AEW versus WWE: Why the war could be fun and unite fans

Most fans probably rolled their eyes just now when they looked at the title, but bear with us for a few minutes. This recent war between AEW and WWE is very different from the Monday Night Wars of the late 1990s.

With a large unique identity for a young company like AEW that contrasts with the seasoned empire of WWE, there is bound to be some competitive friction and pride between the two companies. However, the competitive chirping between the could actually be amusing and a way for the two different fanbases to finally unite.

WWE versus AEW war could be what’s needed to unite the two fanbases.

In the history of wrestling, wars between wrestling companies have fired up both fan bases and eventually led to a winner. This time, there is one winner in a WWE versus AEW war: the fans.

There was an odd period of silence when WWE ignored the poking from TNA, numerous stars from that company tried to get Vince McMahon’s attention throughout the years. The idea for a promotional back-and-forth was a great idea, but Vince didn’t want any part of it and wanted to just work with no sign of outside influence.

While TNA was the second-biggest company at the time, they suffered eventually. Fans can argue that it was management, money issues, creative problems, or a little bit of everything. The thing that also hurt them was a lack of engagement from a company they acknowledged as competition, but the feeling wasn’t mutual.

A company can pretend another company doesn’t exist, but the typical hardcore fan certainly wouldn’t want their intelligence to be insulted by the antics. This led to hard times for TNA and some frustrating times for WWE fans due to the promotion’s disconnect from the rest of the wrestling world.

There have been a few other companies that attempted to grab WWE’s attention but also failed, including the defunct Global Force Wrestling. As a wrestling fan, it was hard to imagine another company getting WWE’s attention ever again. Eventually, new emerging companies didn’t see any reason to try.

It puts it all into perspective why a fan of WWE may get annoyed by even hearing a hypothetical situation where there may be a rift between WWE and another company. It’s the atmosphere and comfort that WWE has set and most of their fans have embraced openly.

That brings us to today, with AEW being the new number two company with the incarnation of TNA still living on with Impact Wrestling as number three. The situation is very different, with a company that has lifted off from ambition and commercial success.

AEW has a different kind of leverage that wasn’t there for previous companies over the years. They didn’t just knock on the door, they pounded on it. It was even mentioned once by Sami Zayn on Raw before AEW officially opened their doors for the first night of Dynamite.

Fans have been at each other’s throats ever since, with some AEW fans criticizing WWE openly and some WWE fans criticizing AEW openly, leaving the fans who love both companies trying to play peacemaker between the two fanbases.

So far, it seemed like nothing has been working and there has been a divide between wrestling fans, but Tony Khan and AEW doing what they do may ultimately unite wrestling fans and bring a competitive joy as fans hope for both respective companies to throw haymakers with their cards and take new risks creatively.

No one can deny the drama adds juice to both companies. Without that competitiveness, it’s just two organizations that may not be making the best decisions and losing their fans. With this sense of urgency, it will lead to hardcore fans taking notice of the good fun competitive chirping on social media and seeing whether it reflects on television.

The best-case scenario is that both companies draw energy from each other and shake things up for their respective products. In the end, this war between AEW and WWE could unite fans, in a similar fashion as the Monday Night Wars did.

During that time, there were a lot of fans who watched and enjoyed both WCW and WWE. There were a few fans who watched one or the other, but it wasn’t a massive divide. The fans may realize that it’s not about just one brand, but everything.

There was a time when watching this much wrestling was impossible on television, with no streaming service at the time. Now, companies can compete and bring out the best from each other as they both look to add to their brands, which is something fans will be talking about with future generation fans and written in wrestling history books.

This competitive war between AEW and WWE may not be popular for some fans, but its competitive nature may have a great reflection on their individual programs and give fans something to remember.