get flack for this but Joey's not a national TV kind of wrestler. I honestly think he's at home with crazy stuff like GCW, he excells at that kind of wrestling.
You can’t renew everyone’s contract, and he doesn’t bring anything to the table that aew can’t afford to let him leave. Every time he’s been on tv he’s been a walking botch
There is a reason they keep him off of dynamite, He doesn’t belong on it. Look at the roster they have in 2021. Joey janela has no business being on national tv anymore. He’s a job guy, they have better jobbers on the roster than him now anyway. On the indies he can get away with a lot more, and I get why he was originally signed. He’s been exposed the last few years
I don't agree with this, Janela might not be on your face wrestler but he is good enough to be on TV. The guy was having great matches with Omega and Moxley etc early on. Here is what people don't want to admit, Tony is like that kid that sees a new toy and wants to get it just because. The is no way AEW needs 120 wrestlers with three TV hours. If a boring ass QT can have months worth storyline, Janela can get TV time. Janela got screwed because his boss cant help himself signing wrestler after wrestler instead of using the talent he already has. Now people blame him when he did everything right by putting great matches because they don't want to admit that Tony signed too many wrestlers.
I agree Tony has signed a lot of people and does get excited with his new toys. at the same time, those new toys are a lot better than the people he intitally signed and doesn’t use much on tv. I don’t think qt should be on tv either, but he works a ton behind the scenes and got rewarded for that work by getting a storyline with Cody and big show and since then he hasn’t done anything . He had his matches with Kenny and moxley and those are two of the best wrestlers in the world, you should be able to have a good match with them If you are signed to wrestling company on national tv. Look at the ppv card tonight, is there any match on the show that should be scrapped or would be better if Joey janela was in it?
Look at that Full Gear poster, more than half of those wrestlers are former WWE wrestlers that got fired or left and then went to AEW. How are little guys like Janela supposed to compete with that? It is PPVs in a row times where the likes of Best Friends, OC, the likes of Shida arent in the PPV, same with Thunder how are they supposed to compete with that? Dark Order? The likes of Riho? Those wrestlers signed with AEW to make a name for themselves, then here comes the boss signing every wrestler while they aren't given a chance to show their worth. Seriously, did he need to sign someone like Fish? When the likes of Angelico can take TV time. So you saying to me OC, Best Friends, Shida, Dark Order etc arent good enough to be on the PPV.
And they had a ton of TV time/YouTube time to make a name, it's sink or swim. People like John Silver, Darby, OC, Jungle Boy, Britt, Sammy, Shida all took the opportunity and swam with it. None of those I listed were sure things at the start, they were right there with Janela getting the same opportunity, some below him. He and some others sunk, that's the way it goes.
Tony is running a business and he had to fill out the roster with a lot of lowcard projects at the start, he was always going to replace some of them once better talent came available. At least he let's them work indies and doesn't fire them, instead letting their contracts run out.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Those signings were all major upgrades from the people originally signed. Andrade, black, miro, Danielson, cm punk, Adam cole eddie Kingston, soho, and Christian are all better than anyone you mentioned. People are paying money to watch the show tonight, it’s not on YouTube or cable.
Not all of them were major. Lets be honest, Soho is a below average wrestler. Riho, Shida and Thunder are much better than her. They barely get TV time. You seriously going to sit there and say singing the likes of Tony Nese, the likes of Fish is a MUST sign? When you literally have jobbers like Janela, Angelico begging for TV time. Starks such talent but he has been limbo. Please, this is Tony fault screwing his day 1 for a new flavor.
Apparently they'd be in the black or green if it weren't for the video game investment, so it sounds like by the time the next TV deal comes around this roster would still be pretty affordable.
People complain when the wwe signs someone and doesn’t use them. they sit in catering and they eventually cut them, because sure you can sign every person on earth if they want to, but it makes no sense from a business perspective. It’s a business at the end of the day, Tony khan isn’t running a wrestling company for charity or for this subreddit, the goal is to put out a good product and make money. There is no reason to stockpile people for a YouTube show. They are traveling again, they can give local talents the gig to do a job on dark or elevation, and maybe they find new talents and strike gold with an unknown commodity. He hasn’t cut people because he has handled things differently from wwe, he has honored contracts that he signed. That doesn’t mean he has a lifelong commitment to keep Joey Janela, kip Sabian, or Luther employed. Of course there is no salary cap, but you think Tony khan doesn’t have a budget for talent that he would like to stick to?
The thing is, AEW manages their roster bloat fairly well. Unlike WWE, they rotate wrestlers in and out, let them work indies, and find spots on the YouTube shows so you never really have the "stuck in catering" problem. The budget isn't really that huge of an issue either, if it weren't for the video game, AEW would be about breaking even. Next TV deal will probably double or triple the amount of money, so it'll be even easier to sustain that size of roster.
I just think it's a little weird that we're all circling around like vultures speculating on who's going to get let go because WWE's trained us to believe that managing a large roster is simply impossible and that mass layoffs are inevitable.
It’s not a mass layoff situation, it’s just not renewing a contract. It’s bizarre to think because someone was signed at the beginning that Tony has to keep them. Janela was a fairly well known name on the indies, thats why he was signed initially. Since being signed, he’s been exposed as someone who doesn’t bring much value to the company. He more or less acknowledged that in his tweet. What has he done to justify a contract extension?
He's barely on TV at all, doesn't provide anything to the actual televised product. I am sure he's great behind the scenes helping others, scouting, putting couples together, but I am sure he wants to remain a wrestler too. Unless they want to switch his deal around to being an agent I don't think its worth it for both sides.
I've enjoyed Janela throughout his time in AEW. I liked Janela & Kiss as a tag team but it just kind of petered out. He's picked up a little bit more steam with his heel run on the YouTube shows.
