- 2 days ago
From AEW Originals, to independent veterans, these All Elite wrestlers are going nowhere...
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00:00From the folks who helped make the hottest wrestling brand on the planet a thing in the first place,
00:04to those who have seemingly burned all bridges with the competition,
00:07this talented lot will likely have all elite jobs for as long as Tony Khan feels like playing wrestling promoter.
00:12Gareth here from WhatCultureWrestling and here are 10 wrestlers who will never leave AEW.
00:17Number 10, Jon Moxley
00:18Clearly having the time of his damn life at the time of recording,
00:21alongside Bryan Danielson, Wheeler Yuta and William Regal as part of the deliciously violent Blackpool Combat Club.
00:27The Jon Moxley scene smashing heads and whipping all elite crowds up into routine frenzies
00:31is about as far removed from the lunatic fringe as humanly possible.
00:35And it's because of this fact, coupled with Moxley's disenchantment with Vinnie Mac's Empire in particular,
00:39on the back of a soul-crushing last stint with the company,
00:42that a departure from Tony Khan's ranks appears unlikely to say the least.
00:46Add into that the highly sensitive handling and reaction to the former AEW World Champion's recent trip to rehab,
00:51to seek help for his issues with alcohol abuse,
00:54and it's not too difficult to see why Mox won't be in much of a rush to kiss goodbye to a promotion,
00:58that thankfully appears to value both the world-class performer and man behind the menace.
01:03Mox is in his all-elite element,
01:05whilst also being given the license to wreak havoc on the indies whilst under TK's contract.
01:09If it ain't broken all that.
01:11Number 9, FTR
01:12Another set of lads who have very much enjoyed having their all-elite cake and eating it up on the indies as of late,
01:18come in the form of two more former WWE bruisers who were left nursing a rather bitter taste in their mouths.
01:23Courtesy of the biggest wrestling company on the planet.
01:26Reduced to little more than comedic goobers by the time they'd managed to achieve the supposed tag team holy grail
01:31of holding the NXT, Raw, and SmackDown tag titles at one point or another,
01:35the professional pair were even happy to be carted out in clownish get-ups dreamed up by Vinny Mac himself on their way out of the company.
01:41Thankfully, the glow sticks and shatter machine necklaces were left on ice in the end,
01:45and Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood wiggled free from the sports entertainment juggernaut
01:49to pursue their next chapter as arguably the greatest tag team plying their trade in the business today.
01:54With Tony Khan giving the passionate pro wrestlers the freedom to craft increasingly enthralling tag clinics,
01:59and even allowing them the time to duke it out against each other in honour of one of their heroes,
02:03Owen Hart, recently,
02:04all supposed talk of FTR ever kissing goodbye to AEW is likely to be taken with a pinch of salt at this stage.
02:10Number 8, Adam Page
02:12Paying off one of the most intricate, gripping, and satisfying storylines in recent wrestling history,
02:16the visual of Hangman Adam Page finally overcoming old pal Kenny Omega
02:20and winning the big one at Full Gear 2021,
02:23fully established AEW as a company capable of growing a promising talent into a fully-fledged star.
02:28It's looking good for you, Wardlow, and even at the age of just 30 years old,
02:32and with Agby his best miles ahead of him,
02:34envisioning the AEW original plying his trade in any other setting than Tony Khan's playground feels like a near-impossible task.
02:40It's not as though other companies haven't tried to obtain the services of the angsty current reigning AEW world champion either,
02:46with WWE being said to have offered him a deal before his All Elite chapter got underway.
02:50Hangman instead decided just to have fun with his friends,
02:53as he put it when unpacking the offer during a busted open radio appearance,
02:57and has clearly reaped the rewards up to this point.
02:59WWE will clearly still be keeping their eyes on Page from Afar,
03:02but the smart money will be on Cowboy Shizzle staying put for the foreseeable.
03:05Number 7, Sting
03:07If ever there was an example of the intrinsic differences between AEW and WWE's handling of generational icons,
03:13the presentation of Sting from December 2020 onwards highlights just how far apart the two promotions are on the subject.
