Try as hard as Tony Khan and AEW might, these wrestlers were not getting over.
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00:00For every best in the world salt of the earth, there has unfortunately been an underwhelming
00:04MMA crossover star, forgettable faction of jobbers and a talented singles worker with
00:10an unexpected ceiling. And despite definitely claiming more hits than misses since setting
00:15sale in 2019, AEW couldn't stop this bunch from slipping through the popularity cracks.
00:21I'm Gareth from WhatCulture Wrestling and here are 10 Wrestlers AEW Tried and Failed to Get Over.
00:27Andrade El Idolo
00:29Bursting onto the scene with an almighty whimper back in June 2021,
00:33a star fresh from a wholly demoralising stint within the sports entertainment sphere,
00:38was unveiled as the most recent All Elite signing by serial crowd popper Vicky Guerrero.
00:44While there might have actually been a world where this partnership could have bore fruit,
00:47given the right care and attention, neither of those luxuries were afforded to the Mexican
00:51duo from the off, leading to an equally ill-received alliance with her nephew Chavo
00:56before long. A month later Chavo was also out, and yet another manager was soon called in by
01:01the name of Jose the Assistant. But this constant chopping and changing was at least distracting
01:05attention away from a bit of a lacklustre early run of All Elite in-ring performances.
01:10Outside of admittedly stellar efforts with PAC, thrown together multi-men bouts and a
01:15particularly weak debut against Matt Sidell butchered just about all the buzz that once
01:19surrounded Andrade. Even after burning Cody Rhodes and acting as the head of the now Andrade
01:24family office, the formidable talent seems more occupied with buying half the roster than
01:29competing against it, further establishing him as an afterthought in this rather bloated landscape.
01:349. The Hardy Family Office
01:36It's telling Matt Hardy took one look at the heelish set of goobers he'd assembled for well
01:40over a year, and quickly dusted off his 90s tag get-up the moment his brother showed up. Fans
01:46could not help but digest the ever-beatable buffoons as little more than cannon fodder.
01:50So why bother investing your energy in a team as convoluted as it is useless in the ring,
01:55when you can simply be cheering on the Hardy boys jumping through tables instead?
01:59Sensing that to be the most profitable option, AEW too opted for the latter,
02:02and have since burdened the aforementioned Andrade with the task of making the average
02:06All Elite fan embrace the hard-working likes of The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny and
02:11Private Party. Expect Tony Khan to continue putting the crew front and centre whenever
02:15a more intriguing trio needs a gentle push. 8. Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford
02:20Not every name handed a contract by Tony Khan on day one has hit the ground a-runnin',
02:25despite winning the first-ever singles AEW bout at Double or Nothing against Sammy Guevara,
02:29and eventually being thrown into a heelish partnership with real-life partner Penelope
02:33Ford. Any and all attempts to catapult the slimy Brit up the card have pretty much fallen flat up
02:38to this point. Sure, an alliance with Miro was solid at best, but a painful waste of
02:43favourite champion and its video game-obsessed worst. And it came as little real surprise to
02:47see TK distance the hulking badass from the newlyweds as quickly as possible post-backstage
02:52assault by Miro on Sabian. With Sabian thankfully being given time to recuperate from a shoulder
02:57injury in the wake of said attack, and Ford still struggling to make her presence known in an
03:01increasingly stacked women's division, it appears the pair's game could be on the verge of resetting
03:06once again before 2022 reaches its conclusion. 7. The Varsity Blondes
03:11The land of all elite can quite realistically confess to having the deepest tag team wrestling
03:16roster in North America, and perhaps even the world in this very moment, that a few of the
03:21greener and lesser-depth units have had their numerous weaknesses somewhat exposed in recent
03:26times. While there's no doubt a ton of potential to be found within the Varsity Blondes Griff
03:30Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr., in the two years since the team's summer 2020 inception,
03:35neither star has seriously taken a moment or high-profile match by the scruff of its neck,
03:39and given AEW's vocal audience something to remember them by. In fact, despite finding
03:44themselves with a ton of TV time, arguably the group's most notable achievement to date comes
03:48in the form of Pillman being bullied by MGF, and Julia Hart teasing a walk on the dark side with
03:54the House of Bleck. There's still time for the youngsters to come good, of course, but the first
03:58few bids to make them all elite's next big-tag thing have left a lot to be desired. 6. Brian Cage
04:04While not explicitly known for their over-reliance on mountains of meat bumping into each other for
04:08fans' enjoyment, many still felt that AEW's supremely talented roster were lacking an
04:13intimidating powerhouse force to put the rest of those darn super-workers on notice. Enter the
04:18machine, Brian Cage. He looked like a bit of a no-brainer move for Tony Khan coming into Double
04:23or Nothing 2020, and Swolverine's immediate aligning with Taz only added more spice to an
04:28already intriguing arrival. Yet for all of the building and pushing as a serious force to be
04:32reckoned with, whilst holding onto his FTW Championship, Cage's routine stumbling at the
04:37final hurdle eventually took its toll on those watching on. And his battle against Hangman Page
04:42at the event where he made his debut one year on sits as one of both men's finest. But AEW's lack
04:47of desire to hand Cage a substantial W ultimately left Cage's all-elite reputation in tatters.
