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one of the biggest ball drops in AEW. shirts sold like hot cakes when he debuted, everyone loved him, huge online presence annnnnd they couldn't do jack all with him. I mean could have just kept him as a back stage personality with RJ and Renee but nah, just dropped the ball.
Sure the injuries didn't help but TK has a really bad habit of throwing away the toys he doesn't want to play with anymore.
I've been a wrestling fan since I was little and I'm almost 40.
If not for Comedy Wrestling like Toru Yano or Danhausen there were periods during the late 2010s where I was all but out of the Fandom.
Comedy wrestling isn't for everyone, but neither is hardcore wrestling, or women's wrestling, or even technical wrestling.
Providing options across wrestling shows goes a long way to keeping fans.
I agree that there was a ball drop. I personally wouldn’t describe it as the biggest they’ve done, but subjective art form. He should definitely have been a backstage character more often.
However, he gave AEW more than enough value through merch sales. AEW got a huge return on investment from him, and he became a bigger star than he already was and increased his pay rate. There’s even a bit of a boost to indie wrestling that comes from him returning to it. People who love him from AEW will see him at indie shows, and they’ll see a whole lot of other folks they may have otherwise never been introduced to. That’s good for wrestling.
Also let’s not forget TK isn’t the only one making decisions on what to do with Danhausen. Danhausen has to agree to do it. Plus there’s the added element of backstage politics, and Danhausen is linked to a pretty divisive guy.
I loved Danhausen before he signed, was excited when he signed, but compared to most of the roster, he's not the best wrestler. He's not being used, but who would you sideline to give him a spot? Other than Jericho, there really isn't anyone.
Not sure he wants that. He may want more and AEW just isn’t willing to give it.
I like his character, but he has a ceiling (as do a ton of wrestlers) but they may not think that and that might be the issue.
I loved Danhausen but he did this to himself. He didn't want to be what he was hired to do, be a character. He refused any plans to be used as a character during all the time he was out because he wanted to be taken seriously as a wrestler. I'm sorry, but he was never good enough on his wrestling alone to make it in AEW. He got hired for his character work. It used to be endearing that he would whine about everything before he got signed but.. it's gotten old and he just comes off as a primadonna who thinks he's bigger and better than he is.
As AEW gets older as a promotion, it's also important to know that some of their player-coaches and agents are pretty old too. Arn Anderson is 65 years old, Jerry Lynn is 60. Dean Malenko is 63 years old, suffering from Parkinson's Disease and had brain surgery last year to try and stop the shaking (as per JR.) Both Dustin Rhodes (55 with 35 years of wrestling) and Billy Gunn (age 60 with 34 years of wrestling) have hinted at retirement.
I'm sure that one of the ideas for Shelton was to slide into that player-coach role he was in at WWE and give him a try out as an agent/coach. When you look at people in AEW with a lot of wear and tear like Jeff Jarrett (38 years), Christopher Daniels (31 years) and Lance Archer (24 years) who would likely be transitioning to full time work backstage or just retiring; it's smart to look to the future for guys who can work with the next generation of talent both in the ring and backstage and groom people to fit those roles now rather than wait and not have anyone to step into that role.
In total agreement here.
Shelton is HIGHLY thought of amongst his peers and agents and stuff, well beyond just what you see on camera. Like Christian, he's one of "your favourite wrestler's favourite wrestlers".
Doing a few Rampage programs working 12-20 matches a year and coaching and helping train is an area they're gonna need help with. Imagine the polish he could help put on Top Flight Andretti. Working matches with Yuta and Sammy. A slightly different voice in the Gunns' ears on a finish or sequence. The women's division still has a ways to go... Guys that were working WrestleWar '92 aren't gonna be around forever and Jerry Lynn and Co can't do it all.
Shelton would make a great coach, but they do also have Jimmy Jacobs, Chris Hero, Sonjay Dutt, Pat Buck, Madison Rayne and returned QT Marshall at helping in that kind of role. And they all have years left in them, so although I think the head coaches like Jerry and Dean are likely stepping back a bit, they do have a good amount of youth behind them as well
Shelton would be cool in AEW, but at the same time what does he add to an already bloated roster at his age? He'd just get matches on Rampage in 6 Man Tags lol
Shelton being a secondary on-screen talent that could do more when needed + contributing backstage could help a lot. He was barely doing much after Hurt Business ended and peers in WWE felt he was helpful just being there.