03:20Becoming an ever-present personality on AEW programming alongside fellow face-painted outcast Darby Allen,
03:25the icon has been gifted countless opportunities to prove he still has something to offer in the way of in-ring performance,
03:31whilst also still not stealing the spotlight away from the next generation.
03:34This is in stark contrast to his rather depressing run within the walls of the Land of the Giants,
03:39being forced onto the sidelines indefinitely post-Seth Rollins' buckle bomb,
03:42and eventually relegated to the part of notable backstage presence and occasional significant WWE network interviewee.
03:48How prestigious!
03:50In all honesty, All Elite Wrestling and Stinger is a match made in heaven at this current moment in time,
03:54meshing shameless nostalgia with respectful passing of the torch is aplenty,
03:58so why would the WCW legend pass up on such a good deal in favour of risking being once again misused elsewhere?
04:04Number 6, CM Punk.
04:05Finally confirming the worst-kept secret of 2021,
04:08and re-emerging onto the wrestling scene as part of All Elite Wrestling with a tear in his eye,
04:13CM Punk made his official comeback to the world of professional wrestling,
04:16and with the one-time voice of the voiceless now rediscovering the in-ring and on-the-stick form
04:20that initially made him a household name,
04:23would there be any real sense in blowing a definitive kiss and hopping over the All Elite guardrail?
04:27If his evident living of his best life within the ropes of TK's promotion wasn't enough evidence of his current home likely being his last ever within the wrestling sphere,
04:35then the fact that WWE was apparently interested in bringing Punk back,
04:38and even offered him a deal pre-AEW only for the former WWE Champion to laugh off their approach,
04:43claiming they played games speaks volumes.
04:46The best in the world is now routinely proving he is precisely just that,
04:49and with the potential AEW World Championship reign right around the corner,
04:52Punk is well aware that the grass won't get much greener elsewhere.
04:55Number 5. Jade Cargill
04:57Another current All Elite focal point who was once courted by Vince McMahon's Titanic promotion,
05:02also seems very much happy to keep on keeping on under the AEW banner.
05:06He'll be forgiven for seeing the logic in an eventual move over to the world of sports entertainment when it pertains to that bitch.
05:12And even Cargill herself has noted how the glitz and glamour seen in WWE is something she herself still loves.
05:18But the current undefeated TBS Champion was also quick to highlight how different her burgeoning career would have likely played out
05:24had she opted to take WWE up on their offer.
05:26When talking to Complex Uncensored, Cargill stated,
05:29I made a choice.
05:30I stuck with my choice, and I would never, ever, ever, ever get the debut that I got here at AEW if I had gone to WWE.
05:36Like I would never.
05:37The overall increased job security offered up by Tony Khan's promotion also appealed to Cargill,
05:42with the star citing on Talk is Jericho her desire to not want to be cut or have to worry
05:46as another reason why she knows she made the best decision.
05:49All signs point to Cargill and her baddies very much remaining All Elite.
05:53Number 4, Britt Baker.
05:54It'd likely take a seismic shift on a great many fronts to force Britt Baker to reconsider her place as part of the land of All Elite.
06:01If the fact that her partner Adam Cole has just recently rocked up in her workplace,
06:05and that the doctor is still given the freedom to run a damn dental practice in her downtime,
06:09whilst under AEW contracts aren't big enough reasons for her to remain All Elite,
06:13the former AEW Women's Champion's clear distrust of the opposition will likely prove too steep a hurdle to overcome for either party.
06:20As Baker explained recently when discussing WWE's interest,
06:23they definitely expressed interest, unfortunately I've got to pick and choose how I say this,
06:27but I just feel like you can't trust anything with that company.
06:30Whereas at AEW, I've never been promised anything that didn't follow through.
06:33So don't expect to see this face of AEW wander over to the other side to confront Becky Lynch
06:37over her recent provocative Women's Division comments anytime soon.
06:41Number 3, Kenny Omega.
