Try as hard as Tony Khan and AEW might, these wrestlers were not getting over.
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00:00 For every best in the world, salt of the earth, there has unfortunately been an underwhelming
00:04 MMA crossover star, forgettable faction of jobbers and a talented singles worker with
00:10 an unexpected ceiling.
00:12 And despite definitely claiming more hits than misses since setting sail in 2019, AEW
00:17 couldn't stop this bunch from slipping through the popularity cracks.
00:21 I'm Gareth from WhatCulture Wrestling and here are 10 Wrestlers AEW Tried and Failed
00:26 to Get Over.
00:27 10.
00:28 Gabrielle Idolo Bursting onto the scene with an almighty whimper
00:31 back in June 2021, a star fresh from a wholly demoralising stint within the sports entertainment
00:37 sphere was unveiled as the most recent All Elite signing by serial crowd popper Vicky
00:43 Guerrero.
00:44 While there might have actually been a world where this partnership could have bore fruit
00:47 given the right care and attention, neither of those luxuries were afforded to the Mexican
00:51 duo from the off, leading to an equally ill-received alliance with her nephew Chavo before long.
00:57 A month later Chavo was also out, and yet another manager was soon called in by the
01:01 name of Jose the Assistant.
01:03 But this constant chopping and changing was at least distracting attention away from a
01:06 bit of a lacklustre early run of All Elite in-ring performances.
01:10 Outside of admittedly stellar efforts with PAC, thrown together multi-men bouts and a
01:14 particularly weak debut against Matt Sydal butchered just about all the buzz that once
01:19 surrounded Andrade.
01:21 Even after burning Cody Rhodes and acting as the head of the now Andrade family office,
01:25 the formidable talent seems more occupied with buying half the roster than competing
01:29 against it, further establishing him as an afterthought in this rather bloated landscape.
01:34 9.
01:35 The Hardy Family Office
01:36 It's telling Matt Hardy took one look at the heelish set of goobers he'd assembled
01:40 for well over a year, and quickly dusted off his 90s tag getup the moment his brother showed
01:45 up.
01:46 Fans could not help but digest the ever-beatable buffoons as little more than cannon fodder.
01:50 So why bother investing your energy in a team as convoluted as it is useless in the ring,
01:55 when you can simply be cheering on the Hardy boys jumping through tables instead?
01:59 Sensing that to be the most profitable option, AEW too opted for the latter, and have since
02:03 burdened the aforementioned Andrade with the task of making the average All Elite fan embrace
02:07 the hard-working likes of the Butcher, the Blade and the Bunny and Private Party.
02:12 Expect Tony Khan to continue putting the crew front and centre whenever a more intriguing
02:16 trio need a gentle push.
02:17 8.
02:18 Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford
02:20 Not every name handed a contract by Tony Khan on day one has hit the ground a-runnin'.
02:25 Despite winning the first-ever singles AEW bout at Double or Nothing against Sammy Guevara,
02:29 and eventually being thrown into a heelish partnership with real-life partner Penelope
02:33 Ford, any and all attempts to catapult the slimy Brit up the card have pretty much fallen
02:38 flat up to this point.
02:39 Sure, an alliance with Miro was solid at best, but a painful waste of God's Favourite Champion
02:43 and its video game-obsessed worst.
02:45 And it came as little real surprise to see TK distance the hulking badass from the newlyweds
02:50 as quickly as possible post-backstage assault by Miro on Sabian.
02:54 With Sabian thankfully being given time to recuperate from a shoulder injury in the wake
02:58 of said attack, and Ford still struggling to make her presence known in an increasingly
03:02 stacked women's division, it appears the pair's game could be on the verge of resetting
03:06 once again before 2022 reaches its conclusion.
03:09 7.
03:10 The Varsity Blondes
03:11 The land of all elite can quite realistically confess to having the deepest tag team wrestling
03:16 roster in North America, and perhaps even the world in this very moment.
03:20 That a few of the greener and lesser-depth units have had their numerous weaknesses some
03:24 what exposed in recent times.
