The two major wrestling companies on national television, WWE and AEW, have presented their stars in different ways, which has led to success for some and not others. Some stars like Swerve Strickland, Toni Storm, and FTR have been huge success stories in AEW after leaving WWE, while the likes of Cody Rhodes, Jade Cargill, and CM Punk are all mainstays on WWE’s main roster after their time in AEW.
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WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently stated on his “Hall of Fame” podcast that the key is how a company uses a wrestler to get the best out of them. He used an example of a star who jumped from AEW to WWE and succeeded, as well as another who went in the opposite direction and hasn’t reached the heights many thought he would.
“Ethan Page in AEW, he really wasn’t that relevant, and then coming to ‘NXT,’ man, the guy, he’s a star,” Booker said. “I mean everybody knows Ethan Page right now, he’s a guy that’s doing a hell of a job. Then you’ve got guys who, let’s just say, for instance, Adam Cole. Adam Cole in WWE, in ‘NXT,’ he was super, super hot. I mean I had touted this guy as being the next Shawn Michaels. That’s what I said, I said that, and then he goes to AEW, gets lost in the shuffle, really don’t hear a whole lot from him.”
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The “WWE NXT” commentator noted that Cole has been injured for some time, but because he is on the shelf, he is essentially out of sight and out of mind in AEW. This led him to round off by saying that WWE is extremely focused on making stars, whereas AEW is comfortable just having wrestlers instead.
Please credit “Hall of Fame” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
