Paul Wight Says There’s No Pressure When Making Mistakes In AEW Unlike WWE

The working environment in WWE and AEW are undoubtedly different, as former WWE Superstars have mentioned in the past. Both companies have their own ideals as to how they conduct their work.

WWE has also recently hired the likes of Adnan Virk and his replacement Jimmy Smith. Virk worked as part of the Monday Night RAW commentary team for a month and he had no prior experience working in pro wrestling. Smith also has no such experience as he is a former MMA announcer.

While speaking with Busted Open Radio, Paul Wight talked about working in AEW. Co-host Dave LaGreca referenced to WWE hiring Adnan Virk and Jimmy Smith, to which Wight started explaining the main difference between AEW and WWE. He stated that there is no pressure when someone makes mistakes in AEW unlike in WWE.

“If you’ve never done wrestling before, you’re not going to have a preconceived idea of what’s right and what’s wrong. And then the guy that is running the entire show has what he wants presented put on air. And hell, the dude’s paying the bills. You can say what you want to, but that’s one of the things that’s a little bit different about Tony is Tony literally gives the talent freedom to sink or swim. He gives them all the opportunities to get over and to be successful, but there’s no pressure to make a mistake.

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“We all make mistakes, it’s how we learn. But being able to make a mistake, recognize the mistake and get over that mistake and move forward is very critical in a younger talent’s career I think. Because sometimes they’ll hold onto something much longer than they should have. Having that freedom like ‘okay I made a mistake. It’s not like I’m going to be taken out back and flogged for making a mistake. It’s a much more creative environment.”

Paul Wight spent several years working in WWE and is well aware of just how different it is compared to AEW. It seems Wight is more than happy working in AEW thanks to the creative environment provided there and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

h/t to Wrestling Inc for the quotes