Quote:
Originally Posted by MacFlame
When the Rock and Foley and Austin were in their prime they were in their late 20's or early 30's. The guys in the current farm system are just too old. I don't mean that they're not still talented, I just mean that their window is sooooo much smaller to make a significant impact at that age.
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Guys like Rock, Orton, Cena, and Brock tend to be the exception in terms of being young guys in Wrestling that were able to draw.
Austin was 32 when he won his first title, Foley was 33.
Punk was 33 for the Summer of Punk.
Byran was 33 for Wrestlmania 30 and the Yes Movement.
Austin won the Royal Rumble and his first Title at Wrestlemania in 1998. 4 years later in 2002 his career as a full time wrestler was pretty much over when he walked out on the show.
Even the young guys like the Rock and Brock didn't have long initial runs. Rock won his first tile in 1998, dropped the title to Brock at Summerslam 2002, and was a part timer for most of his career after that.
Lesnar won that title at Summerslam 2002, left the business by Wrestlemania 2004, and returned in 2012 when he was 35 years old.
Early to mid-thirties isn't that old for a Wrestler traditionally and 4 years is a long long time in wrestling. Really if you spend 4 years as a main eventer in Wrestling then you are doing really well.
If AEW can even get 2-3 good years out of Punk, Bryan, etc then that will be good enough for them to gain a foothold and a portion of the industry.
Guys like Cole and Andrade are still early 30s and have a lot they can give to AEW still.
WWE does need to focus on creating their own stars again, but they've really struggled to do that in recent history, and really I'm not sure they will have success at doing it without changing how they look at the industry. And the problem is they needed to treat the NXT Superstars more like they treated Kevin Owens, and less like they treated guys like Ricochet/Kross. You don't need to re-brand these guys, and re-introduce them when they come up from NXT. Just have them come up as actual, credible threats on the roster from day 1.
And I think the biggest impact is going to be that I don't think they are the premier draw in the industry if you are a young wrestler right now...people might look at AEW as the place where you want to be if you are a wrestler right now because I'm not sure you would really trust Vince with creating a character and brand that would really push you as a wrestler.
Mick Foley said as much yesterday...
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...t-to-aspire-to
I think this is happening in NXT too. I don't think guys want to stay in NXT because the pay is too high or because it's cushier. It's because they know when they go to the main roster it's a 90% chance they just stay in the low to mid card and have their character ruined by Vince.
I'm kind of surprised we've never seen guys Foley and Austin in creative roles behind the scenes. You'd have to think they'd be able to have better creative than what we are seeing right now, problem is they'd probably push back on Vince too much.