Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[Coffey]

“I don't know if there's a pattern but I can tell you there's been a story bouncing around among talents that someone in the TKO realm isn't a fan of the darker characters and that's been the blame placed on why The Wyatts, Aleister Black, Zelina, etc. were all cut. One person even suggested to me that Undertaker being The American Badass and not The Deadman in appearances is proof of that outlook. 

I have no way to prove that is correct, but the story has made the rounds this past week among numerous people we've spoken with. Whether there is something to it, or just assumptions, I can't verify at this juncture. I guess we will see if and when WWE leans back into supernatural and dark characters again.” - Mike Johnson, PWInsider

https://pwinsider.com/article/207482/wwe-killing-off-all-their-darker-characters-black-zelina-in-aew-machineguns-were-talents-released-or-did-deals-expire-and-why-it-doesnt-matter-which-and-more.html?p=1

If this turns out to be true, that would be pretty shitty to see them shit-can a bunch of wrestlers because some Jesus-freak fuck that doesn't know shit about wrestling thinks it's THE DEVIL~! or something. Everyday, shit just gets worse. Not just in WWE either. This country is going up in flames. I'm in Michigan & our gas hit $5/gal today.

[JRH]

To be fair, outside of Taker and Kane (and they had a certain something to them), "darker" characters have never really worked in the WWE (the likes of Mankind, Edge, and Christian got much more popular when they started acting more like themselves and less like horror movie characters), but that's no reason to fire them, just give them different characters or even better, let them just act like themselves.

EDIT: Also, if this is true, then explain Danhausen.

[El-P]

13 hours ago, Coffey said:

If this turns out to be true, that would be pretty shitty to see them shit-can a bunch of wrestlers because some Jesus-freak fuck that doesn't know shit about wrestling thinks it's THE DEVIL~! or something. 

Funny, it did not cross my mind but now that you're putting it like that, wow. It actually kinda makes sense considering who these people are. Which is complete insanity.

[strobogo]

16 hours ago, JRH said:

To be fair, outside of Taker and Kane (and they had a certain something to them), "darker" characters have never really worked in the WWE (the likes of Mankind, Edge, and Christian got much more popular when they started acting more like themselves and less like horror movie characters), but that's no reason to fire them, just give them different characters or even better, let them just act like themselves.

EDIT: Also, if this is true, then explain Danhausen.

Danhausen is a comedy character and the "darkness" of the character is about as dark as The Munsters. 

 

On RFK's niece, he stated publicly that Linda McMahon personally got her signed.

[TheDuke]

I'm OK if we have no more dumb supernatural powers. Maybe the unnamed TKO exec just isn't a fan of people disappearing when the lights go off. Maybe now we can go back to cult leader characters who just psychology and brainwashing to control their followers instead of magic. I loved the Wyatt family before they started using magic powers.

[El-P]

25 minutes ago, TheDuke said:

Maybe now we can go back to cult leader characters who just psychology and brainwashing to control their followers 

Would be redundant with the actual WWE front office.

[KingBoggs33]

4 hours ago, strobogo said:

 

On RFK's niece, he stated publicly that Linda McMahon personally got her signed.

Nepotism hire. Who cares happens everyday in every company across the planet. She isn’t the first and she for sure won’t be the last. Not even worth getting upset about. Now if she comes out in MAGA gear and preaches about not vaccinating then we can complain until then it’s whatever.

As for the supernatural characters. That story has already been debunked as BS from Dave and others.

Black, Wyatt’s were released because they did everything WWE felt they were going to do and their age was a factor as well. Which makes sense. All are pretty older talents and are probably making higher scale contracts.

The biggest winner though is Apollo Crews. How he lasted till 2026 on the main roster and making main roster money. Good for him. 

[El-P]

On 4/25/2026 at 1:35 PM, El-P said:

I'm amazed Tanga Loa still has a job. 

Speaking of which...

He's gone. 

Alongside Jeff Cobb. Wow. Talk about a waste of a year in a career. Hopefully for him he got paid well. Hope that was worth downgrading your value for the last years of your career.

Also, New Day gone, from their own willingness apparently. I thought these guys were gonna be lifers. Remember when they did that heel turn that was supposed to be booking genius and shit ? Kinda like, Cena's... Hey, TNA can grab them to replace the Hardies as aging "legends" maybe.

