Mick Foley was recently interviewed by Inside The Ropes. During this, he was asked his thoughts on how AEW is doing so far.
Foley ended up sharing some constructive criticism for the current AEW product. Here is what he said (h/t to Cageside Seats for the quotes below):
“Some of the guys have grown up yearning after the, ‘This is awesome,’ chant. But having 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.
I’m not down on the guys, but I think you’re seeing 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.
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 also spoke about a few specific mistakes that he thinks AEW has made so far:
“I thought they rushed the match (Cody Rhodes vs Chris Jericho). 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. But 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.”
Do you agree or disagree with Foley? Let me know in the comment section below.
On a related note, here is the latest report on WWE feeding some misinformation about AEW.