Thread by @Based_AEW_Guy

It's days like today that I loathe the character limit for Twitter. I cannot effectively communicate what I need to in such a short space.

So I'm making a thread about how I feel about @AEW's transparency, and for reference, please check out @TrishSpeirs48's thread from earlier

I've supported this company from day 1. I am an Elite guy, Kenny Omega was the first guy outside of WWE to be my favorite wrestler since 2006 when I discovered AJ Styles on YouTube.

I was at DC for the first Dynamite, I bought 2 tickets to FG2019 AND ordered the PPV.

I treated a friend to 2nd row seats for the May 4th 2022 Dynamite, and we'll be going again on 11/2 to be front row facing hard cam... To say I'm passionate about this company is an understatement.

I started watching WCW in 97 when I was 10 and switched to WWF in late 2000...

I stuck to a dying brand until the near bitter end. It became a chore to watch and my friend convinced me to switch. My 1st Raw was Stone Cold's return from being ran over at SS99. The energy was better. The presentation was better. WWF was better.

<8 months later WCW would die

Much like a lot of others here, I got excited. My mind went wild with all the dream matches we'd wanted forever that we could have. I thought there'd be no problem for them to keep running them as separate shows and have cross over events, but we all know how that turned out.

Over the next 7 years I watched the majority of the time, taking small breaks every once in a while. And the moment I stopped was the night the FU was renamed to the AA. It was early 2008 and WWE was about to enter its PG era.

I stopped watching WWE between that night to 2015

I was a closeted wrestling fan. But I'd recently started opening up about my fandom to a newer friend. He shared that he was also a fan once. So we decided I'd get the WWE Network and watch WrestleMania. Though, he really wanted to go back and watch Starrcade 97

That started the trend of us watching every monthly WWE PPV at his house. I remember popping for AJ Styles' WWE debut in 2016, marking out, and telling them all about how great he was in TNA. I remember spending 2016 going to live events and feeling the magic again after so long.

And then early 2017 hits. And I hear this journalist gave a NJPW match 6 stars out of 5. Gotta check this out. So I watch it. And I'm blown away by the athleticism on display. The struggle. The pure insanity on display changed me.

I'd just witnessed the greatness of Kenny Omega.

I don't watch NJPW regularly. But I go out of my way to watch Omega's matches with Okada. Because that was, and still is, something special to behold.

I still watch WWE every month with my friends but it's different. I go back and remember a time before the monopoly.

In 2017 I moved halfway across the country to be with the love of my life, and after I left, those friends stopped watching for one reason or another. Mostly personal reasons, not getting together anymore, and general drifting.

Meanwhile, it's December and Chris Jericho has just attacked Kenny Omega and I'm like... Wut?

Jericho had stated endlessly that he would never work outside WWE and low and behold... He's here being touted as the Alpha to Kenny's Omega. I'm hooked. I order my first NJPW PPV.

The match was great. Not a master class like Okada, but still worth the watch. And I can't help but think "American wrestling fans deserve an alternative to the WWE style with Omega at the helm."

The 2018 Royal Rumble was shortly after. It was the last WWE PPV I'd watch.

I followed NJPW for a while, and mostly listen to WrestleTalk News. And then ALL IN is announced. I'm already an Elite guy at this point so... Hell yeah, I'm in. I liked the show overall, Cody's promo after the show went off the air resonated to me like no other.

Then a few months later, Oli Davis is telling me that trademarks are being filed for AEW. I'll never forget that feeling. This was absolutely what I wanted, and what the American audience needed.

No sooner than the first AEW presser ended did the AEW/WWE discourse began.

I watched DoN, Fyter Fest, Fight for the Fallen, and All Out. All amazing stuff. And now we've come full circle. I was at the first #AEWDynamite in DC just over 3 years ago. I've watched every PPV and missed a total of 3 Dynamites this whole time...

And a company that said they'd be different are now ignoring the existence of the guys that got them to this point in the first place.

The shows are still high quality. But... I'm an Elite guy. Kenny is the reason I support this company so much.

I do feel betrayed to a degree. I don't know the details and so I won't assume. I just know there is legal action being threatened. So because I don't know I am giving TK the benefit of the doubt.

But since May, there's been-stop controversy. And I watched TK trade everything that made AEW special for CM Punk.

Cody's final promo now has a different meaning to me than it did back in Feb. The Elite did everything CM Punk wanted to do, and he tried to take it for himself.

It all blew up, and now Tony Khan rather than owning up to anything wants to ignore it and focus on going for bs titles like "Booker of the Year."

Please, Tony. Get your shit together. Get this resolved, and get your top stars back.

And wish @KennyOmegamanX a happy belated bday

A few things I forgot to mention: the friend who helped me get back into wrestling passed away the day of All Out '21 and so wrestling has an even greater tie to me now. We never reconnected after my move, not for lack of trying, just life.

And I don't want to devalue Mox on this. Mox is the soul of AEW now. He, Jericho, and Danielson have proven to be invaluable over the last 6 weeks and Tony is lucky to have them.

And the shows are not bad at all. The fans just want the Elite back.

Because I hate to say this, but if the Elite go anywhere. I know for sure that I will not be the only one that follows.