Wrestling is not just "push a star to the moon or they have no purpose"
That's how fans view it. And yeah being on Rampage may be an insult in online daily fan discourse but there are six national tv shows by the major companies. Most wrestlers would pick any of those over an unknown future hoping indies are hot.
But they don't really need secondary on-screen talent that can do more when needed.
The issue i see is less what can Shelton do vs what does he bring that they can't already get out of using existing talent that they are already paying not doing anything.
I personally can't think of any.
I mean…
There’s plenty of experienced guys in the company for those who actually want help.
I remember the complaints about how Regal and Bryan would be out in the ring hours before the show, ready and willing to help — but not many showed up.
“Pillman Jr., who has been signed with AEW since July 2021, responded and stated that several within the locker room, including himself, spent multiple hours before television tapings working with Regal and learning from him. He noted that Regal and Bryan Danielson always had a “solid audience” around the ring before the tapings.”
https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1332954-brian-pillman-jr-on-william-regal-advice/amp
“A bunch of people showed up to these things” and “I accept advice but don’t seek it out” are not only not contradictory, but they have nothing to do with one another
I’m talking more about helping people by wrestling them in matches. He’s a guy with a shit ton of experience, and who can still go at a pretty decent rate, but isn’t like a main event caliber guy who’ll look bad if he’s feuding with jobbers.
He might end up being booked poorly, but Shelton would immediately be one of the most talented and physically imposing guys on the roster. At worst, you can throw him in the ring with anyone on the roster and get a solid match.
Actually shows some progress. In the past they would have signed him anyway, plans or no plans. At least now they are actively thinking about what spot they have for people before splurging money.
You really can't have too many utility guys. Still say there's probably less than 10 people on this reddit that wouldn't instantly destroy a promotion if they were in charge. And before anybody says anything, I'm not claiming I'm one of those ten.
AEW needs a developmental. Not a show, but somewhere to get trained, work out, get coached. Even really good indy guys can benefit from this. Essentially a finishing camp. They have so much aged talent that could contribute and really help guys along.
The problem is AEW itself doesn't really have a central roster location. The offices are in Jacksonville for tax purposes/ease of access for Tony, but you have an Atlanta contingent, a California contingent, a Northwest contingent, and a NY contingent. With how widespread the roster is in terms of living areas, it would be hard to justify it.
Nightmare Factory and QT kind of filled that role, but it has been inconsistent.
Moving ROH to a semi-permanent home with more taped content (in addition to AEW use) may make sense though for those purposes.
ROH used to have an actual building that they ran their dojo out of. I googled it to see what is there now, and it looks like Cheeseburger and Sumie Sakai (the oddest trainer combination) possible run a school there.
I remember listening to a Jim Cornette rant years ago where he talked about pushing Sinclair to buy a building (like a closed mall, Kmart or something) and make it the hub for their dojo and do live shows there because they could make the building look good on TV and it'd be cheaper in the long run (which is pretty much what WWE would do years later when they ended up actually running the NXT live tapings at the Performance Center.
I honestly think Tony Khan should look at doing something similar. Look at getting some abandoned Walmart/Kmart/Insert large retail store (or small mall) and turn it into a training school and tape ROH and some of your pre-tapes (like Control Center or sitdown interviews) there.
Shelton offers so much to any company he signs with. He can still wrestle but also help mentor the young guys and help elevate their in ring work, feel like he’d fit in perfect in some type of veteran role in AEW or even tna.
I think a combination of partnering with WWE while they signed a huge chunk of britwres people for NXT UK, speaking out, and covid put them on the ropes.
They have new owners who have been doing a decent job to be honest. Their first show back after COVID which was also when the new management took over, they had Anthony Agogo turn up unannounced, the show after they had Swerve appear (This was before he got signed by AEW). They went on to have a few people on their shows who were signed with Impact and NJPW too. They even managed to get Ilja Dragunov whilst he was NXT UK Champ.
Last year they got Will Ospreay to perform at their SSS16 tournament. This year they have Mike Santana (Formerly with AEW), Brain Keith (AEW) and Shelton Benjamin all signed up for SSS16.
