AEW has grown a devoted fanbase due to using a style similar to what made ECW a legendary promotion in pro wrestling history. However, a legend from the renegade 1990s outfit does not think the AEW roster is using their brains when deciding on the risks they take in matches.
AEW Revolution made headlines for several reasons earlier this month. However, beyond being the final event in the iconic career of WCW great Sting, his tag partner Darby Allin went viral on social media for his nasty dive off a ladder and through a plate of glass. The fall left the former tag team champion badly cut and many wondering if it was worth the risk.
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One individual who wasn’t a fan of the death-defying moment at the pay-per-view card is WWE and ECW great D-Von Dudley — one half of the legendary Dudley Boyz tag team. During a recent appearance on “Busted Open Radio” the multi-time tag team champion blasted the moment and claimed even the members of the legendary TLC tag matches — the Dudleys, Edge and Christian, and the Hardy Boyz — would never have even tried that fall.
ECW original claims risks AEW wrestlers are taking just isn’t smart
“That was very dangerous to me. I don’t know if the six of us had ever been in a situation where we would have the opportunity to take that type of bump. I just don’t know if we would’ve ever done that,” Dudley said. “There’s unnecessary risks that are involved in that. I remember, in TNA, when we were putting Christian through the glass table, we had to table certain things we wanted to do leading up to that.
“That bump alone, we had a little bit of apprehension about doing it, and kind of make sure Christian was going to be as safe as possible because even sugar glass can cut the hell out of you. (h/t Wrestling Inc).”
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The opinion is surprising from an alum of ECW, a company that built of massive reputation by pushing the envelope in and out of the ring and rubbing old-school performers the wrong way. Nevertheless, the former ECW tag champion feels even at the company’s worst, they were “smarter” about the risks they took than the current AEW roster.
“Whatever they do over there, that’s what they do. I get that, because I’m sure in ECW, when we were doing the crazy things that we were doing, a lot of the old timers didn’t understand what we were doing,” he said. “But I don’t know. The risk that we see today, I don’t know if we took those risks like that in ECW. Maybe we did, but it just didn’t seem like we did. I think we were a lot smarter and we understood the consequences of some of the things that we were going to do in there.”
While AEW has some of the best wrestling in the world, they have racked up injuries to many top stars over the last year. Furthermore, Darby Allin broke his foot after a dive from the top rope to the outside of the ring a day after his glass-shattering move at Revolution.
