Jim Cornette on The Average Wrestler Age In WWE & AEW

From Episode 552 of the Jim Cornette Experience
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
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[@dejuans1328]

The laziest style of booking is assuming everybody knows everything.

[@rizkyanandita8227]

By sickos for sickos.

[@alexandru5369]

Yeah wrestling was better when the marks were in the seats-Dutch Mantel. 100% right about knowing everything nowadays it takes a ton of fun wrestling. Sure internet exposed a lot but you can't just blame the internet. Wrestling allowed way too much too get out

[@itsnotjayboi]

@@alexandru5369 honestly man like one example is the amount of power ppl in the wrestling business let twitter hold over them

[@danielburger1775]

@@dejuans1328 And WWE forgets that RAW and Smackdown viewers don't necessarily also watch NXT

[@tevinlandry7265]

It's crazy how fast it took AEW to reach the dying days of WCW, while bypassing all the success, popularity, mainstream appeal and memorable matches or moments

[@zhougongjin2704]

That's what happens when you bring politics into something (in this case, wrestling) that politics is supposed to stay out of. Like them firing CM Punk, as just one of many examples. It just ruins all the fun

[@Lemont5236]

😂😂😂

[@Madmetalmaniac42069]

@@zhougongjin2704 ...What does that have anything to do with politics?

[@notarealperson87]

@@Madmetalmaniac42069 they meant little p politics, like backstage politics

[@dustyhaynes5688]

I think it's pretty fair to say at this point that AEW is not a failure whether we're fans of it or not.

[@matthewhostetter8974]

WWE's roster is now younger then AEW's and has a truck load of young fresh talent for a new generation of wrestling. AEW has become the retirement home for people who want "one last run" for 10 times what they used to make and only have to work 1 day a week if that. Plus if they don't like they booking they can just sit at home and get paid 6-7 figures.

[@joshmulligan950]

Hey at least they're having fun!

[@darkwarrior1194]

I was impressed at this year's Royal Rumble, my friends were complaining that there were no surprise entrants. But I just thought that everyone felt like a star, unlike AEW. Every time that for some reason catch a glimpse of Dynamite is. Who is this guy and why should I care?

[@alexandru5369]

@@joshmulligan950 Well Edge was having fun till he had a brain freeze

[@nutsaboutdance]

Yeah not like Darby ospreay Garcia Yuta hangman mjf the Australian guy are all pensioners lol where’s theory and riddle appearing on ppvs exactly ?46 year old punk rock 50 plus and Goldberg still main eventing hypricrocy if you cornette slupers is unbelievable

[@BB-ed4om]

I can’t think of anyone aside from Trick Williams, Bron and melo on the mens side. Who am I missing? Ethan page is an older guy so he doesn’t count.

[@sillyl8y]

jericho single handedly skews the average for aew

[@joshuaDstarks]

Him and Luther for sure 😂

[@DanzG]

Lashley MVP and Shelton about to up it

[@DanzG]

48,49,and 50 btw 😆

[@hgriff14]

imagine how old the average would be without the wannabe early 20s onlyfans models tony has wrestling half naked “for the sickos”

[@KamoMustafaWWE]

Billy Gunn, 60. Dustin Rhodes, 55.

[@brianwait5458]

For those wondering, Billy Gunn is older than anybody possibly wrestling for WWE (Rock, Goldberg etc) even though he looks good. Then you have Dustin and Jericho who are mid 50's.

[@XombieLejon66]

Then you got ol Slapnuts and Chris Daniels. And now MVP and the Hurt Business who will likely cause the average to spike up

[@alternative7586]

@@XombieLejon66 A wild slapnuts appears

[@cjtquk]

​@@alternative7586 Double J, Jeff Jarrett

[@jonathancarlson6127]

He's one of the few I tolerate because he knows what he's doing and he's in still good enough shape to have me believe he can still knock a man 40 years younger than he is on his rear end.

[@reggiesmith6196]

I’m gonna take a quick guess before I even watch the video: WWEs average is about 32 or 33 years old.

[@iRockdTheBoat]

And with the addition of MVP, Shelton, and Lashley that age average is gonna go up

[@Weststribe]

WWE's is going up too, with The Rock and Goldberg.

[@QAZ-OMEN]

I also hear rumors of a STING return. Idk in what capacity, tho.

[@jonathancarlson6127]

Thinking- hoping, really- that MVP will just be a manager.

