The discussion then turned to the change in the AEW locker room that occurred in the later years, a turn that many believe was for the worst as the promotion continued to add to its roster. Stunt himself agreed with the assessment that AEW lost the bond in the locker room it had in the early years, though he also noted that he couldn’t blame AEW owner Tony Khan for making the efforts he did to acquire more talent.

“I do, I do believe that [things changed],” Stunt said ” I couldn’t pinpoint when it started shifting. But it definitely did change a lot. I mean, we started bringing in more and more people that were leaving WWE, or just big name signings off the independents or from NJPW, which I thought was great. I think it’s always good to get the best talent you can. I mean, they claim to be the company where the best wrestle, and I think…I don’t think they’re lying about that at all. I mean, you can argue the same for WWE though. They’ve got some incredible talent there….

“But the way that AEW started shifting and bringing in more people, it definitely…it kind of has to change things. You’ve got to rewrite certain stories, or you’ve got to rewrite how you’re going to go about using certain people and trying to keep your core people involved with the new people coming in. It just changes things. And the headspace kind of drifts off with that, cause there’s just a lot more going on.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription