AEW has set the current trend of signing released WWE talent, but that may not be happening had things gone differently in 2018.
Before All Elite Wrestling was a thing, there have been reports that Triple H offered the Elite (The Young Bucks, Adam Page, and Kenny Omega) tried to lock them down in the WWE by offering them a lot of money.
While the Young Bucks and Omega had a previous run in the WWE, they left to forge their own path with the Bucks working to make tag team wrestling back an important part of wrestling again, Kenny Omega was helping to lift NJPW to its previous popular heights outside of Japan.
While that put them back on the WWE’s radar for future stars, it also gave the Elite plenty of say in what they wanted to do with their careers and Cody Rhodes and Adam Page joined the group.
Professional wrestling was growing in popularity levels not seen in years and it meant the group had some choices to make
Matt Hardy’s in the thick of it
Matt Hardy broke the news on his The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast where he spoke about how Triple H offered the Elite serious money to join the WWE.
Special thanks to sportskeeda.com for the transcript.
“So long story short, I didn’t speak to Adam Page, but I did speak to the Young Bucks a lot, and they were also in negotiations. WWE was trying to get all these guys; they wanted to lock them all down. But I do know that Triple H, Trips was all over those guys (Omega, Bucks, and Hangman) as far as trying to bring them in, and they offered them a ton of money, and I know they did Hangman as well. You just got to think how different would the present look if those guys did leave and go to WWE?'”
The WWE has built itself into the Disney of professional wrestling, and they tend to pay a lot of money to talent to sign with them.
Over the years, they signed away the top stars of other companies in what could be construed as a preemptive measure to keep other companies from becoming a threat.
And despite the money, most of the Elite had already been through the WWE system and decided to throw their lot in with Tony Kahn to start AEW in 2019.
Turning the tide
Their decision sent shockwaves through the wrestling world that are still being felt. A perfect example is had they signed with the WWE, there probably wouldn’t be an AEW; at least not in its current level.
This means the Wednesday Night Wars wouldn’t have happened and the old Black and Gold NXT would still be a thing instead of Vince McMahon taking over and cleaning out to do it his way.
The result has led to the old guard being swept away and NXT 2.0 falling far short of the quality of the old NXT, though it is now a true developmental brand.
It’s amazing what kind of ripples a decision can make.
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