[@jonathancarlson6127]

@@Weststribe At least one of those guys will draw money and be used sparingly, perhaps once, and likely put over the younger talent in the process. If Kevin Steen shows up in AEW, he'll be 40 and have a ton of miles on him to boot. I would like to see someone like Trevor Lee (formerly Cameron Grimes) get added to AEW, because they're on the younger side (31) and they have enough experience and recognition to cause people not to just go "Who dis?" and change the channel.

[@DuragAllDay]

​@@Weststribe I don't believe Goldberg is coming back.

[@EoghanFallon]

Wish they'd go through the AEW Roster again and who'd they'd keep and get rid of, probably one of my fave segments.

[@derpderpin1568]

There's like 7 people in the entire industry worth keeping right now if we actually played this game. There isn't enough true legitimate stars on the entire planet right now to fill a 5 match card.

[@Micfri300]

Darby Allan mjf Samoa Joe Brian danielson Christian cage. Done.

[@wjl2068]

Yupp love that segment

[@insignificantaftermathPROJECTS]

I remember when they did that for WWE and NXT and Brian Last fell apart laughing at Axiom's former name being "A Kid"

[@rrrob19]

I just looked it up. Bob Armstrong was the same age in 1993 as Chris Jericho is now.

[@jonathancarlson6127]

And in better shape.

[@Puvwilmo00]

Except Bullet Bob was still good at that age.

[@jonathancarlson6127]

@@Puvwilmo00 Both were terrific workers, albeit different fashions, but Bob kept in shape full-time. Jericho fluctuates, he can maintain a physique that's presentable but for some reason he doesn't.

[@tylercox1875]

Hulk hogan was 42 when he turned heel at bash at the beach 1996

[@wateo1782]

Too much of the bubbly.​@@jonathancarlson6127

[@NaZtRdAmUs]

The problem with AEW is that its booked for a audience of one.

[@bradburke8232]

Ironic too because that happening in WWE without any real viable alternative out there for 10-15 years is what created the appetite for company such as AEW to emerge in the first place. Quite disappointing imo.

[@jaimecampos4700]

AEW's problem is that Tony Khan was/is a "tape trader" who remembers everything that happened in Japan/Mexico/Ring of Honor/Pro Wrestling Gorilla twenty years ago. He assumes all of AEW's fans are the same and books AEW for those fans.

[@alternative7586]

He markets for a very NICHE target audience that hasn't existed since 2019. Wrestling fans who watch indie wrestling, New Japan, ROH, the Mexico scene, etc. who also love hardcore and strong style wrestling.

[@clivet3252]

Yes, we're all supposed to get excited about someone from Japan who we've never heard of.

[@InsignificantNick]

Jim's rant on AEW's booking is so true! I'm in the age demographic that Tony's dying for, but everything is just niche. Idk about these old matches, and they don't do a good job telling you why you should be excited. They'll have "Speedy" Petey Jobson III come out, and I'm just supposed to know who he is and what he's done. Whatever.

[@AnneHathawayRules]

And see that's what made me stop watching aew. These guys would show up and people would lose their mind in the crowd and I would have no idea who they were. They were just these random dudes who have been wrestling in Japan since the nineties. How am I supposed to know that as the viewer? Maybe if the announcers weren't so busy laughing at each other's flubs they could say what these people's accomplishments are.

[@eddydeez]

Wrestlers these days don't have the same level of experience as they did in the 80s. You can be a 5 year vet and not even had 100 matches. It's pretty rare for any AEW guys to have even 40 matches a year despite being allowed to work indies, and WWE has so many guys that despite running house shows some of their guys don't work more than 80 matches a year.

[@Hellwolf36]

The difference though is how they are utilized. WWE tends to drag out the 40+ year olds stars and use them mostly for promos, the occasional match on TV, but ultimately save them for PLEs. AEW makes them do 20 minute moves and makes them even doing crazy shit like working with inept talent or doing Moonsaults off of cages.

[@GodInHisPrime]

LA Knight, Damian Priest are both over 40. They’re the “young” 40 year olds. Then you have guys like Finn who have actually been around for a good while, looks nowhere near 43 but he is. There’s others like AJ, Rey, that were wrestling regularly not too long ago. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are also exactly 40 My point is, nothing about AEW or WWE, but 40 is not old in wrestling

[@marvinleong5902]

Yup, Undertaker reached in peak at 40 in 2005. That Randy feud, his match with Kurt in 06 and the classic mania matches he had from 07 when he was 42 to 13 when he was 48​@GodInHisPrime

[@eggroid739]

Repetition isn’t always repetition. Stan Lee made the same point by saying every comic book is somebody’s first comic book.

