>When I was watching AEW regularly from 2019 to maybe 2021,
>the fans were singing their hearts out to his theme song and
>he was doing that “palatial estate” and “little bit of
>the bubbly” stuff, and I thought he was still great.
>
>I remember a few so so angles. I’ve tuned in sporadically
>the last few years so not really sure when everything got so
>bad with him.

Probably during his feud with a returning Adam Cole, which started well, but ended up fizzling out, ending with a largely awful match at Double of Nothing 2023. Things got worse after he broke up the JAS and started his angle with the Don Callis family. Things then got seriously bad when there was speculation about possibly shaky behavior and NDAs from years ago, but nothing substantive came out of it. But it did get him to be booed out of the building during the Wresledream PPV.

This, right now, is as bad as it’s ever been.

He’s clearly well aware of the reaction he’s been getting and the calls for him to go away. I’ve read a theory this whole “Learning Tree” character is based on that, and is his riff on CM Punk (eye-roll if true). I get he’s the king of re-inventions, but now people just want him to legit go away. Hopefully he’ll eventually take the hint, tour with Fozzy, and stay off TV for a while.