04:53Here's hoping his R08 stint can reignite this machine. 5. Marco Stunt
04:57News of Marco Stunt's departure from Tony Khan's company earlier this month,
05:01while admittedly unfortunate, felt somewhat inevitable. Jumping back to those early days
05:06of the Land of All Elite suggested a different ending to this tale, however, as the Jurassic
05:10Express cheerleader frequently found himself being well utilised as a high-flying compliment
05:14to Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus's innovative offence. Or a sack of meat to be pulverised
05:19by whatever indomitable heel needed a dominant victory over a plucky face. Dynamic beatings at
05:24the hands of Brodie Lee and Lance Archer in 2020 likely sat as Stunt's most eye-catching
05:30achievements within an All Elite ring, though, in all honesty. And as the talent level kept
05:34a-rising by the month in a deeply competitive AEW landscape, TK's attempts to keep Stunt relevant
05:39as his go-to fun-sized underdog began to fall flat towards the latter part of 2021. The writing
05:45was always on the wall for this energetic youngster. 4. Jake Hager
05:49Showing up as part of Chris Jericho's newly formed Inner Circle faction to close out AEW's
05:53first-ever Wednesday Night Dynamite show, more than a few heads were turned at the mainstream
05:57re-emergence of the one-time Jack Swagger. Eager to wash away the stench of We The People,
06:02and an ultimately lacklustre run within Vinnie Mac's empire, AEW then set about presenting Jake
06:07Hager as a part-time MMA badass who could also be spotted genuinely busting heads in the Bellator
06:13cage during his spells away from the All Elite Squared Circle. And while the towering go-to
06:17muscle for Le Champion has been handled substantially better than he was in WWE,
06:21though that's not saying much, that still hasn't necessarily equated to the paying public giving
06:26much of a damn about the former World Heavyweight Champion. Whether due to his aforementioned MMA
06:30commitments, or TK's realisation that trying to make the largely dull Hager a bona fide singles
06:35force was always leading to a disappointing dead end, it's safe to assume the one-time Swagger
06:40will remain slotted into Jericho's multi-man endeavours as an efficient silent enforcer for
06:44the foreseeable. 3. Sammy Guevara
06:46Sammy Guevara was gifted the opportunity to sit underneath the Chris Jericho learning tree,
06:51on the back of the wrestling legend witnessing him at an NWA show and noting,
06:56And upon departing and eventually returning to his in-ring family on the back of some clashes
07:09with the eventual turncoat, MJF, Guevara's ascension to stand-alone babyface sensation
07:14was seemingly completed, with a crowd-popping TNT Championship victory over Miro in September.
07:19And the wheels started to come off. A game of TNT hot potato with Cody Rhodes would
07:24pave the way for the audience ultimately turning on the two-belt boasting, and increasingly smug,
07:28crazy wrestler, despite AEW still clearly angling for him to fight the good fight.
07:33Real-life girlfriend Ty Conti rocking up at his side hasn't helped matters either,
07:37as yet more title-tossing between himself and Scorpio Sky would result in fans growing
07:42equally tired of the over-affectionate twosome and the self-professed man of the hour.
07:46It's all a bit of a mess, really. And speaking of which…
07:482. Scorpio Sky For what feels like an absolute age,
07:52calls for Scorpio Sky to be handed the AEW Singles Bowl to run with have been ringing out around the
07:57wrestling community. Even with the undoubted want for the one-time SCU star to excel in the
08:02one-on-one arena though, things still haven't quite clicked for the reigning TNT Champion.
08:06But it is not through lack of trying. After being handed the illustrious honour of being
08:10one-half of the first-ever AEW World Tag Team Champions, the undeniably talented worker would
08:15capture more headlines with a strong showing against then-AEW World Champion Chris Jericho.
08:20A face-of-the-revolution ladder match victory would follow, of course,
08:23but defeat in his subsequent TNT title match against Darby Allin derailed his momentum once
08:27more as his reputation as an all-elite nearly-man grew. Timing is everything in this industry,
08:32and it increasingly feels like Sky is destined to continue being the right man at the wrong time.
08:37With a recent organic face-turn once again being squandered in favour of the
08:41Apple-mentioned insistence on trying to keep the Guevara Good Guy project alive.
08:46Abaddon
08:47Introduced on Dark as something of a wildcard throughout 2020, the unsettling presence of
08:52frightening newcomer Abaddon was enough to make just about everyone sit up and take notice
08:57of a women's division that was still finding its feet in the thick of the pandemic.
09:00Former attempts to double down on her ghoulish presentation on Dynamite,
09:04with the gory gal taking a gruesome bite out of then-AEW Women's World Champion
09:08Hikaru Shida sitting as the most glaring misstep. Yet AEW were determined to stick
09:12with the real-life Monica Bednell as their resident big bad monster to overcome,
09:16as she picked up a string of victories on Dark throughout 2021, heading into a violent
09:21but still losing effort against the hottest act in the division, Dr. Britt Baker on Rampage in
09:26October. But away from relying on her to provide the cheap scares come Halloween season, TK's
09:31never-ending quest to build Abaddon into an all-conquering in-house zombie will continue
09:36to underwhelm for as long as he fails to provide her with an all-important win that doesn't go
09:40down on YouTube. And that's our list of any other wrestlers AEW tried and failed to get over.
09:46Let us know all about them in the comment section right down below and do not forget to like,
09:50share and click on that subscribe button while you're at it. Also, if you like this kind of
09:53thing then head on over to WhatCulture.com and find some more incredible articles just like the
09:57one this video you're watching right now is based on. I've been Gareth from WhatCulture Wrestling,
10:01thank you as always for clicking on this video today, and hopefully I will see your faces very,
10:06very soon. Bye!