I just don't understand why there can't be a strong number 2. Is AEW really that much of a threat to WWE's bottom line? They're the biggest wrestling promotion in the world. AEW and WWE are two different animals doing two different things. I guess its whether you prefer promos and ads over matches.
if there is an alternative, you don't have a generation of wrestlers being raised to want "WRESTLEMANIA MOMENTS!" more than better pay and better schedules.
If I were a wrestler, a WrestleMania moment might be enticing. However, I'd love the time off with the light schedule. Plus, more money means more food on the table and it also means you can blow it on really cool shit if you don't have a family. I'd build a home theater. I'm not a rich man though.
not to mention, All Out looked to me like a classic WrestleMania, I kept being reminded of 23 the entire night. So if there is an alternative that can draw big houses for their big events, and can out bid you, AEW's existence now becomes a threat to WWE in how they do shitty business.
I don't wish people to lose their jobs, but the wrestling world at large would be better if WWE were humbled in some big way. AEW is doing that a little bit, but I'm talking like, WWE doing so poorly that someone outside the company becomes a majority shareholder and starts cleaning house.
as much as people liked to compare AEW last year to WCW 2000, WWE is closer to WCW 2000 than AEW is, strictly for now being owned by another company. TKO could literally one day just decide they have too much debt on their hands and scrap WWE for parts.
They could sell the tape library to Tony Khan and he should lock it all in a vault so it never sees the light of day again. However, TK could make money hand over fist by monetizing the library to help fund AEW. That's just a pipedream though. I don't see it happening ever.
They rather have a No.2 company THEY can control (TNA) instead of a No.2 who's a threat to their own bottomline and status quo. AEW now having the highest attendance records in the UK for example with Wembley and now the O2 Arena bothers them that much. Wrestlers salaries bothers them that much.
They'd rather pay pennies for talent instead of multi-million dollar contracts. AEW seems to be offering more money for the more sought after talent, while WWE wants them for next to nothing. Their attendance records speak for themselves too. The O2 record is impressive. Almost 19,000.
If there is any feasible competition or proper number two that isn’t under the WWE umbrella then WWE can’t strongarm people with shitty deals because they have somewhere else to go. WWE wants to be a monopoly.
That's why they're pushing TNA so much. They'd be a number 2 they could control.
Yep. They want a number two that they have their fingers in (and even then I bet they’d buy TNA as soon as AEW is out of the way and they no longer need to use TNA as a weird weapon against them lol)