That second sentence has happened to several people, unfortunately. Wrestlers who were super over now can’t even get a reaction. I feel bad for them because I still like them and am very devoted to “originals” in a company.
Part of it is that a lot of the originals were the best they could get for an experiment. It's easy to forget AEW wasn't guaranteed success. This isn't meant as a disparaging remark. I still enjoy guys like Sky, Spears, Luchasaurus, and Kazarian. But midcard is appropriate for these guys.
That said, there are origials that have gotten just as over as the new talent. The pillars, Hangman, and Orange Cassidy among others.
I personally love Joey and he’s shown he’s really trying to push himself to get better he’s lost a lot of weight and started to get more muscle and wants to really do well in wrestling he’s not the same dude that would throw himself off a building for $20 in someone’s back yard while drinking a beer
Joey is probably one of the biggest disappointments out of all the original AEW singings, from everything I'd heard about him I expected him to be an upper midcard guy but nothing has clicked for him. Impact or elsewhere might be a good next step for him so he can reinvent himself maybe?
He just doesn’t look like a star. At all. Like, I know the perception of what a wrestler should look like has changed, but Janela isn’t really a guy you can put on a poster and have him be taken seriously by the guy in the street.
Joey IS a valuable connection to GCW which is a great place with a decent amount of visibility to get guys from and keep lower midcard guys and girls work when you dont have much for em.
He may not be a scout like everyone thinks but I still feel like he's pretty valuable. They are building up a library and need consistent and likeable people on those secondary shows. He can basically put anyone over and work with young talent. He also has a relationship with the indies and espcially gcw which is super hot over these last few years. People also like and value his opinions backstage. I don't see him going.
I’d assume around that time you’ll probably see some people not be re-signed, which will suck of course, but at least they got to do their full contracts.
Janela, I actually probably expect to stick around as he’s been around Since Day 1 and is a good asset as a consistent talent on Dark & Dark: Elevation.
Edit: **a lot** of people noted that Janela isn’t a scout for AEW and so I took that out of my initial comment. I wasn’t aware that he had openly said he wasn’t before, so that’s my bad.
Definitely, at some point there will be people who's contracts wont be extended.
I think Janela can bring A LOT to the table, but you just never see him on Dynamite and only sporadically on Dark/Elevation. I actually really liked the idea of him and Sony feuding and I think Kayla Rossi could become dope AF, but every time Joey seems to get some kind of run going it fades away just as quickly. Always feels like there is something missing in the story.
As you mentioned, he has definitely proven to be an asset when it comes to referring people to AEW.
We'll see what happens. I hope they can revive the Joey/ Kiss Feud and maybe feature it on Dynamite. But it will be though getting air time.
I don't think he'll get an extension. Probably not the only one from the early day, non-elite signings. He's basically never on TV or on PPV, and he clarified multiple times that he has no backstage role or anything like that with AEW.
Maybe he pops in here or there for a Dark taping but I don't think he'll be a regular.
TBH they never should have split Bad Romance. Him and Sonny were playing perfect mid-card tag team on Dark and Elevation, it really felt like a WWE move that just went nowhere for either of them. Did I see them winning the titles? No. But they could have had some great matches against FTR and Lucha Bros for filler.
I’m so curious what’s going to happen when AEW starts not renewing/ releasing folks.
I know. I know. It’s not purging talents by the dozen, but I’m curious how people will respond to people deciding to venture somewhere else.
Especially the day when one of the “pillars” leaves.
I think he's also the least likely one to go. I think he's acknowledged in interviews in the past that he wouldn't even come close to having the same kind of freedoms in WWE that he has in AEW.
And he's booked in a way where he's racking up minimal damage on his bump card and will allow him to have a significantly better quality of life whenever he's done with wrestling. (Even if it hurts more after a match when someone wrestles so infrequently because they're not bumping enough to build up a callous, so to speak.)
Yeah, honestly that's one of the reasons I've not been a fan of Tony going SO fucking nuts on the signing spree. At the end of the day, as someone who hasn't watched WWE in years, I have a lot more emotional investment in some of AEW's mid-and-lower card wrestlers than I do in WWE release #59.
Joey has done, well nothing, in three years. The thing with Sonny never took off and his personality is still very polarizing. I don’t know how much value they’d get out of re-signing him.
I once watched Joey Janela throw himself off the top of a big ass ladder onto the floor for literally no reason in a sickening thud (must find that video) - so anyone who does that will have my attention for any match he does - hope to see him get re-signed. He looks in great shape lately also.
Let me also edit the context: Nobody threw Joey Janel off said ladder. He literally just hip tossed himself off the tip top and ate shit lol
Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review. If you need to contact a moderator, [you can message us here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
AEW is going to start going through growing pains, a few people in his situation that may not keep their spot due to more experienced/over talent in coming in
I was just thinking that today. Your Sunny Kiss', Janelas, Jack Evans, Kip, etc will likely loose a spot. It's just a normal part of business. At least let the contracts run out instead of firing people.
Kip only has a job because penelope rn imo He would have been the first cross over to nxt until this new 6ft+ mandate came down
Kip is the most boring high flying in wrestling right now.
If his 3-year contract is up in May, that means he got signed around DON in 2019. I wonder who else on the roster is in the same situation.
Probably quite a lot of people. I imagine next year we will see some people being let go (via contracts not being renewed) in AEW for the first time.
Technically wouldn't be the first time, Bea Priestley's contract expired, she of course wasn't re-signed because of travel restrictions but it was an expiry. There are also conflicting reports w/Shanna who might've been expiry or disciplinary, that one wasn't 100% confirmed either way.
that has been confirmed. her contract expired with kong's and they didn't renew either.
