the closest comparisons might be its secondary titles (and Saints did reign as Tag Team and FTW Champion, besides winning the Owen Hart Cup in AEW) posted by CM Punk with the caption “Look at us†featured not only him wearing his newly won World Heavyweight Championship, but new Womenâ€s Champion Cargill as well as reigning NXT Champion Ricky Saints and WWE Champion Cody Rhodes with their belts, standing arm-in-arm, some of the biggest success stories to depart AEW and thrive in WWE.
The thing about the critiques of Khan and AEW (which, for the record, Punk and other talents pictured did not explicitly participate in) is that theyâ€re, at best, only partially on point. It could be fairly said WCW fumbled Chris Jericho or Eddie Guerrero in locking them into the mid-card despite his incredible talent and main event potential, or that WWE did the same with Toni Storm, who has gone on to show what sheâ€s capable of under the AEW banner. This isnâ€t to say AEW hasnâ€t squandered some stars or made creative missteps. The picture is much more complicated for the current slate of AEW alumni reigning in WWE, though.
Tony Khan Pushed Some of His Biggest Name Defectors Hard
Photo credit: WWE
Not long after CM Punk posted his photo, Blake Monroe replied, calling attention that she too was an AEW alum and now reigns as NXT North American Champion. Interestingly enough, Punk, Monroe, and Jade Cargill specifically represent anything but Tony Khanâ€s creative missteps.
In a two-year run with AEW (which encompassed two injuries that put Punk out, cumulatively, for nearly half that time) The Second City Saint won the AEW World Championship twice. If anything, itâ€s clear that Khan, as a booker, tried very hard to push Punk on top, only for injuries to kill momentum both times. Thatâ€s before backstage politics turned as ugly as possible in the infamous Brawl Out incident and before Punkâ€s altercation behind the scenes at All In 2023 spelled the end of his time with the company. One can debate Khanâ€s handling of backstage politics and incidents, but thereâ€s no legitimate claim the AEW President undervalued or under-pushed Punk.
For her part, Jade Cargill reigned as the original TBS Champion for 508 days and was well-protected in her title loss. Thatâ€s at least on part with the push WWE gave Cargill in her first year and a half with the company, and all indications in both cases would suggest the company was helping her come along as an in-ring performer en route to bigger things.
In some ways, Blake Monroe represents the most decisive case of Khan knowing exactly what he had in a talent. While WWE passed on Monroe when she tried out to wrestle for them, Khan signed her and pushed her into quite arguably the highest profile womenâ€s feud in AEW to date opposite Toni Storm, up to and including a Womenâ€s World Championship reign. Monroe chose not to re-sign when her contract was up, opting to test her luck with WWE. So it is that Khan did his best as long as he had this star, and WWE pushing her too really amounts to a testament of how right Khan was.
Cody Rhodes Represents A Unique Case
Image credit: WWE
Thereâ€s no question that Cody Rhodes has thrived at a much higher level since returning to WWE than he ever did as an on-screen character for AEW. Itâ€s hard to blame Tony Khan for that, though.
Within the first year of AEWâ€s history, The American Nightmare challenged for the AEW Championship with the stipulation that if he did not dethrone Chris Jericho, he would never be able to challenge for the world title again. By all indications, Rhodes called his own shot here, at least agreeing to if not responsible for the idea of taking himself out of the main event picture.
Rhodes has, since, cited that he regretted that choice, realizing that he still had world champion potential and had thrown in the towel on that part of his AEW career too soon. Just the same, in the broad scheme of Rhodesâ€s career trajectory, one canâ€t ignore that he left WWE because Vince McMahon fumbled him, then made a name for himself that included playing a major role in launching AEW. That he did an about-face and re-signed with WWE afterward, only to launch the most successful run of his career as a wrestler tells a remarkable comeback story of a wrestler who bet on himself and won. This wasnâ€t Khanâ€s mistake but one of the most unique stories in wrestling history unfurling, with AEW a small part of it.
WWE Has Opportunities To Feature Talents At Different Levels With NXT
NXT Champion Ricky Saints. Photo: WWE.com
Ricky Saints is the NXT Champion and Ethan Page reigns as both NXT North American Champion and AAA Mixed Tag Team Champion. These are fine feathers in the cap of two emerging stars who quite arguably were under-featured in AEW.
The tricky thing is, though, that if one is comparing AEW success to WWE success, there really is no point of comparison between AEW and NXT. WWE ‘s a large enough organization that its developmental brand carries prestige. Nonetheless, one surely couldnâ€t say AEW got it wrong by not positioning Saints as World Champion, while WWE has gotten it right by placing him atop NXT. AEW doesnâ€t have a proper developmental brand, and as such the closest comparisons might be its secondary titles (and Saints didreign as Tag Team and FTW Champion, besides winning the Owen Hart Cup in AEW) or, now, the ROH Championship (a murky point of comparison, but had Saints remained on good terms with AEW, it feels realistic he may have been in contention for that tile).
Indeed, Page is probably the one current champion in WWE there really is a case that AEW fumbled, as All Ego is now a double-champion and briefly even reigned as NXT Champion upon his arrival to the brand. By contrast, he never enjoyed much measurable success in AEW, occasionally working with top guys or challenging for titles, but he had little to show for it. Nonetheless, the point stands that holding secondary titles in NXT and AAA doesnâ€t have a very precise analog in AEW—Page still has some ways to go in making it feel as though AEW truly missed a major opportunity with him.
In the end, so much of how wrestlers are used comes down to timing, context, and whatâ€s happening behind the scenes. AEWâ€s track record is far from perfect, but suggestions that recent WWE success stories highlight failings on the part of AEW and Tony Khan are largely misguided and actually show AEW used most of these talents more or less correctly.
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