[@mildbill7376]

Miyamoto said the same thing about Mario games.

[@kaczok1985]

And, coincidentally, Marvel forgot how to write their comics that way some time in the late 90s/early 00s

[@eamonwright7488]

Resurrect Gypsy Joe as an On-screen authority figure for Dynamite story line.

[@dannymcelroy922]

The bucks would just kill him with chairs one week for no reason at all, and it would never be explained

[@willkenshin]

Tony could’ve created his own version of NXT but instead decided to book Indy guys from other promotions on his show to job to his top guys instead of giving his young guys some shine. They’re only booked if it’s in a tag match

[@willshields4480]

Tony should be competing for the college athletes that WWE is snatching up.

[@dcb_75]

Thing that makes me laugh is that AEW is the youth organization except right from the start they had guys like Omega, the Bucks, Chris Daniels, etc and all their friends working there who are no spring chickens at that point. AEW didn't hire a bunch of Jack Perry's to fill the roster, it was a bunch of guys with at least a decade of experience already.

[@GenericUsernameWhatever]

In NXT they have Roxanne, Cora, Trick, Oba, Lexis, Ethan not to mention Giulia, Vaqeur and Delta. Combined with the main roster WWE will be sh1tting out top stars for the next decade.

[@bipolarminddroppings]

one of the best things about AEW existing is that a bunch of "legends" and older established names from WWE jumped ship, leaving spots open for younger, less established guys to step into their spots. Just think of how much TV time would have been taken up on WWE TV over the last 5 years if Jericho, Edge, Christian, Big Show, Sasha Banks, Daniel Bryan, Gallows & Anderson, Golddust, Neville, Ambrose and The Hardys (and I'm sure I'm missing some) had been available...

[@2010theunit]

Sting counts as well. He was active for the 1st 2 months of this year. (He's my all time favorite btw). He retired on March 3rd; less than 3 weeks before his 65th birthday.

[@Gamblestein]

Wrestler Prime is different now. They aren't just discarded to the side of the road after 35 like they were under Vince. New regime wants lifetime superstars and they dont want them dropping dead in their 40s. Just a different time with much lighter schedules allows older talent to last longer.

[@dagobert1234321]

Also the steroids of today are much less dangerous than the stuff from the 80s.. ultimate warrior was taking horse 🐴 grade stuff

[@danielbaronne753]

a reasonable take on a cornette video? The cult will not be happy with you lol

[@franchise98bjn]

The barrier of entry to AEW is high especially when they explain nothing

[@foxbear60]

Nick Wayne: I'm single-handedly saving our age average. Negative One: 💪🧖‍♂️Feeling big, bro?

[@matthew2874]

AEW became WWEs farm system without even knowing it. Turned off people like cardgill, dragon Lee, starks, who they could easily made stars out of

[@AnneHathawayRules]

They pretty much already made Jade a star.

[@vonVile]

Every promotion is WWE's farming system. They've been taking talent from TNA for over a decade. I can name at least 2 dozen people TNA created' who are currently in the WWE.

[@jhsand1515]

"You're making a point." "Did I get to it yet??" Jim, I do not appreciate that personal attack on how I have coversations.

[@johnnygrind77]

WWE challenges your intelligence, where are AEW thinks everyone knows anyone and are all smart fans, but they're all idiots.

[@unknown-gp6gw]

"we are the youth gone wild"

[@XombieLejon66]

The old gone mild

[@robertnapier624]

Doesn’t Sebastian Bach have heat with Jericho?

[@stingrey1571]

Don’t forget during the last few years of the Vince tenure, he was over relying on older stars. There were main events where the combined age of the two main event we exceed an undercard tag match.

[@rizkyanandita8227]

They are getting out of pandemic and they are reliable.

[@stingrey1571]

@@rizkyanandita8227 even before the pandemic, vince stopped trying to build new stars and just relied on the old ones, no matter how old they got.

[@lsj6721]

@@stingrey1571 Vince turned your precious black & gold into a talent farm, those people are being harvested by the current administration now. also, people like ricochet and gunther were midcard champions during those era, but you can conveniently forget about that.

