AEW is opening up shop in a big way and Cody Rhodes’ promise to change the pro wrestling economy that he made during the company’s first Jacksonville rally seems to be coming to fruition.
Chris Jericho recently spoke to “The World According To Jesse” where Y2J explained to Jesse Ventura how AEW’s deals are so different from what WWE is offering their Superstars.
Every deal seems to be different, but AEW is set up in a unique fashion compared to traditional pro wrestling because The Khan Family is seeing their wrestlers as sporting stars instead of independent contractors.
“I don’t know everybody’s specific deals, but I am an employee of AEW. So there are inroads for that, at least for me. I’m a registered employee of the company. There are options that are opening up to this sort of vibe. When you play for a sports team — The Khan Family owns AEW, Jacksonville Jaguars, Fulham FC -0 there’s a different vibe there. It’s more of a big time sports mentality rather than the old school ‘the way things are done’ wrestling mentality. There is a time when you have to change that. Just because it is that way, doesn’t mean that it’s right.”
All Elite Wrestling is offering their stars actual health insurance apart from simply helping someone rehabilitate an injury. As Jericho continued to explain, AEW is simply “better across the board.”
“AEW has health care and dental for the performers. You’re talking about a big sports team mentality instead of the every man for himself mentality the business has had for years. It’s something that appealed to me. I worked for WWE for 18 years. It’s hard to leave the place you’ve been for so long. There are loyalty and sentimental standpoint. From a business standpoint, there was no choice. AEW was better across the board, from the guarantee I was given, the contract I was given, the employee status, the healthcare. There’s a lot more of that going on, and I think that’s going to continue to grow, which will force eventually WWE to follow suit, or else everybody will want to leave to come to AEW, which is already happening anyway.”
AEW has a lot of momentum and a lot of that could be fueled from a lot of different places. Fans could also be wishing for AEW’s success for their own unique reasons as well from wishing the best for the business to providing an alternative to give WWE a run for their money.
WWE isn’t going away any time soon, but we could very well have another viable option for fans with substantial financial backing as well.
Quotes thanks to Fightful