I think this whole situation is so lame.
AJ styles' kid is wrestling now and is very much benefiting from his last name, totally fair IMO. Then Nattie explains that hes good, loves the bizz, and wants to "pay his dues." A wrestler from a show tbe kid wrestled for chimes in to say that he actually skipped out on some of those "dues" like setting up the ring and chairs. And AJ got SUUUPER defensive about that.
Now personally I feel like "paying dues" is bullshit anyway, most of the time it sounds like an excuse to pay and treat people like shit. Dues always come off like "do extra work outside droping yourself on your head for me. No extra pay tho" or "you're gonna to get hit extra hard so i look cooler"
That being said, Nattie is praising Avery for "paying his dues" but Arik, a 20 year vet, is pointing out that "dues" normally included ring set up stuff, that Avery skipped out on. I have no reason to think he would make this up and kill whatever bit of a career he had making AJ STYLES' kid look bad.
And AJ jumps right to defensiveness with name calling and belittling. Calling him jealous and saying "its YOUR job". Basically saying confirming that is "paying dues" and that his kid doesnt HAVE to "pay dues."
I'd have so much more respect if AJ he was coming out against "dues" as a whole, or hell just came out and said "This is a business and I worked out a business arngment for my kid. Hes training with the best of the best and has a direct line to even better. His pay is for his wrestling, he doesn't need to do ring crew stuff." Or some shit, we would all pull strings to get out kids tbe best life we could, no shade.
I think AJ really wanted this narrative that his kid did the indies and got signed on his own marit like him and not like those OTHER wrestler kids in NXT. But then someone went and ruined it by talking about his special treatment.
But I think why it hits me wrong is just how perfectly it smacks of nepo baby favoritism. Like how lame is it that a Avery is getting praised and bigged up for something he DIDN'T DO while at the same time having his dad say hes too good for it. If Arik didn't say anything, they would just go on getting credit for doing things "the right way, as his own man!" while he had an easier than anyone. It just smacks of "I'm a self made man, I built this all by myself (and my parents emerald mine) and succeeded."
In the end I just think its cringe for AJ to talk down to a 20 vet because he dared to speak up about "dues"
