The Awkward Truth Behind WWE's "Hatred" Of AEW
New update on the fractious AEW/WWE relationship.
"Hatred is a weird word" when it comes to the AEW/WWE relationship, writes Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
This comes from a report on AEW founder Tony Khan's recent interview with Dan Le Batard. During that conversation, Khan touched on prior allegations of WWE contacting AEW stars in an attempt at getting them to break their contracts, calling the situation "very disturbing." Later, he quipped that he thinks WWE and AEW "truly, truly hate each other," making for "an exciting wrestling war."
Meltzer states that Khan speaks for himself and AEW. As far as WWE goes, while the market leaders will go to "significant lengths" to undermine the opposition and want AEW to fail as competition, a desire to stifle AEW's growth doesn't necessarily equate to hatred.
WWE has made innumerable competitive moves against AEW since Khan's company formed in January 2019. Vince McMahon's decision to shift Triple H's NXT off the WWE Network and onto live television, placing it in direct competition with AEW on Wednesday nights, remains the biggest and most notable. But the tampering allegations, if true, are severe, with Khan alleging last year that AEW's Chief Legal Officer, Megha Parkeh, had written to WWE's Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan about the situation.