So it’s officially in the books. AEW defeated WWE in the highly publicized head-to-head battle last Friday, particularly for the first half hour of Rampage on TNT and the extended half hour of SmackDown for the 18-49 demographic. Essentially, the rocket fired in AEW’s direction missed and missed severely, but it would seem that someone forgot to tell WWE.
It’s a common thing to do these days—belittle AEW—a company that started only in 2019, but the facts are undoubtedly the facts, and whether you’re simply a fan, a professionally paid journalist, or even in the trenches at either company, you cannot deny that AEW showed up to play.
But as stated, it’s the common thing to do these days: lie to yourself and turn your head away from someone who’s making a difference; who’s making headway. Because if you ignore it, it doesn’t exist, right? And despite their age in the industry, WWE seems to be doing the exact same thing. It seems as though they have a little problem acknowledging their competition, which is perhaps why Tony Khan has been so vocal on social media.
And many have come forward…to say that AEW and Khan are being petty. But what did WWE when they purchased WCW in 2001? They were extremely petty, they poking fun at WCW’s mistakes.
But like I said at the top of this piece, facts are facts, even if many in this society don’t want to deal with them head on, preferring the path of the ignorant.
For AEW to come this far in such a short amount of time, even knocking the king of kings off of his pedestal, that’s something that cannot be ignored…and if WWE keep putting forth shows like Crown Jewel (essentially only 2 of those matches were worth watching—Rollins vs. Edge and Mustafa Ali vs. Mansoor), and AEW continues to produce the programs that they do and have been, it’ll seem like their reign over the ratings will last a long while; especially if WWE keeps ignoring the aforementioned facts.
How many times must we listen to WWE’s Corey Graves say: “That was the most extreme thing I’ve ever seen,” or “craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” when we know it’s all scripted content, and knowing that even WWE and other companies have put forth an even edgier product in the past? Fans shouldn’t be subjected to that level of brainwashing, because those subliminal messages that WWE analysts and announcers throw out during the broadcast have an effect.
And for the unfortunately brainwashed fans out there that think that WWE is still putting on a good product and their women’s division is at the pinnacle of the sport, I ask that these individuals watch the match at Crown Jewel between Lynch, Belair and Banks and tell me honestly and with a straight face, that that match wasn’t jittery, hesitant, slow and awkward as all hell? I dare you.
You won’t because you can’t.
Facts are facts.
The aforementioned Corey Graves obviously needs to be reminded of what WWE was capable of; perhaps so does WWE, as do the fans – the real victims in all of this – and hopefully these videos (above and below) will help.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, individuals with important positions in WWE essentially “key people,” as he suggested, are in total denial over their loss, which doesn’t bode well for their future.
Never underestimate an opponent. They underestimated WCW in the 90s, and as Triple H himself has admitted, the McMahon family almost lost the whole farm and kit and caboodle on that gamble.
This society needs to live a little more in the realm of reality despite the fact that pro wrestling is scripted, and the reality is plain and simple: the product at WWE is sub-par right now, and the ratings prove that big time.
“I’m trying to tell the truth. I don’t think that it’s something that has to be in season like hockey or hay fever. I think you should be able to tell the truth at any time.”
-Mordecai Richler
Cody Rhodes on the ‘Forbidden Door’
The ‘Forbidden Door’ has gotten some decent play over the long months since its inception and many believe it was very good for the business; promotions like Impact and NJPW benefiting quite a bit from its presence in the business, thanks to Khan.
In speaking with The Kliq Podcast, Cody Rhodes let his thoughts be known on the subject and how he and AEW look at the doorway opened by Khan moving forward. He said:
“The Forbidden Door, aka Tony Khan, The Forbidden Door is truly open…We have no qualms about working with anybody from any company, we are focused on the AEW product and the homegrown AEW stars, like Sammy Guevara for example. We have that and then we have the ability to cross the streams. I just want to continue to make the show destination programming, which it’s become. I want to continue to provide some of our free agents that have just joined us some fresh pathways that they can go on which include a variety and myriad of dream matches and then continue to cultivate the Dante Martins and the Lee Moriartys. These fresh, beautiful, brand new innocent children who are joining the wrestling business and are so talented. That’s the goal and, you know, there’s a lot of wrestlers out there. We’ll continue to grow the roster – the more the merrier, because we continue to grow our footprint on WarnerMedia, so we want to give them the best wrestling, and currently, we do that…”
via The Kliq Podcast /cultaholic.com (Transcription)
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