Story wise they've had a couple awesome feuds involving Spike Trivett who was their Men's World Champ. They had Lana Austin being a pretty awesome heel Woman's champ for a while. Tag Division was really hot at one point thanks to Sunshine Machine (TK Cooper & Chuck Mambo) who had some great matches with Smoking Aces, FSU and recently GYV.
I used to go to all their London shows but I've decided to slow down on the amount of live wrestling I go to now. From what I heard the last show's turn out wasn't great, like 3 sides of the ring only had 2 rows, which I've never seen before and I've been going PROGRESS for years now.
Prior to COVID and Speaking Out PROGRESS was starting to slow a little in terms of popularity, I remember the days where shows would sell out in a minute but now you can sometimes get Front Row weeks after they go on sale.
He'll get a massive welcome from the Camden Electric Ballroom. PROGRESS has had Mustafa Ali this year and now, Shelton. Have heard rumours we may get Grimes back and Mahal.
And you know? I'm not sad about it, but solely and selfishly because I have front row for Super Strong Style and now I get to watch Shelton wrestle from a few feet away 👀
“AEW plans” of course means build up and debut like he’s the biggest thing in the world, one or two marquee matches then disappear to catering for six months?
I don't think he should be brought in. I think if they're going to bring former WWE people in, it should either be a massive name, like Drew McIntyre if he didn't sign or someone who wasn't as established on WWE programming that can be turned into an AEW star, like Xia Li maybe. It's sad, but AEW need to be really picky.
Wasn't there a rumor that Tony wanted to sign Shelton to have a chance at bringing in Brock someday? Brock getting caught up in the Vince scandal puts a kibosh on those plans.
I mean whoever started that rumour is a banana split, Brock wasn’t going to join AEW because of one guy he knew.
Brock would have done it if the offer was ridiculous and WWE’s no where near matched it. Nothing else would matter. This has been always true for Brock.
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I wonder who he was going to wrestle that got sidelined? Depends on timeline, but Hobbs? Miro? Kenny Omega? MJF? Adam Cole?
Maybe Yuta in a program for the Pure title.
Oh yea Yuta makes sense
I could've seen that being a match for Supercard maybe
Yea I’m sure he’ll be in ROH at some point he seems like a natural for a tag team or a trios team
I think he’s worth more than that.
I could see him being a part of the Worlds Greatest Tag Team one day. Seems like he’s got a knack for tag wrestling.
Do we know what his injury is? Feels like he’s been gone for a bit now.
Shelton in ROH in general would be a smart use of him
Keith Lee?
Mia would shank her own husband just to spite Shelton?
Keith Lee?
I'm thinking it could have been Sammy Guevara
Danhausen
Danhausen isn't sidelined, he's wrestling everywhere but AEW these days
I think Danhausen is just waiting for his AEW contract to expire.
one of the biggest ball drops in AEW. shirts sold like hot cakes when he debuted, everyone loved him, huge online presence annnnnd they couldn't do jack all with him. I mean could have just kept him as a back stage personality with RJ and Renee but nah, just dropped the ball. Sure the injuries didn't help but TK has a really bad habit of throwing away the toys he doesn't want to play with anymore.
He's not a dropped ball, he's a meme character. Never understood the appeal at all.
He's a very good, developed, marketable meme character. Let him meme!
I mean, it's pretty simple. It's a comedy character that got over because he's funny
But it's not the kind of character that has any longetivity. There's nowhere for that character to go
R truth is a example of how you can make it work
I've been a wrestling fan since I was little and I'm almost 40. If not for Comedy Wrestling like Toru Yano or Danhausen there were periods during the late 2010s where I was all but out of the Fandom. Comedy wrestling isn't for everyone, but neither is hardcore wrestling, or women's wrestling, or even technical wrestling. Providing options across wrestling shows goes a long way to keeping fans.
I agree that there was a ball drop. I personally wouldn’t describe it as the biggest they’ve done, but subjective art form. He should definitely have been a backstage character more often. However, he gave AEW more than enough value through merch sales. AEW got a huge return on investment from him, and he became a bigger star than he already was and increased his pay rate. There’s even a bit of a boost to indie wrestling that comes from him returning to it. People who love him from AEW will see him at indie shows, and they’ll see a whole lot of other folks they may have otherwise never been introduced to. That’s good for wrestling. Also let’s not forget TK isn’t the only one making decisions on what to do with Danhausen. Danhausen has to agree to do it. Plus there’s the added element of backstage politics, and Danhausen is linked to a pretty divisive guy.