[@taylork7530]

Unrelated: Punk, who had a great match last night, said in an interview that he’d want Oba Femi in his future stable should he have one. Jim…Punk gets it. Even Brian gets it. Get with the program. Get on this train before it takes off and turns into a bandwagon. Some of us have been here since his original theme and before he won the Breakout Tournament.

[@QAZ-OMEN]

Personally, I'd rather see Oba Femi demolish Punk. That would be an amazing rub.

[@robertnapier624]

The Next Generation of Punk?

[@nyg804]

Feminists united.

[@NotAdultingToday]

I can't wait for oba vs Gunther, Oba vs breaker, pretty much oba vs everyone

[@QAZ-OMEN]

@@NotAdultingToday Oba Femi treating GUNTHER the way GUNTHER treats his opponents would be something else.

[@lastdayonearthmysteryman4849]

NXT lost all the older people! When Bobby Fish left that gotta subtract like five years!

[@NJTRAF]

It's funny because if you look at WWE, there are a few wrestlers that skew that number higher; Carlito (45), CM Punk (45), Damien Priest (42), Finn Balor (43), Kofi Kingston (43), The Miz (43), Rey Mysterio (49), R-Truth (52), Sheamus (46), AJ Styles (47), Sami Zayn (40), LA Knight (41), Doc Gallows (40), Karl Anderson (44), Shinsuke Nakamura (44), Randy Orton (44), Asuka (43) ... and technically there's The Rock (52), John Cena (47) and Brock Lesnar (47) ... and yet, pretty much all of them are more over and bigger names than anyone in AEW... but take The Rock, Brock Lesnar, John Cena out of the numbers and that'll drop that average a fair amount!

[@Cruising_On_Lake_Havasoma]

TIL Balor is older than I am. Figured he was like 8 years younger.

[@rizkyanandita8227]

That what suprises me. When they listed the age, the people I know are on the wrong side of the average.

[@hungchoonghow5857]

Asuka is 43? She looks so young. Don't tell me Kairi Sane is also in her 40s? She's like a lil girl.

[@Kfowlkes09]

@@hungchoonghow5857 Kairi is 36, so she's close

[@NJTRAF]

@@hungchoonghow5857 not far off, she's 36

[@brianwait5458]

AEW = Retirement Home

[@kingslayer2999]

AEW=All Elderly Wrestling

[@SAM-ru4vx]

📊📈📉 The charts are at both extremes. Either they are too new to the business or get the please retire chant. The numbers and your 📋 ✅ list has failed your brand

[@DundaMifflin]

Also daycare for Tony and Hook. 😂

[@teecakes]

All Elders Wrestling

[@NotAdultingToday]

​@@teecakes😅

[@Th3L0v3P4nd4]

I remember being shocked when I found out Ryback was only 30 in 2012.

[@matta2738]

I remember being shocked when I found out Ryback was supposed to be impersonating a professional wrestler

[@danielburger1775]

I'm not shocked that 2 basement-dwellers still think it's "clever" to make up bs about Ryback.

[@Nitemerican]

I need corny talking about that osprey rick o shea ending 😂

[@bagser1]

The last big NXT show had 2 wrestlers over the age of 30 on it. Their women's world champion is 23 and their most over male talent is either 27 or 28. WWE is future proofing their business and AEW isn't.

[@Ai14106]

During the Goldberg segment with Gunther, one of the jobber security guards look like a Cucamonga kid

[@mahakalavanilla6263]

The shrinking and twinkification of security guards on wrestling television needs to be studied

[@JeremyKasperson]

Did NXT have a crystal in your wrist that glowed at age 30 to send you to the renewal ceremony like Logan's Run?

[@wilcee238]

😂 Yes. It shined gold at 30 and turned black at 31.

[@Thecallmemisterajp]

As much as I agree with Corny’s point re: Nigel and Danielson, this was much more a presentation issue than a problem of bringing in old wrestlers to recreate old moments. Both guys can talk, he owns the footage of all of the old shit in question, and Nigel himself put out a documentary showing (IIRC) Bryan winning the World Title the night Nigel had to retire. The story writes itself, and whether they were gonna do a prolonged feud or just a one off before Bryan retires so they can do it one last time, the key to getting over a story this unique is to actually promote it, which they barely did. Compare with something like Bret Hart vs Bob Backlund from the 90’s. My friends and I weren’t even born during his WWWF title run, but damned if he wasn’t one of our favorites on the playground because of the story and build behind everything.

