Former AEW Wrestler, Big Swole, Calls Out AEW, For Lack Of Diversity
HipsterZOMBIEJoint Experience
4 min read
Not too long ago it was revealed that Female/Black pro wrestler, Big Swole and AEW were parting ways, with Swole choosing not to re-sign with the company. On the most recent episode of the Swole World podcast, Swole went into a bit more detail as to why she decided not to re-sign, and during that episode, she also addressed two big issues with AEW. Swole said the two biggest issues with AEW at the moment are lack of structure and lack of diversity, and regarding the second point, she tells a story about her daughter bringing attention to the lack of diversity on television. First, she talked about the talk she had with Tony Khan and her exit interview.
“I explained to TK that I didn’t want to re-sign because my peace was being disrupted. If anybody knows me or knows myself, if anything is disrupting your peace, it’s time to let it go,” Swole said. “It might be scared or be hard, but it’s time to let it go. When Kenny said that, it was the circle coming to an end because Kenny and I would bump heads sometimes throughout my time in AEW. To end it on that note felt good. It felt wonderful to end it at a place where, we didn’t see eye-to-eye, but we were there.”
Swole then talked about her issues with the internal structure and the slow development and lack of TV time for the Women’s Division.
“My heart just stopped being in it as the reason why I left AEW. I felt like there were a lot of things, and I told them in my exit interview, there are a lot of things that need to change,” Swole said. “I know fans of the company don’t take criticism well sometimes, certain ones. Know this, this is somebody from the inside, the structure is a little off. It’s fine to be loose, but I like to have a little bit more structure. I felt like the women shouldn’t have gone through everything they went through just to get on TV or get time. You’re signed to this big company, you should get time. All these men are getting time, but the women weren’t getting anything or you’re not putting people on TV because more people are coming in. Okay, there are more people coming in, but you don’t have enough product for all of these people. Now you have all these people sitting around having two or three minute matches on Dark doesn’t keep me happy. Shoveling more money doesn’t keep a person happy. We’ve seen time and time again, especially in a place where there’s not enough space. There’s no writers in a sense. Not everyone is comfortable writing their own things. Closed mouths don’t get fed. That’s exactly what that environment is. If you are shy and don’t know how to write or are not creative, it’s not going to work unless they want it to work for you. That’s one of their biggest issues.”
This sounds like the biggest problem with today’s wrestlers instead of the promotions they work for. To be a wrestler your ability to get over with fans is just as important as your ability to wrestle. They can’t always expect a staff of writers to their hands in the ring and outside. As far as the race issue, Jade Cargill is a POC and she is getting a huge push. Truth is Swole was not impressive in the ring and her gimmick was generic AF.
Tony replied on Fightful’s post that Swole contract was expired and she was not good enough and he gave references of the black wrestlers who’re having a good time at AEW like Powerhouse Hobbs and Max Caster.
“Jade, Bowens, Caster, Dante, Nyla, Isiah & Marq Quen all won on tv this month. The TBS Title Tournament has been very diverse. I let Swole’s contract expire as I felt her wrestling wasn’t good enough.”
But, one guy from Tony’s own roster got irked by his comments and he demanded an apology from his boss. Yes, we are talking about Lio Rush who is pretty vocal on social media and he didn’t fell shy to express his feelings about Tony’s comments on Swole.
You can check out the tweets from Rush below:
Rush is no stranger to burning bridges. As better talent become available more and more Khan’s New Year Resolution should be to clean house of all the shitty indie wrestlers he was sucked into signing at the start of AEW.