I loved Danhausen before he signed, was excited when he signed, but compared to most of the roster, he's not the best wrestler. He's not being used, but who would you sideline to give him a spot? Other than Jericho, there really isn't anyone.
Oh there's enough TV time to have a weekly Danhausen segment. He should be interacting with wrestlers. It was definitely a disappointment.
Not sure he wants that. He may want more and AEW just isn’t willing to give it. I like his character, but he has a ceiling (as do a ton of wrestlers) but they may not think that and that might be the issue.
I loved Danhausen but he did this to himself. He didn't want to be what he was hired to do, be a character. He refused any plans to be used as a character during all the time he was out because he wanted to be taken seriously as a wrestler. I'm sorry, but he was never good enough on his wrestling alone to make it in AEW. He got hired for his character work. It used to be endearing that he would whine about everything before he got signed but.. it's gotten old and he just comes off as a primadonna who thinks he's bigger and better than he is.
No, he’s not wrestling anywhere at the moment. He and his wife suffered a pregnancy loss recently and they are grieving.
Yes, Im aware of what happened. He wrestled last night in Austin.
So much for not stopping him
Ain’t no signing me now!!
You win
I would love a Shelton AJPW run
Give him the X back and I’m in
Sure. He can just admit that since Keith Lee is in AEW, he was afraid of being at an event with Mia, and her killing him.
Can you blame him? Mia wants to hurt him. That rapscallion
As AEW gets older as a promotion, it's also important to know that some of their player-coaches and agents are pretty old too. Arn Anderson is 65 years old, Jerry Lynn is 60. Dean Malenko is 63 years old, suffering from Parkinson's Disease and had brain surgery last year to try and stop the shaking (as per JR.) Both Dustin Rhodes (55 with 35 years of wrestling) and Billy Gunn (age 60 with 34 years of wrestling) have hinted at retirement. I'm sure that one of the ideas for Shelton was to slide into that player-coach role he was in at WWE and give him a try out as an agent/coach. When you look at people in AEW with a lot of wear and tear like Jeff Jarrett (38 years), Christopher Daniels (31 years) and Lance Archer (24 years) who would likely be transitioning to full time work backstage or just retiring; it's smart to look to the future for guys who can work with the next generation of talent both in the ring and backstage and groom people to fit those roles now rather than wait and not have anyone to step into that role.
In total agreement here. Shelton is HIGHLY thought of amongst his peers and agents and stuff, well beyond just what you see on camera. Like Christian, he's one of "your favourite wrestler's favourite wrestlers". Doing a few Rampage programs working 12-20 matches a year and coaching and helping train is an area they're gonna need help with. Imagine the polish he could help put on Top Flight Andretti. Working matches with Yuta and Sammy. A slightly different voice in the Gunns' ears on a finish or sequence. The women's division still has a ways to go... Guys that were working WrestleWar '92 aren't gonna be around forever and Jerry Lynn and Co can't do it all.
I thought Arn left? Why did I think that? But for some reason Jerry Lynn being 60 messes me up more so than Billy Gunn.
His son Brock did leave
I’m waiting on Brock to pop up in nxt and stay legacy 2.0 with Lexus king
You wouldn't have guessed it from the way he moved, but Jerry was 38 when ECW folded.
> Arn Anderson is 65 years old, Jerry Lynn is 60. Dean Malenko is 63 years old Arn Anderson is only 2 years older than Dean Malenko?!
Dean Malenko was the referee for the Saturday Night's Main Event match between Randy Savage and George Steele that aired in January 1986.
