5 oldest stars on the AEW roster
When Tony Khan launched AEW, many wrestling fans might have hoped the new promotion would give young wrestlers a platform to showcase their talent.
As days passed, these dreams vanished. The newly-established promotion opted to sign older wrestlers and ex-WWE superstars who had spent many years in the business.
WWE Hall of Famer Booker T had recently criticized the AEW signing of older stars on his Hall of Fame podcast.
"A guy like Sting - Sting is an anomaly. He's different than anybody you're ever going to deal with in the wrestling business and keep their equity as long as they have just because Sting changed with the times. He figured it out. But, as far as having the older guys in the ring performing, and the younger generation watching them - I've said this, and I've said a thousand times, a lot of people like to write in the chat, 'Booker T is a cool dude, he looks good.' My thing is this, I love all those guys that look up to me in that way, but it's hard for a 15, 16, 21-year-old kid to aspire to be 56. To see a 56-year-old with the title, that's unattainable for a young kid. That kid goes, 'I got to wait till I'm 56 years old to get this kind of ring, I've got to wait that long to be a part of this game? I'm not willing to wait that long. I'm not willing to pay those kind of dues."
The WWE Hall of Famer demanded that AEW give young wrestlers a push.
"I believe in 'respect your elders', but my new slogan is 'respect your young people' because they're the future, they are the ones that are going to do the big shows at 30-35 and hopefully they have that knowledge to be in that position. You invest in the young talent, you bring the young guys up, you give the young guys a rub, the ones that figure it out, they get it, the ones that don't, we push them to the side and we keep on rolling."
AEW has several experienced superstars on its roster who are well over 40 years old. Names such as Matt Hardy (46) and Christian Cage (47) do not qualify to enter the "oldest five on the AEW roster" list.
Here are the five oldest AEW in-ring competitors, according to the Internet Wrestling Database.
#5. AEW Star Paul Wight (49)
Paul Wight (49), better known as The Big Show for WWE fans, officially joined AEW last month. On the same day of the announcement, he received a call from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon in which he congratulated him on his new step.
Wight spoke about Mcmahon's call in the media scrum following AEW Revolution.
"Vince actually called me the day it was announced that I signed with AEW, wished me a lot of luck, agreed that I'm a big asset to AEW and thanked me for all the years I worked in WWE. There's no animosity, there's no anger, there's no dirt, so to speak. This just came down to, you know, contract negotiations and opportunities. Let's face it, over 20 years in WWE, I have done everything there is to do, in WWE. I needed a fresh start, and for me, Vince understands that and understands me as a talent, and this was an opportunity for me to do that."
Wight was signed to play two roles in AEW, a commentator and an in-ring competitor. He revealed on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette that it came upon his request.
"When we were talking on the phone, Tony was like 'what do you want to do?' and I said I want to do color commentary and I also want to wrestle. I've known Tony for a while and I think he was a little surprised."
Wight debuted on the March 3 episode of Dynamite to announce that AEW had signed a "Hall of Fame" worthy star. The star turned out to be Christian, who debuted at Revolution.
At the age of (49), Wight is still waiting to make his in-ring debut in AEW.