AEW, the newest professional wrestling promotion starring Cody Rhodes, Chris Jericho, and more, is poised to make some noise.
It's been a little over two decades since the "Monday Night Wars," the competitive rivalry between WCW and WWE, which almost ended with a WCW victory. They paid their wrestlers more, and thus were able to poach many of WWE's best talents. For approximately two years in the mid-'90s, WCW's Monday Nitro beat WWE's Monday Night Raw in the ratings.
As distressing as this must have been for WWE at the time, it was a blessing in disguise in the long run. It forced the company into shark mode—advance or die. WWE pivoted away from the corny stories and the good guy/bad guy dichotomies, and instead embraced more realistic gimmicks, which were usually extensions or exaggerations of the actual performers' personalities.
And so, WWE won the war: WCW went bankrupt, WWE bought them out, and the company has dominated ever since, which some would argue has led to creative stagnancy—until now.
AEW could be WWE's first legitimate adversary in a generation, but it'll take some time to grow. Here’s everything you need to know about AEW, the brand new company poised to give WWE chairman Vince McMahon fits. The first pay-per-view under the AEW banner will broadcast live from Las Vegas on Saturday.
What is AEW?
Are there other former WWE talents involved with AEW?
If you follow non-WWE wrestling, most of the other names on the Double or Nothing card will look familiar. But of particular note are two of the finest current luchas: Pentagón Jr. and his brother, Rey Fénix, also known as the Lucha Bros. Christopher Daniels, Frank Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky are also part of the active roster; Daniels will additionally serve as the head of Talent Relations for the fledgling company.
All In was a massive independent wrestling showcase organized and promoted by Cody and The Young Bucks in September 2018. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer claimed that Ring of Honor would be unable to sell 10,000 tickets to an arena-sized live event. Cody took that as a challenge; he and the Bucks began putting together an arena show at the Sears Centre in Chicago. Tickets sold out in 30 minutes.
The event, which featured 11 matches, was an unprecedented success, and was attended by over 11,000 people. More importantly, it demonstrated that non-WWE wrestling could be successful and profitable in the United States, and served as the proof of concept for an upstart wrestling promotion. The Young Bucks began conversing with Tony Khan, and from there, they brought on Cody. Things snowballed from that point.
On Jan. 1, 2019, AEW announced its inception and the promotion's first PPV event under the AEW umbrella: Double or Nothing, which will take place on Saturday, May 25.
How is AEW different than WWE?
Correct. The company inked a deal through Turner to produce a weekly television show on TNT (which used to broadcast WCW back in the day). The day and time of the weekly TV show have yet to be announced.
When Triple H (who serves in real life as WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent Relations) 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.