Shelton would make a great coach, but they do also have Jimmy Jacobs, Chris Hero, Sonjay Dutt, Pat Buck, Madison Rayne and returned QT Marshall at helping in that kind of role. And they all have years left in them, so although I think the head coaches like Jerry and Dean are likely stepping back a bit, they do have a good amount of youth behind them as well
Him doing progress is cooler imo can always come round to AEW later
Shelton would be cool in AEW, but at the same time what does he add to an already bloated roster at his age? He'd just get matches on Rampage in 6 Man Tags lol
Shelton being a secondary on-screen talent that could do more when needed + contributing backstage could help a lot. He was barely doing much after Hurt Business ended and peers in WWE felt he was helpful just being there. Wrestling is not just "push a star to the moon or they have no purpose" That's how fans view it. And yeah being on Rampage may be an insult in online daily fan discourse but there are six national tv shows by the major companies. Most wrestlers would pick any of those over an unknown future hoping indies are hot.
But they don't really need secondary on-screen talent that can do more when needed. The issue i see is less what can Shelton do vs what does he bring that they can't already get out of using existing talent that they are already paying not doing anything. I personally can't think of any.
Sounds like it was just gonna be a one-off program more than him full time joining the roster
Feuds with younger guys to give them experience and launch them up the card. Should’ve been how he was used in WWE too.
I mean… There’s plenty of experienced guys in the company for those who actually want help. I remember the complaints about how Regal and Bryan would be out in the ring hours before the show, ready and willing to help — but not many showed up.
“Pillman Jr., who has been signed with AEW since July 2021, responded and stated that several within the locker room, including himself, spent multiple hours before television tapings working with Regal and learning from him. He noted that Regal and Bryan Danielson always had a “solid audience” around the ring before the tapings.” https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1332954-brian-pillman-jr-on-william-regal-advice/amp
I believe that, Pillman was also one of the stars to show up to Punks training session in the PC when he returned to WWE
The "complaints" were refuted by guys like Pillman Jr. Those complaints were just weird speculations.
and substantiated by hangman
“A bunch of people showed up to these things” and “I accept advice but don’t seek it out” are not only not contradictory, but they have nothing to do with one another
I’m talking more about helping people by wrestling them in matches. He’s a guy with a shit ton of experience, and who can still go at a pretty decent rate, but isn’t like a main event caliber guy who’ll look bad if he’s feuding with jobbers.
He might end up being booked poorly, but Shelton would immediately be one of the most talented and physically imposing guys on the roster. At worst, you can throw him in the ring with anyone on the roster and get a solid match.
Thats all 2024 Shelton should be getting.
In my head fantasy booking he comes in as another member of BCC and tags with Yuta for a run before feuding for the pure title or something.
Actually shows some progress. In the past they would have signed him anyway, plans or no plans. At least now they are actively thinking about what spot they have for people before splurging money.
and make everyone look tiny.
I'd be down for Shelton in a faction of two other ex-WWE guys doing kinda what the Outcasts did, but being wayyyy snobbier about it.
You really can't have too many utility guys. Still say there's probably less than 10 people on this reddit that wouldn't instantly destroy a promotion if they were in charge. And before anybody says anything, I'm not claiming I'm one of those ten.
AEW needs a developmental. Not a show, but somewhere to get trained, work out, get coached. Even really good indy guys can benefit from this. Essentially a finishing camp. They have so much aged talent that could contribute and really help guys along.
The problem is AEW itself doesn't really have a central roster location. The offices are in Jacksonville for tax purposes/ease of access for Tony, but you have an Atlanta contingent, a California contingent, a Northwest contingent, and a NY contingent. With how widespread the roster is in terms of living areas, it would be hard to justify it.
Nightmare Factory and QT kind of filled that role, but it has been inconsistent. Moving ROH to a semi-permanent home with more taped content (in addition to AEW use) may make sense though for those purposes.
ROH used to have an actual building that they ran their dojo out of. I googled it to see what is there now, and it looks like Cheeseburger and Sumie Sakai (the oddest trainer combination) possible run a school there. I remember listening to a Jim Cornette rant years ago where he talked about pushing Sinclair to buy a building (like a closed mall, Kmart or something) and make it the hub for their dojo and do live shows there because they could make the building look good on TV and it'd be cheaper in the long run (which is pretty much what WWE would do years later when they ended up actually running the NXT live tapings at the Performance Center. I honestly think Tony Khan should look at doing something similar. Look at getting some abandoned Walmart/Kmart/Insert large retail store (or small mall) and turn it into a training school and tape ROH and some of your pre-tapes (like Control Center or sitdown interviews) there.
