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On January 1 2019, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks tossed a metaphorical hand grenade into the world of professional wrestling, and the internet exploded with excitement and speculation.
That hand grenade was called All Elite Wrestling.
They announced that they would be creating their own wrestling company, All Elite Wrestling, with the backing of the billionaire Khan Family (the owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC). The Khans will be making an initial investment of US$100 million.
AEW will hold its first show, "Double or Nothing", in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas. The venue has a capacity of 17,000, an increase from the 11,000 who attended "ALL IN" in September 2018.
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Despite not holding a show yet, AEW already has a large fan-base. Many people are expecting AEW to be major competition for the WWE. They believe this is the second coming of the "Monday Night Wars".
I don't believe this to be the case. I think AEW's biggest competition is Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling. There are a number of things that would need to happen for AEW to challenge WWE's position in the world of wrestling. Here are 4 things AEW need to do in order to possibly compete with WWE.
#4 Be different
If AEW wants to compete with WWE, they need to present a product vastly different from the WWE's. They need to avoid the things WWE do badly, and improve upon the things WWE do well. They need to provide a real alternative to disgruntled WWE fans
Everybody has probably heard the story of Eric Bischoff creating a list of what WWE did and what he was going to do differently with WCW. For example, WWE presented their performers in a more cartoonish light, so Bischoff wanted his wrestlers to have a sense of realism about them e.g.The N.W.O.
AEW needs to do the same. WWE has less of a focus on the in-ring action every week, so AEW should make in-ring action their focus. WWE tends to over-script and over produce promo segments, hence AEW should loosen the reins on talent, and let them produce their own promos.
#3 Production quality
On Tuesday, AEW held a rally in Jacksonville, Florida, to make a number of announcements about the company. There were some huge talent announcements like Chris Jericho and PAC, and there were also announcements regarding how much their talent will be paid.
I had some mixed feelings about the rally. On one hand it was a success given the number of people who watched it and the attention it garnered, but on the other it was a bit of a failure.
The production quality was terrible.
Who thought it was a good idea to hold it the car park outside a massive NFL stadium? The real mistake was not having the crowd mic'ed. It sounded like the car park was empty, all you could hear were some murmurs picked up by the mics onstage. That is an amateur mistake.
I know this was just a small rally, and you could say it doesn't really matter, but I believe first impressions are everything! Imagine you were a casual fan that had decided to turn on the stream to see what all the fuss was about, and you saw people standing on a small stage in the half shade of an NFL stadium with crappy fireworks going off.
You would expect better from a company owned by a billionaire. Compare this to some WWE press conferences where they stand in front of a large LED screen, with reporters and fans around. It looks more professional.
I know Double or Nothing will have way better production quality, but if they want to compete with WWE or even ROH and Impact, they need to step up production.
#2 TV deal
If AEW want to compete with WWE, they need to get eyes on the product, so they need a huge TV deal. WWE have programming on the USA Network, which is available in 94.3 million households in the US. In October, SmackDown will move to FOX Sports, which means WWE is on a credible sports channel, and may attract new traditional sports fans.
AEW are rumoured to have a couple of TV deals on the table, including deals with Time Warner on channels like TBS and TNT. TBS is available in around 90 million homes, and TNT is available in around 89 million homes.
I believe this is one of the biggest factors in the success of AEW. If AEW could get a massive TV deal, it would launch them from the level of ROH and Impact straight to the level of WWE.
It's simple, the bigger the station, the bigger the audience. More people will stumble across AEW on TBS or TNT than will stumble across Impact on the Pursuit Channel. They may not compete with WWE in the ratings straight away, but if the product is good enough, it will attract an audience. They also don't need to go head-to-head with them on a Monday night.
#1 Sign/steal big talent
Here it is, the biggest thing AEW need to do to compete with WWE - sign big names to the company. This seems like an obvious one, and that's because it is. Signing Chris Jericho is huge for AEW.
Jericho may be 48 years old, but it's the name that counts. I don't want to keep comparing this to the Monday Night Wars because I don't think it will be the same kind of 'War', but one of the reasons it was so exciting was the poaching of talent between the two companies.
Make no mistake about it, Chris Jericho joining AEW is a massive blow to the WWE. He may not have been a regular in the WWE recently, but he always generated excitement when he appeared on WWE TV.
They even paid him a boat load of money to appear in the 'Greatest Royal Rumble' in Saudi Arabia. He was a big star in WWE's eyes. After the announcement was made, they removed him from WWE.com and Then, Now, Forever opening before RAW and SmackDown.
AEW will no doubt give Indy talent a huge platform to perform and become stars, but they could do with one or two huge stars to draw the initial attention to the product, like Jericho. Cody announced at the rally that they will pay their wrestlers well, and with the Khans behind the company, they could feasibly match and better the contracts of top WWE talent.
AJ Styles' contract is up shortly, and he is reportedly looking for a better deal. Apparently he is looking for a reduced schedule, and doesn't want to work every house show. Could you imagine if AEW stepped in and were able to lure AJ away from WWE with a better deal? It would be a massive deal to sign one of WWE's biggest stars who was recently their longest reigning WWE Champion.
They could also feasibly poach female talent from the WWE. Brandi Rhodes announced that AEW will have equal pay regardless of gender. While the meaning of this is still a little blurry, considering wrestlers are traditionally paid according to his/her drawing power, it is still appealing to the female talent.
If someone like Sasha Banks could become a bigger star in AEW and make more money in the process, of course she would go.
I think we are entering an interesting period for wrestling. The real winners here are the wrestlers themselves, never has there been so many options for work. I still don't think AEW will challenge WWE for a couple of years, but I look forward to having an alternative source of entertainment. I hope this forces WWE's hand to improve their product as well.
