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WOULD I JUMP TO AEW IF I WERE A MID-LEVEL WWE STAR, MY TAKE ON DEATH MATCHES, DREW MCINTYRE HAS IT ALL AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2019-12-18 10:00:00

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If you were a mid-level WWE star, would you sign a new deal with them or take your chances and go elsewhere, like AEW?

It would depend on where I was in my career.  Unless I were a 10 year plus vet, and I had saved a lot of money and could afford to burn my bridge with WWE, I wouldn’t even consider it.  If not, it would depend on how much AEW was offering for me to even think about it.  If they were offering a significantly more than WWE was, I would weigh my options. But it it were close?  I wouldn’t.  I know that WWE will be there for sure in three years and while there is no guarantee that AEW will be, as they are a start up and as someone with a degree in business, I know that the vast majority of start up companies fail, even those started by a billionaire.  I am all about financial security so that would be my priority.  I grew up poor so saving money and getting financial security has always been a priority to me.

I know you don't like death matches.  Why?

To be blunt, they aren’t pro wrestling!  Those matches are about inflicting real pain on the participants due to actually being hit and hurt.  As Bret Hart always said, the business is about working a match with a guy and then going out for a beer afterward because you worked, you didn’t actually fight.  I don’t want to watch two people maim themselves.  That isn’t fun to me.  Sure, people get hurt working too but that the exception, not the rule.  It’s also by accident.  Death matches are all about really laying it in.  That isn’t wrestling to me.

I know that Mox has been booked as an over the edge death match type guy for the majority of his time in AEW, but in its way, doesn't that allow fans that only ever saw "Dean Ambrose" wrestle to see Moxley's roots?  Also, even if he likes those type of matches, and the match against  Joey Janella two weeks ago shows that, when allowed to, Moxley can really go in the ring without the blood and guts. It really highlights just how much WWE was stifling him.

WWE doesn’t do death matches and blood and guts, so they weren’t stifling them.  They were just doing the kind of matches that they do.  Expecting death matches in WWE is like going to an an Italian restaurant and asking for Chinese food.  It’s clear that Mox loves those that matches but as I said above, I don’t.  To me, it’s like an actor getting his start doing porn and then becoming an Oscar worthy performer.  Why go back to porn at that point?

What is Drew McIntyre missing that he's rarely in the World Title picture?  He checks all the boxes to me when it comes to size, promo, ring ability. Other than Vince's blessing what am I missing? 

You aren’t missing a thing!  Drew has it all, in fact I said the same exact thing on the Mailbag with Mike Eps yesterday.  It just comes down to Vince giving him the push he deserves in my view.

Following up on my question you answered about AEW and too many high spots being an issue.  For me wrestling is at its best when we get the rare combination of a good/great story with great in ring work.  Garza vs Rush for the NXT title is a great recent example for me.  Simple yet well tell story culminating in fantastic match with great in ring work.  It felt like they truly hated each other.  Why do so many promoters/promotions fail to see it's as simple as that?  I think AEW has the personnel to accomplish it, but for whatever reason to this point they're dropping the ball.

I don’t know if you are an elite member or not but if you are, listen to the Funnest Mailbag.  That is exactly how Mike Eps and I feel about the business at its best.  I would love for more promotions to see that.  Matches are only part of the business to many fans.  Stories and characters are every bit as important, if not more!

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