06:42For a time, Kenny Omega blowing the roof off of a WWE arena as a surprise entrant in a Royal Rumble match
06:48almost felt like a formality, didn't it?
06:50Here we are, some five years or so on from those rumblings of a cleaner walking in the very same footsteps
06:54of another one-time Bullet Club leader,
06:56and the sight of the former AEW World Champion being the second All Elite EVB to turn his back on the white-hot promotion
07:02is one you can all but count on never becoming a reality.
07:05Omega is about as all-in on all things AEW as humanly possible,
07:09with his fingerprints found on everything from the incoming All Elite video game
07:12to the presentation of the company's women's division,
07:14so to suddenly jump ship wouldn't entirely add up.
07:17Admittedly, Cody likewise seemed to be very much steeped in TK's brand,
07:21starring in his own TNT reality TV show, among many other things.
07:24Yet despite Omega's contract with AEW running out next year,
07:27the promotion's increasingly positive relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling,
07:31and enthusiasm in presenting an alternative to the likes of WWE,
07:34will likely be enough to retain the services of the best bat machine indefinitely.
07:38Number 2. The Young Bucks
07:40Perhaps the most obvious candidates for the All Elite Forever Society
07:43can be found spearheading undoubtedly the strongest tag division assembled in modern times.
07:48And that's not by accident, as both Matt and Nick Jackson have both made their desire
07:52to shine a spotlight on duos action known from the minute AEW became a thing back in January 2019,
07:57routinely putting on tag masterclasses,
07:59regularly finding themselves at the forefront of some of the strongest storylines occupying wrestling at present,
08:04and earning a boatload of cash working under a boss who clearly shares their vision.
08:08These AEW EVPs seem to have doubled down on their All Elite pride in the wake of the American Nightmare's shocking departure,
08:15whether simply playing the kayfabe game or letting their true feelings be known.
08:19The brothers' recent string of Twitter bios involving claims of their story of self-made kids,
08:23who came from nothing building a gigantic movement not being romantic enough for Cody Rhodes,
08:28act as the boldest statement yet of their intent to remain All Elite.
08:32And with the undisputed Elite now officially forming yet another can't-miss element of weekly AEW programming,
08:38the books extending their deals past January 2024 appears about as inevitable as another run
08:43with the tag or a set of trios belts before long.
08:46Number 1, Eddie Kingston
08:48From the minute the realest guy in the game, Eddie Kingston took up a microphone on his way down to the ring
08:52for an eventual no-disqualification match over the TNT Championship against that man again, Cody Rhodes,
08:58fans knew they were witnessing something kind of special.
09:00A last chance, a lifeline, a much-deserved spotlight.
09:04Whatever you want to call it, Kingston sees the moment and has refused to loosen his grip ever since.
09:08And ever the loyal man in the trenches, frequently burying the likes of WWE for not listening to their fans,
09:13Kingston looks very much content to see out the rest of his days under Tony Khan's stewardship,
09:18saying as such during a recent The Straight Shooters interview.
09:20As he put it,
09:21AEW gave me my shot first, right?
09:23You know what I mean?
09:24I'm a loyal guy.
09:25I'm not knocking anybody, just chill.
09:27But when people say,
09:27Yeah, I'm here forever,
09:29that's cool.
09:29That's them.
09:30I'm telling you from me,
09:31and my word is bond,
09:32I ain't got nowhere else to go,
09:34and don't want to be anywhere else.
09:35Kingston for AEW World Champion?
09:37Do the right thing, Tony.
09:38And that's our list.
09:39Know of any other wrestlers who will never leave AEW?
09:42Let us know all about them in the comments section right down below,
09:44and do not forget to like, share, and click on that subscribe button while you're at it.
09:47Also, if you like this kind of thing,
09:48then head on over to whatculture.com and find some more awesome articles,
09:52just like the one this video you're watching right now is based on.
09:55I've been Gareth from WhatCulture Wrestling.
09:56Thank you, as always, for clicking on one of these videos today,
09:59and I'm sure I'll see your faces very, very, very soon.
10:02Bye-bye.
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