03:26 While there's no doubt a ton of potential to be found within the Varsity Blondes Griff
03:30 Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr, in the two years since the team's summer 2020 inception,
03:35 neither star has seriously taken a moment or high-profile match by the scruff of its
03:39 neck and given AEW's vocal audience something to remember them by.
03:43 In fact, despite finding themselves with a ton of TV time, arguably the group's most
03:46 notable achievement to date comes in the form of Pillman being bullied by MGF, and Julia
03:51 Hart teasing a walk on the dark side with the House of Bleck.
03:55 There's still time for the youngsters to come good, of course, but the first few bids
03:58 to make them all elite's next big tag thing have left a lot to be desired.
04:02 6.
04:03 Brian Cage
04:04 While not explicitly known for their over-reliance on mountains of meat bumping into each other
04:08 for fans' enjoyment, many still felt that AEW's supremely talented roster were lacking
04:13 an intimidating powerhouse force to put the rest of those damn super-workers on notice.
04:18 Enter the machine, Brian Cage.
04:19 He looked like a bit of a no-brainer move for Tony Khan coming into Double or Nothing
04:23 2020, and Swolverine's immediate aligning with Taz only added more spice to an already
04:28 intriguing arrival.
04:29 Yet, for all of the building and pushing as a serious force to be reckoned with, while
04:33 starting onto his FTW Championship, Cage's routine stumbling at the final hurdle eventually
04:38 took its toll on those watching on.
04:40 And his battle against Hangman Page at the event where he made his debut one year on
04:44 sits as one of both men's finest.
04:46 But AEW's lack of desire to hand Cage a substantial W ultimately left Cage's All
04:50 Elite reputation in tatters.
04:52 Here's hoping his R08 stint can reignite this machine.
04:56 5.
04:57 Marco Stunt
04:58 News of Marco Stunt's departure from Tony Khan's company earlier this month, while
05:01 admittedly unfortunate, felt somewhat inevitable.
05:04 Jumping back to those early days of the Land of All Elite suggested a different ending
05:08 to this tale, however.
05:09 As the Jurassic Express cheerleader frequently found himself being well-utilised as a high-flying
05:14 compliment to Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus' innovative offence.
05:17 Or a sack of meat to be pulverised by whatever indomitable heel needed a dominant victory
05:22 over a plucky face.
05:23 Dynamic beatings at the hands of Brodie Lee and Lance Archer in 2020 likely sat as Stunt's
05:29 most eye-catching achievements within an All Elite ring, though, in all honesty.
05:32 And as the talent level kept a-rising by the month in a deeply competitive AEW landscape,
05:37 TK's attempts to keep Stunt relevant as his go-to fun-sized underdog began to fall
05:42 flat towards the latter part of 2021.
05:44 The writing was always on the wall for this energetic youngster.
05:47 4.
05:48 Jake Hager
05:49 Showing up as part of Chris Jericho's newly formed Inner Circle faction to close out AEW's
05:53 first-ever Wednesday Night Dynamite show, more than a few heads were turned at the mainstream
05:57 re-emergence of the one-time Jack Swagger.
06:00 Eager to wash away the stench of "We the People" and an ultimately lacklustre run
06:03 within Vinnie Mac's empire, AEW then set about presenting Jake Hager as a part-time
06:08 MMA badass, who could also be spotted genuinely busting heads in the Bellator cage during
06:13 his spells away from the All Elite Squared Circle.
06:16 And while the towering go-to muscle for Le Champion has been handled substantially better
06:20 than he was in WWE, though that's not saying much, that still hasn't necessarily equated
06:24 to the paying public giving much of a damn about the former World Heavyweight Champion.
06:28 Whether due to his aforementioned MMA commitments, or TK's realisation that trying to make
06:32 the largely dull Hager a bona fide singles force was always leading to a disappointing
06:37 dead end.
06:38 It's safe to assume the one-time Swagger will remain slotted into Jericho's multi-man
06:42 endeavours as an efficient silent enforcer for the foreseeable.
06:45 3.
