Opinion: What Effect Could AEW Realistically Have On WWE?

Now that WWE's main roster programming has wrapped up for the week, the wrestling world will turn its attention towards AEW and their first ever pay-per-view event "Double Or Nothing" on Saturday night. The show has a real air of intrigue, excitement, and hope around it.

I should probably start by saying that I am not a massive "Elite" super-fan nor am I a WWE "Mark". I like watching good wrestling, no matter the company. I am just putting this out there so nobody leaves an angry comment saying that I am biased towards either company.

Since Cody and The Young Bucks announced AEW in January, there has been a lot of speculation around the brand. For a company who hadn't even put on a show yet, there was so much excitement about its future.

People immediately began with the AEW/WWE comparisons. Could AEW kill WWE? Will AEW become the next WCW? Will this be the new "Wrestling War?" All these questions were being asked one day after the announcement of the company, when all we had was a logo.

Since then more information has come to light. AEW's roster has taken shape, and they have announced both a US and UK TV deal. I wanted to take a look at how AEW could realistically affect WWE.

Is AEW competition to WWE?

AEW has said since day one that they intend to be an alternative product for wrestling fans to enjoy. They keep pushing the word "Alternative".

However, last week Stephanie McMahon held a backstage talent meeting before Money In The Bank and directly referenced AEW as competition. This is really interesting. AEW seems to have WWE looking over its shoulder and there are reports that WWE is worried about losing talent to AEW when their contracts are finished.

I think it would be very foolish to suggest that AEW have no interest in competing with WWE, especially now that they have been addressed as competition.

The AEW TV Deals

AEW announced last week that they would have a weekly show on TNT. For those of you who don't know, TNT is the network WCW was aired on. The network is available in approximately 89 million homes in the US.

Their UK deal announcement was probably even better. Double Or Nothing will be available on ITV Box Office and their weekly show is expected to air one of the ITV Channels. ITV is the biggest commercial TV channel in the UK and is free-to-air, everybody has it. That means that they have a better UK TV deal than WWE. They have the potential to attract millions of viewers.

WWE has aired on Sky Sports for the last 30 years and is expected to move to BT Sport when their current deal expires. This is a massive downgrade because, as far as I understand, BT Sport is around £20 extra a month on top of your TV subscription.

AEW will be available to everybody in the UK while WWE will be in fewer homes than ever before. AEW could become the most popular wrestling company in the UK. If the audience is there they could do European tours like WWE do every year. Cody has already said that they plan to do a live pay-per-view from the UK in the future.

The Overall Quality Of WWE Programming

I really hope that AEW put some pressure on WWE and force them to improve their current programming. WWE has been struggling for ages with TV ratings and the quality of the shows.

They have the most talented roster they have ever had but the creative and booking are really letting them down. RAW and Smackdown feel like its the same formula every week with one or two variations.

God only knows how many times Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, and Baron Corbin have teamed up since the start of the year. They have panicked in recent weeks because of low ratings and introduced the "Wild Card" rule which has only made matters worse. Now the brand split means nothing because the biggest names on Smackdown can just pop up on RAW and vice versa.

They have so many people under contract that never get a chance because they latch on to their "big stars" for dear life. They continue to push guys like Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Brock Lesnar every week and the rating keep falling or rising slightly.

I really like those guys but think about WWE programming for the last 4 years. It's the same guys in the main event scene year after year. Look what happened when they took a risk and ran with the Kofi Kingston story-line for WrestleMania.

It didn't cause a dramatic shift in ratings but it was fresh and new. Sure, Kofi had been there for years, but he was never presented as a proper main event guy, someone who could hold the WWE Championship.

This is where I think AEW will really force WWE's hand. AEW promises to be a new alternative to WWE. It looks like it will be presented more as a proper sport than "sports-entertainment".

This is something I would personally like to see more of. WWE can sometimes feel like a TV show that features wrestling rather than just a wrestling TV show. Don't get me wrong, I like the over the top dramatic stories that WWE can produce but those have been few and far between recently.

In my opinion, WWE needs to change how they do things. They have been presenting their product the same way for the last 10 years and some fans are really finding it stale. If you look at how WCW rose to prominence in 90s, you will see some similarities.

The WWF product was getting stale and WCW brought something new to the table. They forced the WWF to enter the "Attitude Era" and fight back. I am not saying that this will kick off the Monday Night Wars again but it could force Vince McMahon to bite the bullet and change the product to compete with AEW.

Now all of this could be worth nothing if AEW doesn't attract an audience and the company fails completely. In which case Vince McMahon continues to rule the wrestling world as this magazine cover suggests.

Vince on the cover of Variety Magazine

Do you think that AEW will realistically effect WWE in any way? Please leave your comments below