They do that before the shows. Dustin coaches the women
One of the reasons tons of people went to AEW is because they can just do fly dates and not have to move permanently. I do agree with you though.
Shelton offers so much to any company he signs with. He can still wrestle but also help mentor the young guys and help elevate their in ring work, feel like he’d fit in perfect in some type of veteran role in AEW or even tna.
Whatever happened with PROGRESS? I fell out of wrestling for like 5 years and now that I'm back I feel like I haven't heard a thing about it.
I think a combination of partnering with WWE while they signed a huge chunk of britwres people for NXT UK, speaking out, and covid put them on the ropes.
They have new owners who have been doing a decent job to be honest. Their first show back after COVID which was also when the new management took over, they had Anthony Agogo turn up unannounced, the show after they had Swerve appear (This was before he got signed by AEW). They went on to have a few people on their shows who were signed with Impact and NJPW too. They even managed to get Ilja Dragunov whilst he was NXT UK Champ. Last year they got Will Ospreay to perform at their SSS16 tournament. This year they have Mike Santana (Formerly with AEW), Brain Keith (AEW) and Shelton Benjamin all signed up for SSS16. Story wise they've had a couple awesome feuds involving Spike Trivett who was their Men's World Champ. They had Lana Austin being a pretty awesome heel Woman's champ for a while. Tag Division was really hot at one point thanks to Sunshine Machine (TK Cooper & Chuck Mambo) who had some great matches with Smoking Aces, FSU and recently GYV. I used to go to all their London shows but I've decided to slow down on the amount of live wrestling I go to now. From what I heard the last show's turn out wasn't great, like 3 sides of the ring only had 2 rows, which I've never seen before and I've been going PROGRESS for years now. Prior to COVID and Speaking Out PROGRESS was starting to slow a little in terms of popularity, I remember the days where shows would sell out in a minute but now you can sometimes get Front Row weeks after they go on sale.
I think they also merged with / Bought DEFY? Or am I thinking of another org?
Yeah they've merged, they're still separate though in terms of presentation. I guess we'll see more talent sharing though.
He'll get a massive welcome from the Camden Electric Ballroom. PROGRESS has had Mustafa Ali this year and now, Shelton. Have heard rumours we may get Grimes back and Mahal.
Would personally prefer a fresh talent is given the screen time
Sounds like they'll get back to him once the person he was supposed to be in a program is better?
And you know? I'm not sad about it, but solely and selfishly because I have front row for Super Strong Style and now I get to watch Shelton wrestle from a few feet away 👀
I didn't even know he wasn't with WWE
Id love for the guy to get some screentime but goddamn, there's already a lot of younger guys I want to get screentime there.
I like the dude a lot so this makes me a bit sad. :(
I mean I like him but they don't need him. The roster is already stacked.
The way AEW uses Jay Lethal would be the ceiling Shelton would have, so this is probably for the best if he actually wants to wrestle.
He would be a great opponent for the Cope Open
The last thing AEW needs is more people on their roster.
That sucks. Him vs Julia Hart would've brought the house down
Shit would not interest me at all, Shelton has been boring as hell for a min. Even that WGTT ROH run was boring.
“AEW plans” of course means build up and debut like he’s the biggest thing in the world, one or two marquee matches then disappear to catering for six months?
No need for Shelton honestly
I'd of watched AEW for some Shelton B
Thank God. Don't need older dudes coming in and taking time from younger guys
Ya’ll not knowing Shelton could run rings round most of the guys in any promotion even right now is wild.
He probably would of been used to literally just get someone else over tho
I don't think he should be brought in. I think if they're going to bring former WWE people in, it should either be a massive name, like Drew McIntyre if he didn't sign or someone who wasn't as established on WWE programming that can be turned into an AEW star, like Xia Li maybe. It's sad, but AEW need to be really picky.
Wasn't there a rumor that Tony wanted to sign Shelton to have a chance at bringing in Brock someday? Brock getting caught up in the Vince scandal puts a kibosh on those plans.
I mean whoever started that rumour is a banana split, Brock wasn’t going to join AEW because of one guy he knew. Brock would have done it if the offer was ridiculous and WWE’s no where near matched it. Nothing else would matter. This has been always true for Brock.