06:46 Sammy Guevara Sammy Guevara was gifted the opportunity to
06:48 sit underneath the Chris Jericho learning tree, on the back of the wrestling legend
06:52 witnessing him at an NWA show and noting "This guy is good.
06:56 He looks like an asshole."
06:57 Charming Chris.
06:58 The path was clear from there on out.
07:00 Give the Spanish God the tools and experience he needed to take his place as the future
07:04 of All Elite Wrestling.
07:05 And upon departing and eventually returning to his in-ring family on the back of some
07:08 clashes with the eventual turncoat, MJF, Guevara's ascension to stand-alone babyface sensation
07:14 was seemingly completed, with a crowd-popping TNT Championship victory over Miro in September.
07:19 And the wheels started to come off.
07:21 A game of TNT hot potato with Cody Rhodes would pave the way for the audience ultimately
07:25 turning on the two-belt boasting, and increasingly smug, crazy wrestler, despite AEW still clearly
07:31 angling for him to fight the good fight.
07:33 The live girlfriend, Ty Conte, rocking up at his side hasn't helped matters either,
07:37 as yet more title tossing between himself and Scorpio Sky would result in fans growing
07:41 equally tired of the over-affectionate twosome and the self-professed man of the hour.
07:46 It's all a bit of a mess, really.
07:47 And speaking of which…
07:48 2.
07:49 Scorpio Sky
07:50 For what feels like an absolute age, calls for Scorpio Sky to be handed the AEW singles
07:55 ball to run with have been ringing out around the wrestling community.
07:58 Even with the undoubted want for the one-time SCU star to excel in the one-on-one arena,
08:03 things still haven't quite clicked for the reigning TNT champion.
08:06 But it is not through lack of trying.
08:08 After being handed the illustrious honour of being one half of the first ever AEW World
08:12 Tag Team Champions, the undeniably talented worker would capture more headlines with a
08:16 strong showing against then-AEW World Champion Chris Jericho.
08:19 A face of the Revolution ladder match victory would follow, of course, but defeat in his
08:23 subsequent TNT title match against Darby Allin derailed his momentum once more as his reputation
08:29 as an All Elite Nearly Man grew.
08:31 Timing is everything in this industry, and it increasingly feels like Sky is destined
08:35 to continue being the right man at the wrong time.
08:37 With a recent organic face turn once again being squandered in favour of the aforementioned
08:42 insistence on trying to keep the Guevara Good Guy project alive.
08:46 1.
08:47 Abaddon
08:48 Introduced on Dark as something of a wildcard throughout 2020, the unsettling presence of
08:52 frightening newcomer Abaddon was enough to make just about everyone sit up and take notice
08:57 of a women's division that was still finding its feet in the thick of the pandemic.
09:00 Some of the temps to double down on her ghoulish presentation on Dynamite, with the gory gal
09:05 taking a gruesome bite out of then-AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida sitting as the
09:09 most glaring misstep.
09:11 Yet AEW were determined to stick with the real-life Monica Bednell as their resident
09:14 big bad monster to overcome, as she picked up a string of victories on Dark throughout
09:19 2021, heading into a violent but still losing effort against the hottest act in the division,
09:24 Dr. Britt Baker on Rampage in October.
09:27 Put away from relying on her to provide the cheap scares come Halloween season, TK's
09:31 never-ending quest to build Abaddon into an all-conquering in-house zombie will continue
09:35 to underwhelm for as long as he fails to provide her with an all-important win that doesn't
09:40 go down on YouTube.
09:41 And that's our list!
09:42 Know of any other wrestlers AEW tried and failed to get over?
09:46 Let us know all about them in the comments section right down below and do not forget
09:49 to like, share and click on that subscribe button while you're at it.
09:52 Also if you like this kind of thing then head on over to WhatCulture.com and find some more
09:56 incredible articles just like the one this video you're watching right now is based
09:59 on.
10:00 I've been Gareth from What Culture Wrestling, thank you as always for clicking on this video
10:03 today and hopefully I will see your faces very, very soon.