[DMJ]

Wow. Genuinely surprised to see New Day leaving.

They both seem like smart guys so I'd hope they're not hurting for money and got a nice chunk of all that merch they sold over the years.

I'm not necessarily interested in them going to AEW long-term, but would kinda love to see them do a few dream matches there and maybe do some international work/indie stuff just for the fun of it.

I doubt they'll go to TNA.

[El-P]

*yawn* at the idea two overrated past their prime WWE coded guys showing up in AEW. I thought we were past that point already. I don't want these guys taking up the times of the likes of Speedball, Kevin Knight, Rascalz, Bandido, Fletcher etc...  

Then again, FTR and Young Bucks will probably go to bat for them, so what do I know. But yeah. AEW has been on a roll for the past year and a half and it's because they got the focus on their *own*, fresh talent. Jericho to some extent, Cope & Cage, the Hurt Syndicate (yuck) is already too much old ex WWE guys back on MyAEW right now. Of course New Day was so big in WWE at one time, and there are leaving willingly, so there is the "These guys want to come here" factor that can be a positive. Maybe. But yeah, go to TNA instead, really, I'm good...

[Coffey]

New Day Vs Christian & Cope

AEW gonna get a bad taint if they keep bringing in old ex-WWE guys. Can't just say yes to everybody. What does Kofi & Xavier bring to the table for a company at this point, genuinely? WWE name value? That's not worth shit anymore. Outside of the surprise appearance reaction - like a returning name at the Royal Rumble - it doesn't lead to anything long-term. Xavier Vs. Kenny? Some more video game YouTube bullshit?

I'm with El-P, keep 'em away.

I always thought Kofi sucked anyway. I *HATED* his stupid annual business-exposing Royal Rumble nonsense. When people are walking on their hands & shit, it's too much. I get the rule is "both feet must touch the ground" but they really ran outta ideas & were doing nonsense like feet on the stairs & shit. They need to make it if you get launch over the top and aren't touching the ring, you're out. Now they're trying to do it with the women too & it's just dumb.

[Timbo Slice]

The calls for ex-WWE guys coming in are because AEW guys want to work with them, but time has gone on New Day/Bucks being a draw. Woods and Kofi have banked a ton of money, so they’ll be fine.

Jeff worked with the indie I did commentary for a bunch before he went global and he’s a great dude, and was happy he got a chance to make money on the main roster, but they fumbled him bad, not really knowing what to do with him. Say what you will about his ability, but they weren’t sure how to position him and kinda stuck him with a middling group. That’s gonna affect effort, desire, etc. Could see him going back to New Japan for a bit longer, but he’s on the older side and I imagine would be trying to wind down. 

[The Thread Killer]

Angel Garza tweeted a picture today which could be interpreted as implying he and Berto had been released as well. Aside from using them as cannon fodder for Royce Keys and their brief run in AAA, I kind of forgot Los Garza even worked for WWE, to be honest.

[JRH]

I can see New Day being part of some fun "party matches" in  AEW.

[El-P]

The one thing that is pretty interesting is that it seems it was part of restructuring contracts. So TKO wanted to lowball New Day basically, so they went, well, nope, we'd rather leave.

[JRH]

1 hour ago, Coffey said:

 

I always thought Kofi sucked anyway. I *HATED* his stupid annual business-exposing Royal Rumble nonsense. When people are walking on their hands & shit, it's too much. I get the rule is "both feet must touch the ground" but they really ran outta ideas & were doing nonsense like feet on the stairs & shit. They need to make it if you get launch over the top and aren't touching the ring, you're out. Now they're trying to do it with the women too & it's just dumb.

I'm a big fan of Shawn Michaels, but him having only one foot touch the floor to win the 1995 Rumble arguably started all of that loophole abuse about both feet hitting the floor.

[El-P]

Gotta say, the contrast between Aleister Black's release and the New Day's departure is funny as fuck. Half of AEW's roster has now tweeted about the New Day, fantasy booking matches and stuff. 🤣

[C.S.]

I'll admit to not understanding some of you. Kofi and Woods are exactly the kind of ex-WWE wrestlers AEW should be hiring. They're still reasonably over (being cooled off by one of the worst bookers ever isn't an indictment against them), AEW wrestlers want to work with them, and there are several cool matches that could happen. Plus, unlike Black, who never accomplished anything or drew a dime anywhere, New Day has actual credentials and they won't "big league" everyone else and look down on AEW. 