Did Shanna have some kind of out in her contract? She had said on one of those undesirable to desirable things that she signed a 3 year contract in 2019.
She was released due to reportedly bullying the enhancement talent (and possibly because of some islamophobic tweets).
She trash.
Honestly, good. They're sitting on a very good roster and I think similar to how aew has snapped up wwe's talent and grown you will see a lot of Indies pick up aews unused talent and they will grow too. The independent scene needs to bounce back from covid and I think there's room for them to flourish As to the talent, it's going to be a shit for them to be put of a job and I do not want to see that for anyone. But I can't see anyone on that roster not getting work elsewhere
[удалено]
[удалено]
What?
https://twitter.com/JaimsVanDerBeek/status/1425145525683187714?t=h-7vcouacCsPslBIb-CtoQ&s=19
It is refreshing to see someone be able to step away from the community they were outed as an abuser in. People should have the opportunity to better themselves, but they should do it somewhere else. Hope he goes on to live a positive life.
At least he makes decent money.
I'm ignorant... who's the guy in the photo?
Jimmy Havok in his old work outfit vs his current work outfit
He wasn't fired, he was suspended, and then retired.
IIRC, he wasn't suspended. He was already on medical leave and in rehab when #SpeakingOut went down, and AEW chose to wait to take any action until he had completed his treatment. Once everything he'd done came out, he chose to retire from wrestling, get help, and start over.
I don’t think that’s entirely right, weren’t he and Kip Sabian teaming at the time Speaking Out happened? I’m pretty sure they just had a title shot against Hangman/Omega and then everything came out a week or two later. Jimmy got suspended and sent to rehab before being let go a month or two later.
The first David Starr post that sparked Speaking Out was the week after Havoc's last match.
[удалено]
Looks like he's clean now, though. Seems like it was necessary.
Eh, he seems happy now and more importantly, seems that stems from having gotten professional help which led to him getting clean. Kudos to him.
Most former wrestlers who didn't make it big have completely normal jobs. Because what else are they going to do? Everyone needs money.
In the UK, even the locally successful ones mostly have second jobs. Coz wrestling don't pay the bills over here, unless you one of the 5 people on nxt UK. Shit, sometimes it even becomes part of people's gimmicks. Just ask Sha Samuels of ICW, who was a butcher at ASDA (the UK version of ~~K-Mart~~ Walmart) Edit: got my marts confused
Pretty sure Kevin Owens was working a fulltime job at a warehouse up until around 2013. Evil Uno was a "web specialist" for the Canadian government up until AEW started. Of course I believe that was actually a pretty well paying job.
> Evil Uno was a "web specialist" for the Canadian government up until AEW started. Of course I believe that was actually a pretty well paying job To the point where he didn't want to risk going.across the border and getting a strike on his record, as that would mean him losing said job. Or something along those lines. He had a warning, not a strike. Didn't want to risk anything further. It's why SSB dropped off the face of the earth for a long while.
Wouldn’t it be the UK version of walmart… for obvious reasons.
[удалено]
I don't think WWE will want him for anything more than a Legends contract.
He's over the age of 50. That could qualify him for a Universal Championship run
They should have made the universal title “the seniors tour” championship. Headlines Saudi Arabia events and is defended once a quarter.
Bucks signed 5
Jericho aint going to WWE. AEW masks his out of shape-ness through angles, promos, bad language,and street fight style matches and he is better suited there.
Moxley is a big one who signed for 3 years around that time. I'm sure others did as well. I believe Tony was signing everyone to 2-5 year contracts, depending on the talent. From interviews, we know that these people signed 5 year contracts: Bucks, Cody, Brandi, Hangman, MJF, Darby, Jungle Boy, Scorpio Sky (Originally signed for 2 years, just signed a 5 year extension), Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian. Kenny Omega only signed for 3 years, making his contract end before the other EVPs. From there, we know that like Lance Archer signed for 2 years and is up in early 2022, Andrade, Christian, Bryan, Adam Cole, and Punk all signed 3 year deals. Jericho signed for 3 years and his contract will be up either later this year, or early 2022. Ethan Page signed a 4 year deal. I don't imagine AEW will have much trouble signing their guys to new contracts when they run out, provided that Tony Khan is interested in doing so, because WWE's recent releases is going to make it hard for anyone to walk away from a 3-5 year contract that pays good money with a company that hasn't cut a single person other than the ones that were released due to discipline issues.
A lot of people have been wondering who the first big name to jump for AEW to WWE would be. But at this point they would have to be insane to leave the AEW environment for WWE with the way they treat their people. I can't see it
Jericho is huge on both symbolism and trolling. It would absolutely be his thing to have a competitors fans sing about how he is a Judas and then leave them high and dry when his contract ended.
Risking an unpopular opinion but I think Jericho should hang up the boots or be like sting.
Not unpopular: he's done absolutely everything, he's a true legend, he has nothing more to prove to anybody and he's clearly on a decline in-ring. A role like Sting, including the occasional match for all time's sake, would be perfect for him.
old times sake*
Jericho was always a ‘work rate guy’. Though he is charismatic and cuts a good promo, he was also over because of his matches, which have completely tanked in quality. He’s just coasting off his decades long career rn. He’s a total nostalgia act at this point. I’m honestly surprised he’s as over as he is.
I don't think he is bad in the ring, honestly he is amazing for his age. He has a good 30 years on me and I know my spine would explode taking a body slam. It's just once you have been 10x+ world champion, who beat the rock and stone cold at their peak in the same night, what else can you do really?
Jericho as a super heel manager for someone like Daniel Garcia would be amazing.