[@romelmunoz7957]

Just read some of the comments on the clip when Nigel challenged Danielson that Dynamite on their KZbin channel: a lot of people saying "wtf, why the commenter is having a match with Bryan!?": that tells you the poor job of rushing and not telling the audience the whats and whys 😅

[@danielbaronne753]

@@romelmunoz7957 except we know that Nigel has been badmouthing danielson on commentary for over a year now and everyone who watches knew it was going to lead to a match.

[@Aj6711]

WWE is building new stars while AEW is just signing old ex WWE guys who are already had there big run

[@mjdf122]

All the Joshi from the 1980s/1990s/2000s are still wrestling to this day in their 40s/50s/60s

[@AnneHathawayRules]

What's a joshi?

[@mjdf122]

@@AnneHathawayRules Japanese women wrestlers where the women’s revolution really began

[@AnneHathawayRules]

@@mjdf122 neat

[@Station_AI]

I wonder why Jim didn't make this video 2 years ago.

[@movementencouragedfitness5945]

18:45 I love these moments where they help each other out lol

[@ZacharyShow]

10 years from now, the current iteration of NXT will be talked about similarly to how OVW was talked about with Cena/Orton/Brock/Shelton

[@QAZ-OMEN]

With talent like Oba, Trick, Tony D, the recent call ups like GUNTHER, Breaker, and Tiffany, that is quite likely imo. Side note, I wish WWE would book Eddie Thorpe more.

[@NotAdultingToday]

Eddy Thorpe has been injury plagued unfortunately.

[@QAZ-OMEN]

@@NotAdultingToday that's unfortunate. I had expected an injury because of the Underground match with Dijak a while ago. Is that what happened?

[@JT7Blu]

The women, maybe. NXT need to do a better job building up the men for the future. Trick and Oba Femi are the only ones with huge potential.

[@StoneColdSergio]

lolno

[@dogred431]

Age does matter if you can still go, still have good matches and are still over. The big jumps for AEW are because they went nuts hiring so many ex-WWE stars.

[@chrischar9428]

Isn't that mainly what they always did

[@alexandru5369]

Not surprised at WWE's average age as a lot of the top guys are in their 40's. I'm a little concerned about the main event long term.

[@alexvillarreal9534]

Nick wayne and dante martin are helping the aew scales from tipping over close to the high 30s

[@Saddler1944]

Nick Wayne's age contributions to the age gap is actually countered by the fact his mother also work's there.

[@alexvillarreal9534]

@Saddler1944 true i didn't think about that

[@somedude2384]

What sucks about AEW is that someone like Bryan Danielson is that his whole thing in AEW is that he was a giant WWE star. People who come from WWE only have that fact behind them. AEW doesn't make stars, it cripples then so they retire there.

[@Garibaldi1]

Alright that was Smackdown "Was it?!"

[@tug1345]

Thinking about it, WWE has quite a lot of over 40's wrestling, quite a few still high up the card

[@Nofunleaguesportschannel]

The snowman books aew for the snowman only lmao ☠️💯

[@DateTwoRelate]

Couldn't you have gotten Scott Steiner to figure this out?

[@omegamark9178]

hot take: aew is the n. korea of pro wrestling: They will take the most pitiful,miniscule anything and hail it as a "great triumph against the evil empire!" (wwe who barely even notices them) while claiming thier defeat is imminent by an owner who in no way lives in reality

[@danielburger1775]

Hot take: Everything all the giddy fanboys are saying about HHH now is EXACTLY what they were saying about Tony a few years ago.

[@tylercox1875]

Reminder that hogan was in his early-mid 40s in the late 90s during the nwo

[@chrisgriffin6779]

This Nigel, Danielson Match is the only one I've ever seen. I'm aware of the battles those had over the years. Tony just assumes everyone knows as much as he does about past rivalries in other promotions and it just doesn't work.

[@danielbaronne753]

Everyone who watches AEW regularly knows. And that what the match was for

[@lovelywaz]

Still waiting for Cornette to comment on... The Rock: "And then I told Punk and Drew, they will NOT main event and it will be magic." 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@AnneHathawayRules]

Are you talking about last night where they put the best match by far on the entire card on at the beginning? 😂

[@MatthewSmith-nc3vg]

All Elderly Wrestlers

[@ButWhatIfItIs]

Cagematch is great for finding out info. Top notch there. Just pay no attention to any reviews from the crazies on there. They will surely make you mad. Just make your own mind up and don't let IWC goons skew your opinions. Thank You.

