With AEW announcing their flagship weekly TV show is due to be live on Wednesday nights starting October 2, it seemed as if WWE were instantly feeling the pressure from the upstart promotion.
They certainly responded as if they were; news quickly broke that NXT was being moved to Wednesday nights on the USA Network (at the exact same time as All Elite’s as yet unnamed show airs on TNT, no less), as well as that the quasi-developmental brand was being given a two hour time-slot, starting weeks before AEW and being streamed live, rather than being taped beforehand.
The last time WWE were put under sustained pressure by a rival promotion was during the infamous Monday Night Wars way back in the mid-to-late 1990s, when they were being consistently bested in the ratings by WCW’s show, Nitro. WCW seemed to stand a half-decent chance of knocking WWE off the perch they’d been comfortably sat on ever since they eliminated the vast majority of regional promotions, but, as is so often the way in almost everything in life, everything went to pot, because Vince Russo.
20-something years later, we have another budding mainstream wrestling war on our hands. Very much in the same vein as twenty years ago, All Elite Wrestling are a new, upstart promotion who are promising to offer a genuine alternative to the WWE product that many believe has long been stale and boring. However, very much differently to twenty years ago, AEW might well just have the perfect combination of corporate industry knowledge and experience, wrestling talent and significantly wealthy investors, to succeed where WCW failed.
Let’s take a look at six reasons why All Elite Wrestling stand a genuine, real chance of beating WWE in the Wednesday Night Wars…
1. A genuinely different type of product
The first thing that AEW need to ensure, on a consistent basis, is that they come good on their promise to offer a different type of show to what you can see on WWE programming. The WWE style of show is very high on the melodramatics; storylines are often seen as too “silly” (Erick Rowan repeatedly attempting to literally murder Roman Reigns), or “contrived” (Erick Rowan repeatedly attempting to literally murder Roman Reigns).
If The Elite have any sense about them, they’ll steer well clear of these kinds of shenanigans. Luckily, this appears to be the plan; Cody has been regularly quoted saying that AEW will be a “sports-centric alternative“, which seems to indicate that they know more than well that their chance lies in making sure their promotion offers a realistic, competitive “genuine sports” feel, rather than the high-on-drama product that WWE offer.
This has been evident during the company’s PPV offerings to date, too. Kenny Omega vs PAC at the recent All Out event was an outstanding match that was booked like nothing WWE would have considered.
Not only did the company franchise player (Omega) lose cleanly, but the match had an excellent, almost “real” feeling to it. Omega lost after attempting his One-Winged Angel finisher, which could build to a rematch where he’ll be nervous about even trying the move. Again, this level of psychology is something you never really see in WWE style matches and it was all the better for it. More booking like this and All Elite Wrestling will have a massive advantage right away.
2. Cold, hard cash
In case it wasn’t plainly obvious already, WWE majority owner Vincent Kennedy McMahon is very, very rich. With McMahon alone having an estimated net worth of some $3.2 billion, it’s no wonder WWE have been able to afford the many, many mistakes they’ve made along the way to becoming the global powerhouse they are today.
These days, though, there’s potential for All Elite Wrestling to usurp even WWE’s level of being able to chuck money at people for almost no reason, should they feel the need. Although the wealth of current AEW President and ‘corporate face’ Tony Khan hasn’t yet been revealed, his father (and AEW’s own majority owner) Shadid Khan has a net worth of $6.8 billion, making him the 224th richest person on the face of the planet!
Should Shadid Khan consistently pile money into AEW the way he seems to have done so far in the early days of the promotion, they stand a very good chance of being able to go head to head with WWE for the signings of the best wrestlers in the world, as well as continuing to put on PPV events that rival WWE in both size and scope.
Next stop, EliteMania?
3. The Cody factor
Ever since he left WWE in 2016, Cody Rhodes has been on a mission to write his own Legacy (sorry). He’s been a success story wherever he’s gone, excelling in Ring of Honor, somehow helping to make Impact relevant again briefly, and truly coming into his own during an unbelievably good spell in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
His next huge step came in 2018, when he (along with the Young Bucks) put together All In, an independent show that sold 10,000 tickets in under 30 minutes. The success of All In led Rhodes and the Young Bucks to try to form their own wrestling promotion; significant amounts of money later, AEW was formed.
Although the Young Bucks are phenomenal businessmen and absolute merchandising machines, WWE should be much more concerned with Cody Rhodes’ involvement in All Elite Wrestling. Having spent a decade within the company, Rhodes is very well versed in WWE’s machinations; should WWE seem to be making any plans to gazump AEW, Cody will be the one who rest of the AEW ‘higher ups’ look to for suggestions, predictions etc.
Furthermore, Cody’s tenure in WWE means he knows almost everyone there is to know within the company, both inside and outside the ring. Should any big names be dissatisfied with their prospects in McMahonLand (who would ever suggest such a thing?), All Elite will be the first promotion their minds cross, and in Cody Rhodes, having someone the majority of prospective talent already knows will undoubtedly prove to be a huge W for All Elite Wrestling.
4. The WWE Network
Yes, I know the WWE Network is mostly a wonderful thing and couldn’t even possibly contribute to AEW’s ratings win, that would be preposterous. Right? Maybe not, hear me out.
From everything that has been announced so far, All Elite’s weekly TV show will be presented live on TNT in the United States and on ITV in the UK. There hasn’t been an announced place for anyone who misses these shows to (legally) catch up on what they’ve missed, which provides a rather large incentive for fans to tune into TNT and watch the All Elite show live as it happens.