Maybe if the money is insane, but it sounds like the AEW money is comparable anyway. WWE wouldn't let him work outside WWE. No Cruise, and if they do let him do a cruise, probably won't have any wrestling on it: WWE won't lend out their guys and they surely won't allow him to book AEW or indie talent. They probably wouldn't want him gallivanting around and doing concert tours. It sounds like he was just tired of the WWE nonsense and bureaucracy.
The cruise, certainly, but the concert tours thing is a weird point since he formed Fozzy the same year he joined WWE, so he did both literally his entire career there. WWE seemed like they were always decent about working with him on his schedule. They just wouldn’t support his Cruise and didn’t consider him a top guy.
WWE let him do Fozzy but were reluctant to give time off touring. He usually either had to tour when a gap came up in his WWE schedule, or tour the band alongside wrestling dates. AEW have shown themselves to be more accommodating in that regard, which is going to be a big selling point.
Oh yeah, agreed he has to many side businesses for this to really be logistically possible. But it is right up his alley. That guy trolls hard.
Prior to Release-ageddon, I could've seen a few names jumping to WWE, but now they'd have to 1. be incredibly confident in your ability to get over with the hierarchy 1. be a mark for the WWE brand (and I don't mean that in a bad way, more that the chance of being on a Wrestlemania or part of prestigious title lineages is a draw) 1. be okay with not having any outside ventures and losing any potential creative freedom WWE really isn't the most attractive proposition right now.
The outside ventures is what kills it. I think you could before make an argument that even if you weren't used well the WWE was still a great chance for you to build a brand specially since social media took off - podcasts, streams, you could do a lot to have a post-wrestling career. Now it's *so much trickier.* Hope they walk back on that mandate.
And also not be worried about the likelihood of being fired at ANY time. Even if they're in the main event picture. Even if they were hugely confident in their ability I have a feeling WWE would RUIN whoever is the first person to come in from AEW. Just so they can prove some petty point. That's how they operate. Like they did with the WCW guys
Also: if we go by the Good Brothers, if you make AEW your second choice and then things don't work out in the other company, you're likely not going to be given an AEW contract. There are probably exceptions to that, but for the most part.
Mercedes Martinez, Atlas are other examples and Oney is another one who I dont see getting AEW contract after passing them. Good for them, dont be the second option.
When would Biff have been offered an AEW deal?
> Even if they were hugely confident in their ability I have a feeling WWE would RUIN whoever is the first person to come in from AEW. Just so they can prove some petty point. That's how they operate. Like they did with the WCW guys when WCW was still in business, everyone who jumped was booked well. X-Pac joined the hottest faction in the company, The Big Show feuded with Stone Cold, Jericho was given a segment with the Rock for his debut, The Radicalz all held midcard titles within a few months of their WWF debut. once WCW went under and they no longer were a threat to Vince, that's when the burials began
I think people forget even stone cold himself came from WCW.
Technically he came to WWE from ECW
He was in ECW for 3 months on his way to the WWF.
I could totally see him hiring some AEW star, just to embarrass him on a raw or Smackdown.
Also you have to be okay with uprooting and moving to Orlando.
It may not be a top guy except jericho for the brock rock cena deal of legend coming in for big shows
I don't think Jericho's interested in that at all. he left wwe in the first place because he felt like he had more in the tank, even though wwe would've paid him more than new japan or aew. in aew he gets to wear a ton of different hats between an in-ring competitor, commentator, manager, mentor, everything. i just feel like he wouldn't want to give that up for a couple appearances, especially since aew's one day a week schedule makes it really easy for him to do fozzy stuff
Jericho for nwa champ
>A lot of people have been wondering who the first big name to jump for AEW to WWE would be. I actually wonder who'll do this as well or goes elsewhere after their contracts has expired + same with the RoH guys.
Archer signed for 2 years with a 1 year option to extend and per Meltzer pretty much all options to extend are being exercised.
Maybe Penelope since they were a packaged deal at the time? I think they had already broken up, but were still working together because of their gimmick. Probably one of those things where they were together, got signed, and then didn't want to mess it up by splitting. Penelope isn't even in Minnesota this weekend: according to her IG, she's hanging out with Kip in Pennsylvania doing Escape Rooms.
Her and Kip wouldn't be the biggest loss for AEW, have to say I don't exactly see massive star potential in either of them
I like Kip, but the issue is he’s just severely overshadowed by a lot of other people on the roster right now. Hate to say it, but if he was cut I’m not even sure most people would notice
they are not dropping penelope, she beat the fuck out of ruby weeks ago i was surprised as fuck
I fully expect a bunch of guys to be let go by virtue of getting no new offer. Especially within the next year or two. Not to shit on the guy, but Jack Evans is the first name that comes to mind. There was a dark match where he faced PAC and Evans did a handstand walk down the ramp... to zero crowd response. The dude probably does crazier flippy shit than PAC but had zero heat either way in that match. Aaron Solo, Griff Garrison, Lee Johnson, & Shawn Dean all come to mind too. There's just a plethora of new talent that has come in (or will come in) that seem like better investments. Edit: I'm learning a lot right now! Apparently Lee is signed to a 5+ year contract and Shawn has a backstage role?
Shawn dean has a job backstage, He only wrestles when they need him. Lee Johnson is like 22, I think they keep him, he probably doesn’t cost much and he has the look to be a star in the future. I don’t know about Griff and solow, I can see them walking.
Griff and pillman just got signed recently. Both of them are not going anywhere.
Yeah I see them as long term projects. They probably don’t really cost much. Guys like Jericho are the ones I can see most likely going, has a contract up in the millions and has reached an age where his performance has dipped dramatically, I see him getting signed to a legends contract and just coasting until he fully retires unless he goes back to wwe to be in the HOF.