[@dolandarkxgrandayy6953]

The top guys in WWE, Cody, Roman, Seth, and Drew are all 38 years old.

[@matta2738]

And your point?

[@dolandarkxgrandayy6953]

​@@matta2738 Wrestlers don't reach their peak until late 30s

[@danielburger1775]

Drew just got beat by Geriatric Punk. Roman and Cody were overshadowed by Dwayne...

[@allmightylowercasejay1138]

When i was in college i had a professor tell me in a creative writting class "when you're writting, don't assume everyone knows what you're talking about" you have to write for everyone because someone somewhere is gonna be new to the product and you don't want them to get lost because that's the quickest way to lose them.

[@torking7813]

Blaming Jericho for the age thimg when Sting was there taking stupid bumps in his old age is a little unfair to the vortex man

[@Scoopman_5000]

If women count it actually helps AEW average to be lower I would think

[@Mr.Majestic77]

*Oldest Pro Wrestlers between the World Wrestling Entertainment and All Elite Wrestling (to include Ring of Honor) Not in Order* Endeavor TKO's World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE): [1]. Dwayne Johnson (52) [2]. CM Punk (45) [3]. Brock Lesnar (47) [4]. Randy Orton (44) [5]. Roman Reigns (39) [6]. Seth Rollins (38) [7]. Drew McIntyre (39) [8]. Nick Aldis (37) [9]. Dexter Lumis (40) [10]. Chad Gable (38) [11]. Carlito (45) [12]. Gunther (37) [13] R-Truth (52) [14]. Shemus (46) [15]. Xavier Woods (38) [16]. Kofi Kingston (43) [17]. The Miz (43) [18]. Erick Rowan (42) [19]. AJ Styles (47) [20]. Apollo Crews (37) [21]. Cody Rhodes (39) [22]. Jey Uso (39) [23]. Jimmy Uso (39) [24]. Rey Mysterio (49) [25]. Brun Strowman (41) [26]. Kevin Owens (40) [27]. Alex Shelley (41) [28]. Chris Sabin (42) [29]. John Cena (47) Tony & Shahid Khan's All Elite Wrestling/AEW (to include Tony Khan's Ring of Honor/ROH): [1]. Billy Gunn (60) [2]. Jeff Jarrett (57) [3]. Dustin Rhodes (55) [4]. Chris Jericho (53) [5]. Adam Copeland (50) [6]. Christian Cage (50) [7]. Shelton Benjamin (49) [8]. Bobby Lashley (48) [9]. Samoa Joe (45) [10]. Mark Briscoe (39) [11]. Bryan Danielson (43) [12]. Jay Lethal (39) [13]. Christopher Daniels (54) [14]. Brian Cage (40) [15]. The Butcher (46) [16]. The Blade (44) [17]. Cash Wheeler (37) [18]. Dax Harwood (40) [19]. Colt Cabana (44) [20]. Claudio Castagnoli (43) [21]. Dutch (37) [22]. Katsuyori Shibata (44) [23]. Johnny TV (45) [24]. Keith Lee (39) [25]. Matt Sydal (41) [26]. Miro (38) [27]. Roderick Strong (41) [28]. Scorpio Sky (41) [29]. Tony Neese (39) [30]. Pac (38) [31]. Jon Moxley (38) [32]. Eddie Kingston (42) [33]. Brandon Cutler (37) [34]. AR Fox (37) [35]. Brody King (37) [36]. Aaron Solo (37) [37]. The Beast Mortos (37) [38]. Malakai Black (39)

[@1nstantClassic]

AEW is and will continue to be the Old Wrestlers home for WWE, Tony is their unofficial pension plan

[@omegamark9178]

now that is only half-true,,, they are also a developmental showcase for the few young talented wrestlers to eventually go to wwe as well

[@1nstantClassic]

@@omegamark9178 very true

[@brianwait5458]

Damian Priesr, LA Knight, The Rock, CM Punk, Cena. Thats the only people i can think of older than 40 in wwe

[@QAZ-OMEN]

How can you forget AJ Styles and Rey Mysterio

[@alternative7586]

Don't forget Randy Orton

[@JWS1985]

Carlito, Asuka, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, Lesnar

[@Dartingleopard]

And Finn Balor

[@danielburger1775]

It's also not just physical age. It's fresh vs stale. There are 30-somethings in WWE who have been there forever.

