How NXT Has Already Won The Wednesday Night War

Perhaps the super-served content era is a clever strategy, after all...

Cody AEW Rally
AEW

In January, All Elite Wrestling formed with a lofty, rallying cry of a mission statement: to Change The World. And for a time, that felt very much plausible.

Instantly, with WWE shook, talk of billionaire-funded competition spawned talk of bumper contract offers, release requests - even, and this seems almost cruel now, a boom period. The formation rally was chintzy, in a charming sort of way: even the pyro, hardly an eruption, felt in some earnest and different. Ambitious, but humble. The Road To Double Or Nothing series hinted at a very strong grasp of understated, in-depth storytelling abundant in detail and the immersion of realism, and the show itself - a smorgasbord of style and emotion that instantly cast the promotion as a high-end, vital, special proposition - was a smash success.

Some 10 days before the show, AEW announced its potential game-changer of a TV deal in partnership with TNT - formerly the home of WCW. This exacerbated the competition narrative - it's the Monday Night Wars all over again! - which AEW, explicitly or otherwise, conditioned with throne-break flexing and a vocabulary, heavily indebted to sport and competition, not unlike that of WCW's Tony Schiavone, who of course joined the upstart ahead of AEW Dynamite's debut broadcast. Double Or Nothing and the first three Dynamite shows sold out more or less instantly; per the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer, demand was so high for that first show that AEW could have viably promoted in an an open-air stadium. Back in February, AEW was competing with WrestleMania, much less WWE.

In December, it's only competing - barely - with NXT.

CONT'D...(1 of 5)

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!