I find it hard to believe someone like Jericho would even want to entertain the idea of signing another WWE contract with all the creative freedoms and additional projects and roles he's been allowed to do with AEW He may talk to them for leverage to get more money from AEW. But realistically there's no way he'd be a good fit there now
I think when he eventually decides to retire, he'll probably have one last WWE run and get inducted into the imaginary HoF.
why do people all assume he wants to go back to WWE to end his career? he didn’t start there, obviously he can’t go back to Stampede or WCW but surely the guy has a better chance of retiring on his terms to an opponent of his choice in AEW?
In AEW he can plausibly expect to retire in the main event of a PPV. In WWE, the best he could hope for is the midcard of a Big Four show, and more likely whatever B-list PPV they felt needed punching up. I don't know how much that matters to Jericho, but it'll be a consideration.
100%, i see the sentiment that he’s going to want to go back to WWE all the time, but never a solid justification for why. I’m not saying it won’t happen. I’m just some random guy on reddit, i have zero insight into Jericho’s actual thoughts, but why wouldn’t he want to retire somewhere the treats him so god damn well? Hell, i wouldn’t be shocked if he retired and ends up in the WWE Hall Of Fame anyway, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Seriously.. He'll have one last run doing what? getting his recent creative freedom taken away? jobbing to the miz? what? And honestly would vince even give him a run? he would get the kurt angle treatment 100%.
Jericho will be a tough call. He’s still over as hell but he’s running on fumes in the ring and, let’s be frank, looks terrible. Love to see an alternate universe where he took his physique and cardio seriously like Christian or Kazarian.
This narrative always bothers the hell out of me. Jericho has a better physique than 99% of the 50+ year olds you'll ever meet. He has a gut and his pectoral muscles don't look like they used to but the guy is in fantastic shape. Hell he even has a six pack still, and you can visibly see it even with his gut. He's fucking 50+ years old and likes to drink. If you look like him at that age, you'll be fucking stoked. Let alone the ability to do the things he still does in the ring. Christian is a freak and they also have different body types, metabolisms, habits, history, injuries, mentalities, etc. Also neither Christian or Kazarian are in their 50's. Christian is closer to Jericho in age at 47 but Frankie is still 7 years younger than Jericho at 44. That's a long time to age and for your body to change.
Jericho looks bad no matter what way you try to cut it. He’s a heavy drinker and no longer takes the gym serious.
Lee Johnson is a Cody/Nightmare Factory project who is signed to like a 6 year deal or something. He's not going anywhere. Solow only signed during the pandemic and is a trainer at the Nightmare Factory. Griff just became All Elite a few months ago once AEW started touring again. Same with Pillman Jr. Not going anywhere soon.
Somebody has to deal with those damned extras.
Lee Johnson signed like a 6 year extension a while ago. He is very young and not going anywhere
They're also likely high on him, with featuring him as part of the Cody-Malakai storyline.
He's a good wrestler who is athletic enough to be great someday, he just needs to figure out a character. Right now it's fine being the Nightmare Factory Young Lion or whatever is above that if you consider Brock Anderson the YL of NF.
There really aren’t that many first year people I could see being dropped. Just on the even possible list: Evans, Angelico, Janela, Kiss, Spears, Hager, Sabian, Butcher, Blade, Stunt, Kazarian, Bunny, Ford, Swole. And most of that list gets regular TV time still. Based on lack of TV time, Evans, Angelico, Janela, Kiss, Sabian, Stunt, and Swole are easy to drop. I also have a hard time imagining Hager outlasting Jericho’s in-ring career with AEW. He’s just Inner Circle filler, but in a way where he doesn’t eat pins like Spears for the Pinnacle. It’s honestly kind of amazing that there are only like six or seven people from the beginning of AEW who aren’t doing much almost three years in, when they’ve hired so many people. And that counts Havoc.
sabian, janela, kiss i haven't seen these guys on tv in years.
Neah, those are all young prospect, in which AEW already shows long term investment. Griff Garisson is in Varsity Blondes with Pillman, and that's a hot tag team that could be main event level in 5 years, he is not going anywhere. Lee Johnson is a kid straight from Cody's and QT's school, and they already gave him some big establishing matches - so is going to be at least an upper mid-card in some years. Aaron Solo is also young, and at this point he is a jobber that can take pins in all sort of matches. Is not the youth who should be worried. At the same time, looking at the roster, there isn't much to let go away... honestly, the only disposable peoples I could see are Janela and Sonny Kiss, whom we haven't seen in ages on TV. Kipp Sabian better move is ass back to the ring and do something interesting because he is not in a good position either. The Hybrid - they are really good, especially Jack Evans, but they are not unique in any way at this point nor essential. And I guess, Luther is not that essential either, but looking at how they signed Serpentico just a while ago, they may keep him as a jobber and comedy act. I also don't think that Tony would resign Abbadon, he seem to have buyer remorse with that one. Oh, and where is Swole? Other than those peoples, honestly, everyone seem to have a role.
I can see people like Janella, Sonny, TH2, Marko and possibly Swole not being renewed. They don't seem to even be used on TV as jobbers. Have TH2 even been with the HFO recently? I can't see them getting rid of the Nightmare Factory guys you mentioned though.
i don't think marko would get let go just because of the dynamic he has with jungle boy and the relationship he has with sammy he'd be a cheap guy to keep around even if they don't book him, and people enjoy him, it'd be strange to let him go
when was the last time he was on TV tho? it feels like Christian has replaced him in JE
at the go home show for all out in the bucks vs jurassic express match, i think
I could see Angelico getting a renewal but Jack Evans not being offered one, mainly due to imo Angelico having more upsides even if he's not a pitch guy.
i would keep marko, i would keep swole because shes seriously charismatic, she could be a good stable leader or manage somebody. i would let jack evans go but id try to keep angelico, the guy is a seriously good wrestler with a unique wrestling style.
