Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
Is it time to just sh*t or get off the pot when it comes to All Elite Wrestling’s issues with Britt Baker, Ricky Starks and Rey Fenix?
After so many months of Fenix and Starks wanting out of the company, Starks apparently being denied his request to be released, and many reports this week (and going back over the past year+) about Baker possibly being out of the company or at least in a position where she’s not being used because she’s not well liked backstage and/or has heat, at what point is enough enough? Aren’t we all sick and tired of hearing (and in my case, also writing) about these topics over and over again?
Well, despite that, my question for you today is “Do you think AEW should just release these 3 already and be done with it, or do something else?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
I asked this question because I do think AEW is in a spot where there aren’t many, if any, benefits to keeping these three around—at the very least, not the two men.
When it comes to Fenix and Starks, if they’re not going to wrestle at all for the rest of their contracts, then what does AEW gain? Merchandise sales? Is that really making the company a lot of cash?
Granted, I’m not a contract lawyer, but if these two guys want to leave and the company has no plans on using them in any capacity, then I’m sure all the lawyers could sit down and hammer out a deal that says something along the lines of “AEW agrees to let Fenix/Starks out of their contracts to become a free agent as of Date X. The percentage of their previously entitled earnings that would have been paid out during that remainder period will be forfeited, and all parties agree AEW will only pay up to the day of their release.” Essentially, if you want to leave before your contract is up, then that’s fine, but if you had 10% of your deal left, then you don’t get 10% of what you had agreed on for your contract’s earnings. Don’t like that? Well, then, you can wait out the contract and either sit at home or do other things, and the company can send you elsewhere to do other tasks on behalf of AEW to make this investment work. Cool with leaving some money on the table to leave earlier and sign with WWE? Awesome. Adios. Let’s use that money we’ll be saving to apply to other expenses.
Being spiteful and stopping these guys from leaving and going to WWE doesn’t actually benefit AEW in any way. It makes Tony Khan look just as petty as Vince McMahon, sours some relationships, possibly prevents other people from wanting to sign with AEW in the future, and gives other wrestlers a precedent that if they’re in a similar position in the future, they have to manipulate the system to get their way instead of just having a peaceful transition.
When it comes to Baker, so much of this is backstage speculation without any of us being backstage, so it’s a lot harder to say there’s a black and white response to all of this.
If she’s indeed hard to work with, has many people who don’t like her, and is causing issues by just being around (let alone doing her job in the ring), then what is she giving back to justify those headaches? Is it ratings? It doesn’t seem like it. Merchandise? I doubt it. It can’t be locker room morale in that scenario. So that would mean if this is all true, it would have to be that Tony Khan thinks having Baker on the roster helps with the image of the company by saying that’s some star power he doesn’t want to lose.
However, I’d wager anyone who really truly cares about Baker being in AEW was already well aware of her from the start and is just baked into watching the product now, and there aren’t many people who are watching strictly for her and would stop and migrate to another promotion if she were to leave. It can’t be such a high number that it makes a difference, because if that were the case, she’d be on television more as a ratings draw.
Of course, as I said, this is all if these reports are true. There’s a very good chance Baker’s reputation behind the scenes isn’t actually all that bad, and it’s all being blown out of proportion, which then points to Tony Khan not removing her because there’s no reason to. Maybe she has a few people she doesn’t get along with who are constantly badmouthing her to the right outlets that push these stories along, and not enough naysayers to dispute it and stick up for her. Normally, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, but since we don’t know, it’s important to keep that innocence before being proven guilty option on the table.
I just know that if I’m in TK’s shoes, I’m not gaining anything by dragging out the inevitable and putting a financial and moral strain on my company. Sometimes, you have to cut your losses. And if there are reasons that none of us know about for why Khan is handling this the way he’s been handling it, then he absolutely should get those talking points out there so he and AEW as a whole don’t look as bad. There’s no problem in defending yourself, unless you have nothing to defend, in which case, change that.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
