Vince Russo wants to know how much a WWE legend's son gets paid in AEW, urges Tony Khan to back him (Exclusive)

AEW wrapped up a pretty eventful pay-per-view in WrestleDream and continues marching ahead with a stacked roster and a new TV deal. During an episode of Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws, Vince Russo explained why the company should back stars like HOOK.

All Elite Wrestling is riding on the momentum of a fresh media rights contract and a pay-per-view that featured Bryan Danielson's retirement from full-time in-ring competition. Despite their achievements over the past five years, many pundits believe Tony Khan's company needs to make multiple changes to ensure long-term growth.

The latest episode of The Wrestling Outlaws revolved around AEW's operations, and Vince Russo said the promotion needed to focus on talents who weren't on big-money deals. Russo singled out HOOK and wondered what Taz's son earns in All Elite Wrestling, as you can view below:

"I would love to know what a kid like HOOK is getting paid and how many people are in that salary range. Bro, those are the people I'm going with if I have to make money." [From 12:33 to 12:42]

Vince Russo opined that AEW was still burning money on stars that didn't bring enough value. From a business standpoint, the former WWE writer would promote the lowest-paid talents, most likely the young stars, hoping that would positively influence the numbers:

"If I were at AEW, I would look at the 25-30 lowest-paid people on the roster. Can you imagine, bro, you are going to go with the 20-30 lowest-paid? These are the people we are going to go with. Can you imagine how much money you would be saving? And let's face it, Chris, with where they are and the numbers, would that change anything? It would change absolutely nothing."[10:16 - 11:04]

Vince Russo on how casual fans would react to AEW's wrestling style

AEW has developed a reputation for presenting wrestling matches that many reckon are heavily influenced by the indies.

The style has drawn criticism for being more of a gymnastic routine than a wrestling contest, and Vince Russo also wasn't too high on what AEW offered.

Russo compared watching an All Elite show to the Matrix movie series and said any casual fan, him included, would consider what they saw "stupid" and maybe overly choreographed.

"Chris, you're talking about the response of that crowd; I swear to you, bro. The casual wrestling fans, like myself, you're watching that and going, 'That's stupid.' This is the stupidest thing. You feel like you're watching The Matrix. It's stupid. Whatever, bro!" [From 12:03 onwards]

With Jon Moxley becoming the new World Champion, the company looks set to begin another new era. Hopefully, as Vince Russo wants, the emphasis will also be on building new top names.

---

Please credit The Wrestling Outlaws and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.