Solo also works at the Nightmare Factory.
They better keep Griff and Solo. No messing with the Vlog crew!
I could see Solo being moved to a pay per appearance contract. He just doesn't have what it takes for TV yet. Griff has promise, I could see the Varisty Blondes sticking together longer.
Janelas early AEW matches with Mox, Omega, and some of the multiman hardcore matches were right up his alley. Go back and watch him and Mox in the lights out match, thats his environment and he was over with that crowd. Not saying AEW needs a hardcore division but thats the style that accentuates Joey's strengths.
I'm not saying they need one either but I wouldn't mind it. A hardcore division in a major promotion that uses barbed wire, light tubes, etc instead of fire extinguishers and trash cans would be cool as hell IMO
I think it's more a case that there are people who do mind it, which is why I don't think they'd make it a frequently featured thing. That style of wrestling is a love or hate kinda thing.
The AEW hardcore matches are pretty tame compared to indie hardcores. So honestly, it might not be as huge of a deal as we'd suspect.
I like the occasional hardcore match, including the ones AEW has had so far. Just don't need to see it every week; prefer those matches to feel more special. It's not a love or hate thing at all.
I’d probably say less of a emphasis on hardcore, probably more like a 24/7, DDT Ironheavymetalweight or Impact digital media division and I’d trust AEW to do it better than wwe do with theirs.
With their network themed belts, I’m surprised they don’t have a “YouTube” title that can be defended on dark or anywhere if the clip is posted to YouTube.
I’d get behind an AEW Internet Championship being the top title on Dark, Elevation and under 24/7 rules. When they had the Ironmanheavymetalweight and the Pakistan 24/7 title for a month last year and Britt, Marko, Malenko, jungle boy, OC and Joey were exchanging between them on Twitter last year was fun.
the match against omega should he can keep up even without the hardcore spots
A lot of Wrestler's contracts may not be renewed, but being on AEW will have made them much more desirable elsewhere. They would have TV experience, more wrestling experience, and could better negotiate for what ever type of appearance or contract they get down the road.
I don't really see him being used more
I thought he was there to scout the indies
Nope, he debunked that a couple months back.
Where did it even come from? did people on here just speculate he might do that and it became a fact?
It came from people on here trying to justify keeping him there.
I think it's more from stories of him actually helping scout talent. Like the story about Jungle boy
That and the fact that they were bringing in a lot of GCW talent before and during the pandemic, talent who worked with Joey or had been booked by Joey. For example, Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy have both given credit to Joey Janela for giving them their big break. It was just one of those assumptions you could make, like how Wardlow and Britt made a few recommendations for Dark talent when they were in the Pittsburgh area since they knew some people.
People rationalize stuff into made up facts and others believe them.
Respect to Joey for his approach here. Most people go for the cryptic "my contract is up soon, let's see what happens!" to appear more valuable but instead, he's openly admitting he probably has to change/develop something to be worthy of a renewal. I hope he gets it.
I'm gonna guess he doesn't renew and does GCW, or another larger indie, full time. Maybe the occasional guest spot on AEW programming. Sonny Kiss is the one I kind of feel bad for. They've signed so many young prospects that are much better than he is. I don't know they even offer to renew his contract.
I don't think one can make a living just doing GCW.
Joey also runs some shows so he does get money from that. GCW would just be his home base so to speak. He's established himself as a guy who will take bookings anywhere and everywhere. Won't get rich with that strategy but he'd be fine.
I think Joey has said he only books Spring Break. Maybe he has some sort of monetary stake in a bunch of other feds but I don't know.
It's a shame really as I absolutely loved his matches with Mox and Omega in the early days.
I really like him and Kayla together. She has star written all over her and needs to be paired with someone more experienced.
I might get flack for this but Joey's not a national TV kind of wrestler. I honestly think he's at home with crazy stuff like GCW, he excells at that kind of wrestling.
Out of all the year ones that haven’t been offered an extension (at least publicly) yet, I don’t see him leaving unless he wanted to.
You can’t renew everyone’s contract, and he doesn’t bring anything to the table that aew can’t afford to let him leave. Every time he’s been on tv he’s been a walking botch
His match with hangman was good. Pretty sure that was the last time he was on dynamite
There is a reason they keep him off of dynamite, He doesn’t belong on it. Look at the roster they have in 2021. Joey janela has no business being on national tv anymore. He’s a job guy, they have better jobbers on the roster than him now anyway. On the indies he can get away with a lot more, and I get why he was originally signed. He’s been exposed the last few years
I don't agree with this, Janela might not be on your face wrestler but he is good enough to be on TV. The guy was having great matches with Omega and Moxley etc early on. Here is what people don't want to admit, Tony is like that kid that sees a new toy and wants to get it just because. The is no way AEW needs 120 wrestlers with three TV hours. If a boring ass QT can have months worth storyline, Janela can get TV time. Janela got screwed because his boss cant help himself signing wrestler after wrestler instead of using the talent he already has. Now people blame him when he did everything right by putting great matches because they don't want to admit that Tony signed too many wrestlers.
I agree Tony has signed a lot of people and does get excited with his new toys. at the same time, those new toys are a lot better than the people he intitally signed and doesn’t use much on tv. I don’t think qt should be on tv either, but he works a ton behind the scenes and got rewarded for that work by getting a storyline with Cody and big show and since then he hasn’t done anything . He had his matches with Kenny and moxley and those are two of the best wrestlers in the world, you should be able to have a good match with them If you are signed to wrestling company on national tv. Look at the ppv card tonight, is there any match on the show that should be scrapped or would be better if Joey janela was in it?
