Carlito Explains How AEW Forced WWE to Evolve

Carlito says AEW’s rise helped improve WWE’s backstage culture.

Former WWE Superstar Carlito recently discussed how AEW has influenced WWE in a positive way. During his appearance on Busted Open Radio, he explained that the presence of AEW created healthy competition, which pushed WWE to treat its talent better.

“I don’t mean to knock on Vince [McMahon], but, you know, he seemed to have his certain things you have to do this way and the next day it changed, whatever, you know, certain rules, just stupidity. They liked people walking around on eggshells. Because it was the only game in town and they liked the boys knowing that, you know what I mean? I think now that with AEW being around too, it’s helped. They cant — they know they can’t bully because there’s other places for people to go. That’s added to it.”

However, he also credited Triple H for helping to clear out many of the outdated and toxic backstage practices. “But I think Hunter’s done a good job too of just cleaning all that crap out. Plus, it’s just a new generation, you just can’t get away with certain things you could before, you know what I mean? And I just like that a bunch of that BS is gone now. People just go there, show up, and do their work.” [H/T: f4wonline]

Carlito believes Triple H never liked his WWE character

During the same interview, Carlito spoke about his comedic role as part of The Judgment Day. He explained, “I orchestrated that,” Carlito revealed. “Some people were complaining, ‘They have him as an idiot,’ but those were all my ideas. I took, literally, ‘creative has nothing for you,’ and I made something of it. I went in there and I said, ‘I’m not going to complain.'”

He admitted he didn’t expect a major push, especially since he felt Triple H was never really a fan of his character. “I’m one of the older guys, I’m not going to get prioritized and I’m not gonna get pushed, and Hunter [Triple H] is not a fan of Carlito. I think he personally likes me, but I think he was never a big fan of the character,” Carlito continued. “What I did was, ‘I’m in the Judgment Day, it’s the hottest group here, how can I stay in this group? Boom. This is what it’s missing.’

“The writers were great, they gave me a bunch of freedom. They would come to me and say, ‘We have this backstage (segment), we don’t really have anything for you here, but we were hoping you would Carlito-fy it,’ is what they would say. I would find where I could do something. It took off from there and every week it was great. They gave me total freedom to do whatever I wanted.”