>>19619198>>19619177It's not raiding in either case for WWE or AEW. It's the reality of American television money vs the traditional pro wrestling business that Japan still operates on.
AEW forming with a strong foundation required a big investment, which includes large contracts - larger than ones that WWE would offer to the same people because Tony was an unproven promoter. This means that WWE ALSO had to raise their pay for wrestlers, otherwise Tony would sign anyone he wants. With WWE and now AEW getting huge rights fees for their content, they can afford to pay millions to any main event level talent they want and still be insanely profitable, never mind the lower level guys.
That environment does not exist in Japan, so unless you're the top guy in the country, you won't be making as much as midcarders in WWE or AEW. So naturally, when your contract is up, if one of those companies thinks you have potential to be a star in the west, you'll take a gigantic pay increase to go with them.
There's nothing anyone in Japan can do about that unless AEW goes out of business and WWE slashes their contracts as they go back to being a monopoly. Then guys can go back to making a comparable amount of money as top guys in NJPW and in the indies, which would be far less money than they're making with two powerhouse companies competing for talent. The only people who will stay in Japan are the ones that neither company wants.
Hope this helps.