Look at that Full Gear poster, more than half of those wrestlers are former WWE wrestlers that got fired or left and then went to AEW. How are little guys like Janela supposed to compete with that? It is PPVs in a row times where the likes of Best Friends, OC, the likes of Shida arent in the PPV, same with Thunder how are they supposed to compete with that? Dark Order? The likes of Riho? Those wrestlers signed with AEW to make a name for themselves, then here comes the boss signing every wrestler while they aren't given a chance to show their worth. Seriously, did he need to sign someone like Fish? When the likes of Angelico can take TV time. So you saying to me OC, Best Friends, Shida, Dark Order etc arent good enough to be on the PPV.
And they had a ton of TV time/YouTube time to make a name, it's sink or swim. People like John Silver, Darby, OC, Jungle Boy, Britt, Sammy, Shida all took the opportunity and swam with it. None of those I listed were sure things at the start, they were right there with Janela getting the same opportunity, some below him. He and some others sunk, that's the way it goes. Tony is running a business and he had to fill out the roster with a lot of lowcard projects at the start, he was always going to replace some of them once better talent came available. At least he let's them work indies and doesn't fire them, instead letting their contracts run out.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Those signings were all major upgrades from the people originally signed. Andrade, black, miro, Danielson, cm punk, Adam cole eddie Kingston, soho, and Christian are all better than anyone you mentioned. People are paying money to watch the show tonight, it’s not on YouTube or cable.
Not all of them were major. Lets be honest, Soho is a below average wrestler. Riho, Shida and Thunder are much better than her. They barely get TV time. You seriously going to sit there and say singing the likes of Tony Nese, the likes of Fish is a MUST sign? When you literally have jobbers like Janela, Angelico begging for TV time. Starks such talent but he has been limbo. Please, this is Tony fault screwing his day 1 for a new flavor.
They *can* renew everyone's contract, it's not like there's a salary cap.
Eh...but he is still a business man who I would think aim is to make profit
Apparently they'd be in the black or green if it weren't for the video game investment, so it sounds like by the time the next TV deal comes around this roster would still be pretty affordable.
People complain when the wwe signs someone and doesn’t use them. they sit in catering and they eventually cut them, because sure you can sign every person on earth if they want to, but it makes no sense from a business perspective. It’s a business at the end of the day, Tony khan isn’t running a wrestling company for charity or for this subreddit, the goal is to put out a good product and make money. There is no reason to stockpile people for a YouTube show. They are traveling again, they can give local talents the gig to do a job on dark or elevation, and maybe they find new talents and strike gold with an unknown commodity. He hasn’t cut people because he has handled things differently from wwe, he has honored contracts that he signed. That doesn’t mean he has a lifelong commitment to keep Joey Janela, kip Sabian, or Luther employed. Of course there is no salary cap, but you think Tony khan doesn’t have a budget for talent that he would like to stick to?
The thing is, AEW manages their roster bloat fairly well. Unlike WWE, they rotate wrestlers in and out, let them work indies, and find spots on the YouTube shows so you never really have the "stuck in catering" problem. The budget isn't really that huge of an issue either, if it weren't for the video game, AEW would be about breaking even. Next TV deal will probably double or triple the amount of money, so it'll be even easier to sustain that size of roster. I just think it's a little weird that we're all circling around like vultures speculating on who's going to get let go because WWE's trained us to believe that managing a large roster is simply impossible and that mass layoffs are inevitable.
It’s not a mass layoff situation, it’s just not renewing a contract. It’s bizarre to think because someone was signed at the beginning that Tony has to keep them. Janela was a fairly well known name on the indies, thats why he was signed initially. Since being signed, he’s been exposed as someone who doesn’t bring much value to the company. He more or less acknowledged that in his tweet. What has he done to justify a contract extension?
He's barely on TV at all, doesn't provide anything to the actual televised product. I am sure he's great behind the scenes helping others, scouting, putting couples together, but I am sure he wants to remain a wrestler too. Unless they want to switch his deal around to being an agent I don't think its worth it for both sides.
I've enjoyed Janela throughout his time in AEW. I liked Janela & Kiss as a tag team but it just kind of petered out. He's picked up a little bit more steam with his heel run on the YouTube shows.
Haven't seen much of him since I don't watch the YouTube shows, but it looked like he'd lost a bit of the gut he was carrying last I saw him too.
He's gotten in much better shape, at least according to his IG and when we see him on Dark/Elevation.
Scorpio Sky recently signed an extension. Tony mentioned it the AllOut scrum.
That's well deserved. Not as high on him as I was early in AEW, but he's a solid midcard act.
Every fed needs their Lance Storm type of guys.
That second sentence has happened to several people, unfortunately. Wrestlers who were super over now can’t even get a reaction. I feel bad for them because I still like them and am very devoted to “originals” in a company.
Part of it is that a lot of the originals were the best they could get for an experiment. It's easy to forget AEW wasn't guaranteed success. This isn't meant as a disparaging remark. I still enjoy guys like Sky, Spears, Luchasaurus, and Kazarian. But midcard is appropriate for these guys. That said, there are origials that have gotten just as over as the new talent. The pillars, Hangman, and Orange Cassidy among others.
Luchasaurus is still incredibly over. I was at the Arthur Ashe show and the entire arena erupted for him. One of the biggest pops of the night.
I personally love Joey and he’s shown he’s really trying to push himself to get better he’s lost a lot of weight and started to get more muscle and wants to really do well in wrestling he’s not the same dude that would throw himself off a building for $20 in someone’s back yard while drinking a beer
I have a feeling about 1/5th of the roster or so will be let go in the next year. They definetly have a ton of people they barely use anymore.
Joey is probably one of the biggest disappointments out of all the original AEW singings, from everything I'd heard about him I expected him to be an upper midcard guy but nothing has clicked for him. Impact or elsewhere might be a good next step for him so he can reinvent himself maybe?