[@druid_1987]

Jeff Jarrett, Dustin Rhodes, Paul Wight, Christian, Edge, Jericho & Billy Gunn have a combined age of 377 years.

[@NLaBar]

The Canadians are single-handedly raising AEWs average with Jericho, edge & Christian

[@draftmagicagain1000]

Where is Adam Cole!??!?? He has been out of in ring action for over 1 entire full calendar year. I don’t think he’s coming back. Apparently now he can focus on his true love, playing video games.

[@coldbrutalhonesty]

Besides creating the next generation of wrestlers, WWE is also catering to the next generation of fans, while AEW is catering do the dwindling hardcore indy fanbase.

[@GlassJoe1337]

To be fair I remember a lot of turnover in the attitude era. Let alone how much overturn after the invasion angle. I remember even someone like the Big bossman just being downgraded to just heat like Crash was

[@muzman486]

Wow corny went on a rant there at the end.

[@William180-s9e]

Hard to believe Jericho Went from a Sinking Ship in the 90’s to 2024’s shittyarse Comparison to AEW’s😂

[@tuuk17]

“AEW won’t rely on ex-WWE wrestlers, and will have exciting new up and coming wrestlers!” - AEW’s original mission statement.

[@mikeaaron2112]

When Jim was going over the ages did anyone else get a Steiner Math flashback?

[@GreggNowhere]

Timeline works for the data, 2020-2021 were the pandemic roster cuts (which AEW grabbed a bunch of the talent from) and late 2021-2022 was the NXT 2.0 rebrand and switch to NIL system where instead of longterm indie wrestlers, it's now a huge mix of 30-something indie wrestlers and 20-something athletes straight out of college.

[@SultanKhan-fm6zb]

Need Jim and Brian reaction on Dave Meltzer on K100 Podcast with Konan. They discussed Jim!!

[@nyg804]

If Knonnan wasnt eating into the mic I may check it out.

[@Saddler1944]

Fun Fact if you go back and look at old Observers Dave blames Konan's opponent 100% of the time if the match sucked which they almost always did. Dave made it super obvious even back then who was feeding him gossip

[@danielburger1775]

​@Saddler1944 And who was Observer Manager of the Year a decade straight? Then think about what you think you "know" about Bischoff, Russo, even Jim Herd.

[@franchise98bjn]

7:14 Gotta account for all the WCW folks coming into WWE in 2002

[@SchnitzelCFC]

Waiting patiently for the video on the new TV deal to drop.

[@nyg804]

I wish Jim would make the biggest heel turn ever and go take Tony's money for a year. He'd have so many clauses in his contract he'd be nicknamed "The Animal".

[@karlm641]

The sad thing is as well, is all the guys who could book and be creative for them won’t work for Tony as he’s managed to insult them all on Twitter….

[@realkb21]

Sorry to say this but AEW being around severely helps the WWE

[@erik_9_9_9]

the older you get past your prime the more time you get in aew show

[@Ljtokool]

All Elderly WRETIRMENT!!!!

[@ButWhatIfItIs]

It is a blend of all the mistakes previously made, and occasionally some exceptional talent make things work, but they all leave eventually. That is the issue. They hire has beens and rejects from WWE (TNA) Bad, tasteless and illogical angles and booking (late WCW) Let the talents have too much say and control (CYN. If it actually became a thing 😂) I really wanted AEW to be a good show providing a good alternative, but they just feel like Vince's late WWE with indy material that doesn't look cute on national television. And it is all Tony Khan's fault. Bad booker who can't distinguish constructive critique from people he gives rise to on twitter.

[@taylork7530]

Median and average are not the same thing.

[@egroom8714]

True it’s not being old is the problem it’s the fact they don’t draw no one is coming to see Daniel Bryan and he is actually one of my favorites all time

[@realrobrose]

NXT age increased because they started using WWE main roster talent more. AEW signed like 3 older guys and lost like 3 younger people.

