Everyone Might Be Leaving WWE
It has been like a week since this was rumored.
Since we can’t go a day or two without something like this blowing up, it’s time to look at even more names who might be leaving WWE, though AEW isn’t the obvious destination for all of them.
Usos
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/go-big-names-might-not-re-sign-wwe/
I’m a big fan of this team and there’s a chance that they’ll be leaving WWE when their contracts expire at some point in April. Really….could you blame them? Since WWE seems obsessed with not allowing anyone to ever switch shows outside of the Superstar Shakeup or Wrestlemania season, they’ve been stuck on Smackdown where they could only fight the Bar and the New Day over and over again.
Move them to Raw (Usos vs. Revival…..anyone?) and give them some fresh opponents. Or let them go to AEW and fight the Young Bucks, which would be an instant classic. Either way, let them do ANYTHING new because they’ve been stuck doing the same things for years now.
Randy Orton
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/rumor-randy-orton-willing-talk-aew/
Now this one has a BIG caveat as the story says that he’s “willing to talk” to AEW. There’s a big difference between he’s signing the contract tomorrow and he’s willing to talk to someone whenever he’s allowed to. I’m not sure when Orton’s contract is expiring but even if it’s tomorrow, it’s not like he’ll be debuting for AEW tomorrow. You know, because they’re not debuting for nearly four months.
That being said…..yeah this isn’t happening. Orton is 38 and can be in WWE until he’s ready to leave so there’s no point in moving somewhere else for the sake of….I’m not sure what the point would be actually. How big of a contract is he going to be able to get there? If he wants a lighter schedule he’s better off in the upper midcard of WWE, as he would become the top star in AEW just due to name recognition and star power. Orton would be somewhat insane to leave WWE and I can’t imagine this happening.
Undertaker
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tomclark/undertaker-removes-wwe-social-media-deadman-done/
So this is something that came up today, with Undertaker removing all WWE references from his social media accounts. Now if you can ignore THE UNDERTAKER HAVING SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS, you can imagine people freaking out over the idea of the Undertaker leaving WWE and going….I guess to the wrestling convention circuit like so many others do over the years. Or AEW because that’s the required response anymore.
I don’t think Undertaker is going anywhere as far as wrestling goes, but for some reason people seem to be overlooking one idea: maybe he’s just retiring. He’s 54 years old next month and he’s wrestled ten times in three and a half years (twenty in nearly seven years). Undertaker should have retired YEARS ago and we were all but convinced that he retired after Wrestlemania XXXIII. I have no idea if he’s retiring for good or going somewhere else (Imagine him going to an indy company. Just try to do it.) but there’s every chance that he’s going to be at Wrestlemania or the next Saudi show or Summerslam and this will all be nothing.
Or maybe I’ll go to AEW because everyone else is. I mean, I would if they had a show near me and I could actually get a ticket.
I don’t think enough people are looking at AEW from a realistic perspective. If it’s going to succeed, then it’s going to be run like a business. You’re going to have main event level guys, upper mid-carders, mid-carders, lower card guys and outright jobbers; it’s not going to be some sort of wrestling paradise where everyone gets to have a bite of the main event apple due to some sort of revolving door system where everybody gets a turn. There will ultimately be wrestlers who feel that they aren’t/weren’t used right, didn’t get the push they deserved, fans agreeing with said opinions, etc..
As for the Usos, it’s possible they could be leaving because there’s nothing left for them to do in WWE. Vince McMahon will not allow tag teams to go beyond certain levels and the Usos have long since hit the tag team glass ceiling in WWE. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind at all if the Usos were among talent who worked down in NXT for a while; make main roster money while working with fresh teams in a fresh environment that generally does treat tag teams with generally more importance than the main roster.
As for Orton, Orton is very much a product of the WWE machine. He has a lot of stroke behind the scenes, has a significant degree of creative input over his character & direction, makes lots of money and will have a job in WWE as long as he wants it. Orton also turns 39 in April, so he’s not exactly a spring chicken as far as the business goes. If Orton did want to head to AEW, I have little doubt he’d expect a situation very similar to what he has in WWE in terms of money, creative control, etc. and that in and of itself could cause some fans to view AEW in a more negative light. Bending over backwards to give huge, well known names no longer in their prime everything they want at the expense of much of the rest of the roster is a big part of what led to TNA’s downfall along with may of the more unflattering labels including WCW Lite or the home of WWE Rejects.