WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley was recently interviewed by Inside The Ropes and during it, he was asked his thoughts on how AEW is doing so far.
Since the promotion launch a year ago, they have made great strides and garnered a loyal fanbase. On the flip side, the promotion is going to head-to-head with WWE NXT on Wednesday nights. With that, they have their fanbase and then fans of NXT.
Foley talked about his constructive criticism for the current AEW product. He started out by saying that some of the guys have grown up with the ‘This is awesome’ chant but haven’t had the experience of being in the angles that need to draw money.
“I think for guys of my era, there was definitely a very real sense that if the angle wasn’t successful, you didn’t draw at the houses. And there was no other ancillary means of income.”
Foley made it known that he’s not down on the AEW guys but he sees some inexperience in shooting angles and performing for the camera.
“So guys are out there, it’s an admirable trait that they want to have the best match they possibly can, but every guy wanting to have the best match at every venue doesn’t necessarily lead to the best promotion. That’s just my opinion.”
Foley recalled how he thinks there needs to be someone to reign some of these guys in like a Gerald Brisco did for him when he got into WWE by telling him to not do certain things and there may come a time when the company asks him to do it. Foley thinks that improved his longevity.
So, I think someone needs to reign some of these guys in. Like Gerald Brisco told me when I got to WWE, he says, “We know you like to do a lot of these things. There may come a time when we ask you to do that, but until then we’re going to ask you not to.” And that really improved my longevity.”
Foley spoke about a few specific mistakes that he thinks AEW has made so far, which includes rushing the Cody Rhodes vs Chris Jericho match and booking Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley in a wild match in their first encounter. Both matches happened at Full Gear last November.
“Maybe, they’re not showing the patience they need to. I would say that Moxley and Kenny Omega shouldn’t have had their first match in a wild, anything goes environment.
I think these are mistakes made out of wanting to give people the absolute best product they can. But I do feel like there needs to be somebody reigning in their enthusiasm.”