[@TheMagnificentMongoSlade]

Vince cleaned house on NXT and the show got much younger. In 2021-2024 WWE lost several wrestlers over age 30 via release or contracts expiring... Dolph Ziggler/Nic Nemeth Samoa Joe Cesaro / Claudio Mustafa Ali Adam Cole Aleister Black Keith Lee Roddy Strong Kyle O'Reilly Bob Fish Edge Danielson MVP Lashley Benjamin Ricochet Christian Mercedes Mone Becky Lynch Naomi / Trinity (even though she returned in 2024) Miro/Rusev Buddy Murphy Andrade (though he also returned in 2024) FTR / The Revival And most of them went to AEW making their roster older. Not to mention TK buying ROH and absorbing older talent like Matt Taven Mike Bennett Jay Lethal Mark Briscoe Jay Briscoe

[@Durakken]

The funny thing is that they don't realize Sting and Flair were in AEW for the last few years and the latest numbers after they left, the age went up. Also... people don't realize is that Hogan's run in WCW when he was "old" was the same age as Roman Reignsa year ago.

[@muryt12]

Roman was 37 a year ago. Hogan was 40 when he signed,41 when he debuted.

[@jamesburgess2k]

In the later years, booked for Meltzer. Currently, Tony is booking for himself. Triple H is trying to book for a casual audience; one who prefers drama and longform, drip feeding stories. HBK is booking for a younger, Gen Z audience. Take a guess at which promotions are hot...

[@marvinleong5902]

Trips also trys to cater the online marks with his NXT guys like DIY, Finn etc so there is roughly a balanced between 2 type of audience

[@georgechristianjr]

They were Hunters guys VINCE fired them ONLY reason Cole & Lee went to AEW

[@chadams7753]

WWE usually gets the indie star when they're in their mid 30s like Joe, Lemme Talk To Ya, Aries, Roode, EC3, Shinsuke, AJ. AEW employs a lot of ROH, PWG, TNA vets to give them steady income, so they'll be about the same age, but their most active parts of the roster skew pretty young. If you go payroll for payroll, sure, about the same. On TV, AEW is much younger.

[@armandogomez2677]

The problem isn’t the age it’s that in aew the new guys aren’t listening to the veterans despite the veterans having success and the new guys being handed an opportunity thinking it’s success.

[@robertnapier624]

Exactly. Which is why the younger guys keep getting injured. Yes injuries happen regardless but they especially happen when wrestlers make stupid decisions in the ring. Edge being an exception who made a leap off a steal cage and injured himself.

[@armandogomez2677]

@@robertnapier624 ​​⁠not even just that but they aren’t progressing the young bucks are having the same matches they’ve had their entire careers. They’ve become the nostalgia act nobody wants

[@robertnapier624]

@@armandogomez2677 every tag match is tornado tag.

[@OneUponADime]

What kills me about AEW is they have all the pieces to succeed, and seem like they refuse to do so

[@WWJD85]

Old Tony Khan reminds me of Old Biff Tannen from Bttf 2

[@MrBennedy]

I see a lot of comments talking about how various wrestler ages skew the data. The header of the article stated these data are the MEDIAN averages of wrestler ages. The age is therefore NOT skewed by outliers, young or old.

[@hassan74ish]

Chris Jericho is a Dinosaur in Wrestling years 😂😂😂

[@Saddler1944]

Chris Jericho is 10 years older than a WCW Hulk Hogan. The same guy Jericho said held young guys down back then. It's FUCKEN WILD.

[@benjaminperez7328]

@@Saddler1944 Jericho’s booze ain’t gonna pay for itself……..

[@tylercox1875]

@@Saddler1944yeah Chris Jericho now is 11 years older than hogan was when he turned heel at bash at the beach 1996 forming the nwo and hall and Nash were in their late 30s

[@crazycarper3780]

Jericho in the new movie the Terrifier 3

[@Ryanonfire03]

WWEs older guys are also their very top stars. Punk, Cody, Orton, Cena, Rock, Roman is still in his upper 30s. AEWs older guys are the Jericho nonsense, Moxley nonsense, Dustin Rhodes who does nothing really. And whoever else that are not top stars.

[@hillbillyjimbo1732]

Dont forget Edge and Christian who are each 50 years old.

[@Ryanonfire03]

@@hillbillyjimbo1732 Yes thank you. And probably their best elders.

[@ColeVecsion]

Right nxt 2021-22 was the horrid vince fucking shit up era that also replaced most the roster with rookies

[@marvinleong5902]

WWE future: able to enjoy with families in their 50s, 60s AEW future: wheelchair bound by 45

[@muryt12]

Big E definitely enjoys his broken neck. You're right.

[@marvinleong5902]

@@muryt12 one by accident while others doing same dives and falls weekly. Damn sicko

[@rickyvenegas9286]

Where is the next game changer to go to AEW