3 hours ago, El-P said:

Remember when they did that heel turn that was supposed to be booking genius and shit ?

The heel turn was amazing, which I credit entirely to the performances of Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E. But as usual in "The Paul Levesque Era," there was no follow-up. The "genius booker" fumbled the ball, as he always does.

[TheDuke]

I don't know about Kofi but Xavier Woods is awesome and I would love to see him in AEW, as a single, or tagging with Kofi, or whoever. I think he would be a fun fit.

[El-P]

Fun fact, last match of Austin Creed in TNA in 2010 was tagging with Jay Lethal against the Young Bucks. 

[The Thread Killer]

For whatever reason, WWE has decided they don’t care about Tag Team wrestling anymore. (Except for the Women’s Tag Division.)

WWE had a perfectly serviceable Tag Division on both shows and have done squat with it. They buried teams like the Creeds, the LWO, Los Garza, War Raiders, Alpha Academy, and up until recently, Street Profits. They inexplicably got rid of the MCMGs. The only team that gets any TV time is Fraxiom and they were stuck in that endless ridiculous storyline with Gargano that went nowhere and was just stupid. So honestly, New Day weren’t going to accomplish much more in WWE, not in this climate.

They seem to be putting the Tag Titles on stables now instead, like The Vision, Judgment Day, MFT and the Wyatt Sicks…and now 3 out of 4 of those stables are toast. I don’t even know why they bother having two separate Tag Divisions. They are getting to the point where they don’t even have enough talent to sustain one. 

Even worse, you can tell from looking at NXT that they don’t have any plans to change. The only team they have down there of any note is Hank & Tank who are basically a poor man’s Public Enemy.

I would not blame New Day if they wanted to go to AEW because at least they do not treat their Tag Division like a complete joke. The problem I can see is that both of those guys have worked for WWE for so long, I don’t know if they would be able to make the change from WWE style to AEW style. There is a really big difference. And I will be honest, a lot of the stuff New Day has done recently has been pretty cringe backstage comedy, and light on actual in ring action. I’m not saying they couldn’t cut it in AEW, but I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that they would.

[sek69]

Woods establishing the Austin Creed name (outside of TNA sickos) in his gaming and streaming endeavors is looking extra smart now. Apparently a lot of folks in WWE are now thinking if the New Day aren't going to be lifers then no one will be. 

[Boss Rock]

I am also on board with Kofi and Xavier with going to AEW. The Bucks match may not be as hot as it would have been years ago, but I'd still like to see it. There are lots of other interesting matches on the table too.

[El-P]

But are there, really ? What I've seen of Kofi Kingston years ago, that is when he wasn't 44 years old, is that he was a "very good 2010's WWE worker". See also, Matt Cardona or Nic Nemeth. And by that I mean : he was never that great of a worker and was wildly overrated in the grand scheme of things. Austin Creed ? Who knows. I've mostly seen his rookie years in TNA. It's not like he has this awesome in-ring rep either, he's not like say, Ciampa.. And yeah, this : 

2 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

The problem I can see is that both of those guys have worked for WWE for so long, I don’t know if they would be able to make the change from WWE style to AEW style. There is a really big difference. 

So yeah. Not convinced. In 2021 ? Hell yes, for many reasons. Today, not so much. Well, everybody in AEW wants them it seems, so that's telling of something, at least. Doesn't mean I have to love it as a viewer. I guess they'll have to prove me wrong. Or not.

Also, the main thing that it is telling about WWE : 

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

 Apparently a lot of folks in WWE are now thinking if the New Day aren't going to be lifers then no one will be. 

WWE is gonna lowball anyone. And new talent like Vaquer, Monroe or Royce took lower offer than what they could have made in AEW. And that will only fly for so long and only for a certain kind of people. Obviously did not fly for perceived lifers like the New Day.

It has to be said, with ALL the reactions around, that this is the most shocking WWE departure in eons. Probably since Mercedes (who also posted about them. Yeah. EVERYONE wants them in AEW. These guys are absolutely beloved by their co-workers).

[El-P]

Pretty funny...