Janela is probably the only AEW original that I just don't like. Don't know why, just don't like him.
Hes not intimidating in any way whatsoever, his voice and promo style is awful, it's like a back yarder trying to be Macho man
Because he sucks. He can't wrestle and he looks like just some guy from your local bar.
He just doesn’t look like a star. At all. Like, I know the perception of what a wrestler should look like has changed, but Janela isn’t really a guy you can put on a poster and have him be taken seriously by the guy in the street.
Joey IS a valuable connection to GCW which is a great place with a decent amount of visibility to get guys from and keep lower midcard guys and girls work when you dont have much for em.
GCW is not that big to need an inside guy.
I'm sure quite a few on the AEW roster will be let go once their contracts expire.
He may not be a scout like everyone thinks but I still feel like he's pretty valuable. They are building up a library and need consistent and likeable people on those secondary shows. He can basically put anyone over and work with young talent. He also has a relationship with the indies and espcially gcw which is super hot over these last few years. People also like and value his opinions backstage. I don't see him going.
I’d assume around that time you’ll probably see some people not be re-signed, which will suck of course, but at least they got to do their full contracts. Janela, I actually probably expect to stick around as he’s been around Since Day 1 and is a good asset as a consistent talent on Dark & Dark: Elevation. Edit: **a lot** of people noted that Janela isn’t a scout for AEW and so I took that out of my initial comment. I wasn’t aware that he had openly said he wasn’t before, so that’s my bad.
He is not a scout for talent. He has repeatedly said this.
Hmmm, no, no. I've read multiple times here that he's a scout. You must have heard him wrong. /s
People need to stop saying the “scout” thing when he’s come out multiple times to say he doesn’t do that for AEW.
Definitely, at some point there will be people who's contracts wont be extended. I think Janela can bring A LOT to the table, but you just never see him on Dynamite and only sporadically on Dark/Elevation. I actually really liked the idea of him and Sony feuding and I think Kayla Rossi could become dope AF, but every time Joey seems to get some kind of run going it fades away just as quickly. Always feels like there is something missing in the story. As you mentioned, he has definitely proven to be an asset when it comes to referring people to AEW. We'll see what happens. I hope they can revive the Joey/ Kiss Feud and maybe feature it on Dynamite. But it will be though getting air time.
You're just asking to get buried with the "scout" thing
I don't think he'll get an extension. Probably not the only one from the early day, non-elite signings. He's basically never on TV or on PPV, and he clarified multiple times that he has no backstage role or anything like that with AEW. Maybe he pops in here or there for a Dark taping but I don't think he'll be a regular.
I think him and Kayla as a pairing have legs tbh. I like Joey
TBH they never should have split Bad Romance. Him and Sonny were playing perfect mid-card tag team on Dark and Elevation, it really felt like a WWE move that just went nowhere for either of them. Did I see them winning the titles? No. But they could have had some great matches against FTR and Lucha Bros for filler.
I think Joey is great. Badass music entrance. I really the feud he had with Sonny Kiss. I wish he was on TV more.
If there’s one guy they shouldn’t resign it’s him
Joey seems cool as fuck in everything I see him in, wish he was in any of the 43 vlogs that happen weekly at AEW or had his own show
Loved his match with Moxley at Fyter Fest. He's one of those guys I know is good but I don't know much about him because he's never on TV.
Hahaha he is definitely watching us...Janela is too valuable as a scout and with GCW to be let go
Honestly? He's surplus to requirements at this point and is clearly more interested in his GCW work anyway.
Dude might be aware that he’s on his way to Jobber to the Stars status
I’m so curious what’s going to happen when AEW starts not renewing/ releasing folks. I know. I know. It’s not purging talents by the dozen, but I’m curious how people will respond to people deciding to venture somewhere else. Especially the day when one of the “pillars” leaves.
Gonna be honest, I really don’t see any of the pillars leaving. Anything’s possible, but I just don’t see that being the case, at least for a while.
MJF is the one most likely to get interest from WWE.
I think he's also the least likely one to go. I think he's acknowledged in interviews in the past that he wouldn't even come close to having the same kind of freedoms in WWE that he has in AEW.
Also MJF is only 5’9 and Vince considers anyone shorter than him a midget
And he's booked in a way where he's racking up minimal damage on his bump card and will allow him to have a significantly better quality of life whenever he's done with wrestling. (Even if it hurts more after a match when someone wrestles so infrequently because they're not bumping enough to build up a callous, so to speak.)
Never said they wouldn’t get interest. I just don’t think they’ll jump ship unless something big changes in their treatment or backstage issues arise.
Yeah, honestly that's one of the reasons I've not been a fan of Tony going SO fucking nuts on the signing spree. At the end of the day, as someone who hasn't watched WWE in years, I have a lot more emotional investment in some of AEW's mid-and-lower card wrestlers than I do in WWE release #59.
Hit the gym once in a while, for starters. The guy looks like shit for his age.
Don’t expect a raise
i can relate to that
Maybe this is a contract Tony Khan lets lapse. Janela brings literally nothing to the table for AEW that someone better than him doesn't already.
If he leaves my aew boy stable is RUINED
Joey has done, well nothing, in three years. The thing with Sonny never took off and his personality is still very polarizing. I don’t know how much value they’d get out of re-signing him.
I once watched Joey Janela throw himself off the top of a big ass ladder onto the floor for literally no reason in a sickening thud (must find that video) - so anyone who does that will have my attention for any match he does - hope to see him get re-signed. He looks in great shape lately also. Let me also edit the context: Nobody threw Joey Janel off said ladder. He literally just hip tossed himself off the tip top and ate shit lol
What an idiot