In the wrestling business, nothing is ever certain. Promoters, wrestlers and fans all have to be ready for anything, whether that means a storyline swerve or a spate of injuries on the roster.
AEW is experiencing that injury bug right now. Will Ospreay expects to be out for several months with a herniated disc. Swerve Strickland is repairing a torn meniscus. Adam Cole, Athena, Orange Cassidy and more have spent time off AEW television in recent months.
But as fellow AEW performer Jeff Jarrett told the Sentinel last week, this is a time when the promotion’s talent depth pays dividends.
“I can tell you without question, there’s never a thing as too much talent or too deep a roster,” Jarrett said. “Yes, it makes it highly competitive, but hats off to Tony Khan for having the foresight to prepare for this. It’s the price of playing the game. But when you look at a Dynamite or a Collision and look at the quality of the in-ring action, you almost forget this guy or that guy is on the shelf. That’s a real testament to the brand.”
Jarrett hasn’t wrestled in an AEW ring since January, but he has kept himself busy, especially as a partner and board member for Acclaim Entertainment, the resurrected gaming company that rebooted earlier this year and just released its first slate of nine games. Jarrett is largely lending his promotional skills to the product, but he said when the first set of games was announced, he became a giddy fan again for a second when he saw the title Basketball Classics.
“When I saw the title, I wish I would have had a camera on me,” Jarrett said. “You could hear it in my voice, how excited I am. At the end of the day, if we have a successful launch with these titles and the fans engage, success breeds success.”
Acclaim CEO Alex Josef said Jarrett has been an invaluable member of the company’s startup team.
“He’s about the best guy you can have on board in terms of helping to promote and hype up Acclaim and everything we’re doing with our games,” Josef said.
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Jarrett did get in the ring last month, but it wasn’t for a match. AEW held a ceremony at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia to honor the late Eddie Gilbert, whose wrestling legacy in the 1980s and ‘90s spread from Tennessee to Pennsylvania and around the world. Among those in attendance were Jarrett, Gilbert’s brother Doug, former NWA champion Tommy Rich and Sting, who credits Gilbert for his help getting started in Louisiana.
Gilbert, who died in 1995, was a former owner of Eastern Championship Wrestling, which made its home in the arena and was later better known as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Even today, many fans informally call the 2300 Arena by its former name, the ECW Arena, because of its rich history.
“You have to reference the past to move forward into the future,” Jarrett said. “That’s what Acclaim is doing, and it’s what (AEW owner) Tony Khan is doing. He has that respectful lens on the past. He looked at the 2300 Arena – and the real roots of it, not the three initials that most people associate with it – and he saw Eddie Gilbert.”
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The entire tribute, which took place after the last night of AEW’s residency at the arena, was a surprise for the fans, but Jarrett said Sting was definitely the main event of the presentation.
“Sting got his first break in Tennessee, but between that and the famous Clash of the Champions match with Ric Flair (in 1988), Eddie Gilbert was that piece of the puzzle who taught him the nuts and bolts and seasoning and respect for the business,” Jarrett said. “Eddie took him under his wing in Louisiana for about a year and a half, and out of Sting’s own mouth, without Eddie Gilbert and his tutelage, where would Sting be?”
jreddick@orlandosentinel.com
