There was a rivalry between WWE and WCW for 2 decades which ended with the Victory of WCW. For 2 years WCW Monday nitro beat WWE in the ratings the reason was simple WCW was paying the wrestlers more.
But it proved to be blessing in disguise for WWE. It moved WWE in a do or die situation. WWE won the war as WCW went bankrupt. Afterwards, WWE started to dominate and bought WCW.
AEW could be WWE's legitimate competitor for WWE as contemporary professional wrestler's like Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley), Chris Jerrico, Chris Rodes and many more are making noise.
Here's everything you need to know about AEW.
What is AEW?
The newest wrestling league AEW is being bankrolled by Pakistani-American khan family led by Shahid Khan. Tony khan his son will serve as AEW President and CEO. There's a growing concern among WWE with the growth of AEW.
How does WWE rate AEW?
Afterwards, when Triple H was roasting AEW signee Billy Gunn during this year's WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, he joked, "Apparently if you put Executive Vice President in front of anyone’s name, it makes them feel important.” He later made this remark about Vince McMahon: "Billy, let’s be honest. He will buy that pissant company just to fire you again!”
Cody did not take the comment well.
WWE is so dominant that they can weather most storms, especially from an upstart company like AEW, and emerge on the other side still intact. WWE has been running hundreds of shows for decades; AEW, for all its promise, hasn't run a single show yet. It is way too early, and silly, to discuss WWE's possible foreclosure.
WWE's main concern right now is to re-sign their talent so that they don't jump ship and embarrass the company. To do so, they've been offering their performers massive raises of $100,000 or more. But even that is no guarantee of compliance; The Revival members were offered $500,000 a year, each, to re-sign, and Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder both turned the offer down. Dean Ambrose turned down the terms of his new contract as well, and allowed his old one to expire. Whether these performers will sign with AEW, however, is still unknown. To be fair, AEW's brass are keeping realistic expectations; they've all said, in many different ways, that they have no interest in competing with WWE. And that's a good thing because there's no possibility of them winning that war in the near future.
But we, the consumers, vote with our wallets and our time. And even if WWE doesn't go belly-up, the company will hurt, even in small ways, from AEW's success, both in the court of public opinion and in its merchandise and ticket sales. Though it may not be a killing blow, it could hopefully shake WWE out of the creative rut they're stuck in.
Harms that AEW brings to WWE
1)Jim Ross on commentary - He is regarded as one of the greatest wrestling commentators of all time.
2) Vince McMahon ignorance - According to Wade Keller, Vince McMahon is rejecting ideas from everyone backstage including Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon. A decision like making Brock Lesnar as the money in the bank 2019 has not gone well.
3) Ratings going down - Monday night RAW and smackdown hit all-time low viewership record in late April 2019. Due to this decline in viewership US network have been pitching ideas to Vince McMahon to help boost the viewership.
4) Great storytelling from AEW - Cody vs Dustin was a great example of a brother vs brother. It was spectacular and emotional.
5) New and fresh - It was sold out in just 4 minutes. It's new exciting for wrestling fans around the world with fresh faces terrific storytelling and display of wrestling.
WWE has some serious competition ahead of them and it will be interesting to see what WWE will come up with to fight back.
