WWE has been the dominant wrestling federation since it bought out WCW 20 years ago. Impact (formerly TNA) and Ring of Honor still have their fans, but they were seen as the minor leagues until their best stars went to WWE. And they did. CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles etc ended up being main players in WWE.
And then AEW came along. Headed by Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes, the upstart federation concentrated on old school wrestling and story line development. Kenny Omega came over from Japan. They had crossover with Impact. They even managed to sign WWE veterans Christian, Mark Henry and Big Show, although only Christian has been an in ring competitor.
Vince McMahon has gone on the record saying he doesn’t see AEW as a competitor. Which is fair enough. With all sorts of devices available now TV ratings aren’t the standard bearer they were in the Monday Night Wars of the 1990s.
And yet…if you watched Monday Night Raw this week, you would have heard the crowd chanting “We Want Wyatt.” Bray Wyatt, perhaps the most interesting character since The Undertaker, was released this week, apparently due to budget cuts. This comes just a few weeks after Braun Strowman was let go.
Raw had the already buried team of Mace & T Bar, Reginald in a 24/7 title defence, and a WCW stalwart who has been on record as being dangerously past his prime in matches challenging for the World Title. I skipped through RAW in 20 minutes. It’s a three hour show.
Now I love WWE. I love Vince. He made Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, The Undertaker, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H and The Rock household names.
But what in the bluest of blue hells are they doing?
If they are relying on Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins for star power, they better get used to some competition.
If the rumours are true, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk are walking into AEW shortly. If Braun Strowman and especially Bray Wyatt follow, this could be the biggest own goal in wrestling history.
If AEW gain these four guys, sponsors will flock, TV ratings will increase, and the company will start to move eyeballs away from the WWE which has their best talent, Drew McIntyre, competing in meaningless handicap matches.
AEW has plenty of money. They don’t have the history.
If Bray and Braun cross over, this could be a hell of a fight.
Let me know what you think. Comment below.