Meanwhile, once they’ve moved to the USA Network, WWE’s NXT shows will be airing, oddly enough, on the USA Network. The major difference, though, is that WWE have confirmed that even after NXT has aired on USA, it will only take 24 hours before the shows are uploaded to the WWE Network. This is a great bit of fan service; due to the WWE Network being the original (and still, for now, current) home of NXT, it was important for the company to ensure that the developmental brand is still visible on the Network. All well and good.
If NXT is available on the WWE Network 24 hours after it airs live, though, wouldn’t it make a lot more sense for people to watch All Elite’s show live on TNT (owing to the fact there isn’t currently anywhere to watch it whenever the mood takes), then watch NXT on the WWE Network the next day? It would result in WWE making a decent profit in new Network subscribers, sure, but in terms of the Wednesday night ratings war, All Elite Wrestling seem to have a significant advantage of WWE’s own making.
5. All Elite isn’t a developmental division
As much of a massive cult following NXT has received over the past few years, the fact still remains that it is, for all intents and purposes, WWE’s developmental division. Superstars are still “called up” from NXT to Raw or SmackDown, once they’re deemed seasoned enough. This might change slightly once the battle with All Elite is in full swing, but it still seems very much like NXT is being used for future superstars to hone their abilities, or in the indie veterans’ cases, to adapt their in-ring style to suit WWE‘s ultra-safe working style.
This is where it becomes a problem for WWE, and a potential game-changer for All Elite. If NXT is the place where green rookies are improving and where established wrestlers are adapting their ring work to suit their new employers, then it’s to be expected that significant mistakes will be made, or that dull-as-dishwater matches will occur.
That isn’t a problem in itself, but becomes one when you consider the fact that NXT is scheduled to be broadcast live going forward. There’s no room for the brand to have any big botches any more; considering the fact the show will be airing on a national TV network, any major mistakes stand a big chance of being viewed by casual or on-the-fence viewers as “unprofessional” or “sloppy”, which could make the same viewers call into question why WWE is broadcasting their seemingly ‘sloppy’ developmental division on live national TV.
This isn’t to say that All Elite won’t also have botches or dull matches, that would be a ridiculous thing to suggest. The thing that swings this in AEW’s favor is the public perception; if a casual viewer watches NXT and sees a notable botch or a boring match, then the question “why would they even put their developmental on TV?” could very easily lead to a swift change of channel.
Whereas on TNT, the same viewer will find a promotion airing its flagship show, with wrestlers that the casual viewer may well have heard of, such as Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, all having exciting matches with moves WWE won’t allow. Even Jon Moxley, whose name might not mean anything to a casual viewer, is instantly recognizable once he’s on screen.
6. The roster is already stacked
WWE, it has to be said, have some legitimate stars on their roster. Roman Reigns is as big a name as wrestling can realistically make these days, Randy Orton is a walking mainstream meme thanks to the “outta nowhere” RKO taking off, and in John Cena they have a legitimate mainstream breakthrough, although if you can realistically count He Who Cannot Be Seen as “a member of the WWE roster” any more is a different debate entirely.
The main problem for the established promotion is that WWE, at last estimation, employ roughly twenty four thousand, seven hundred and nineteen full time wrestlers. It’s absurd. For example, were you aware that both Primo and Epico Colón are still employed full-time? How about Sin Cara? Or maybe Alicia Fox? No? Mansoor? Exactly.
There’s simply too many, and outside of the “upper tier” of superstars (Reigns, Orton, Rollins, Styles etc), what they seem to have is an exceedingly overpacked midcard of people who could become main event players… If the company would push them. Which they won’t, because they’d rather push Reigns, Orton, Rollins, Styles etc. It never really ends. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at the current All Elite Wrestling roster.
In Chris Jericho, they have an almost 30-year industry veteran who brings mainstream recognition way above anyone who is on the WWE roster full time. Cody Rhodes’ name recognition and industry impact has already been discussed a while back in this very article. Kenny Omega is widely acknowledged as one of the best wrestlers in the world, and of all time. The Young Bucks are, as discussed earlier, phenomenal businessmen and merchandise selling machines, but are also mentioned in every single discussion of “best tag team on the planet” you’ll ever get into.
Even outside of the ‘franchise players’ mentioned above, All Elite are doing outstandingly well. In PAC and MJF, they have two of the best and most easily despised heels in wrestling today. Try to name a WWE heel who gets even close to the level of heat that MJF gets on a routine basis. It’s not doable, because WWE’s idea of “heat” is Baron Corbin, who isn’t getting booed because of his heel work, but because people are just bored of him being on their screens and in their shows.
The AEW Women’s division tells a similarly dominant story, even this early on; their first ever Women’s Championship match will be between Nyla Rose (who is an absolute monster and much better in-ring than she usually gets credit for) and Riho (who plays the plucky underdog outstandingly). But that isn’t where it ends; unlike WWE, the All Elite Women’s division seems able to contain feuds that aren’t solely based around a title belt, as shown by Bea Priestley and Britt Baker’s built-up brawl on the outside during the Battle Royale at All Out.
All Elite are doing outstandingly well in their early days as a promotion. They aren’t perfect by any means, and mistakes have been made and will be made again, but they stand a real chance of beating WWE in the upcoming Wednesday Night Wars. As wrestling fans, we can all at least bank on competition breeding better products all around, and for that alone, here’s to you, All Elite Wrestling.