10 Anti-WWE Moves AEW Made Out Of Spite

The Wednesday Night War might be over, but the spite conflict shows no signs of slowing down.

Young Bucks Bobby Fish Adam Cole
AEW/WWE

There's a reasonable argument to be made that AEW's spiteful anti-WWE moves are best practice at this point. And not just because patter sells tickets and t-shirts.

No matter what people say about the divisive or tribal discourse amongst wrestling fans, critics and even the performers themselves, it was always the natural reality of a duopoly. Those that didn't see it coming didn't watch enough documentaries about the Monday Night Wars, and WWE produced about 300 of the f*ckers with the confidence of a company that were never going to be challenged again.

This is part of the deal. Eric Bischoff spoiled WWE results, Vince McMahon mocked WCW's main events and yes, shocked emoji, all of these things happened before Twitter was a thing.

There's a stench of WWE lifer panic about not liking some of these sideswipes (your writer, a self-confessed one, still gets worked by one of them). That WWE and its biggest zealots are simply David Brents, wanting to be part of the jokes but not be the butt of them.

That's not how any of this works, and AEW haven't shied away from that...

10. Santana Garrett Vs Tay Conti

Young Bucks Bobby Fish Adam Cole
AEW

A callback to an NXT encounter with significant Wednesday Night War lore, this contest was booked on a night loaded with two-sided spice and spite.

A super-sized SmackDown was set to go half an hour longer on Friday 16th October, overlapping and potentially throttling a portion of Rampage's regular crowd. The blue brand loaded up the show in anticipation, resulting in AEW unleashing a free YouTube pre-show that included Bryan Danielson Vs Minoru Suzuki and Santana Garrett Vs Tay Conti.

While one was the very definition of a perfect random pairing, the women's match was the total opposite.

More than just being an attempt at bettering an old NXT clash (and that was the easy bit, their original bout was lousy) Garrett/Conti was the first thing that ever defeated AEW in a viewership quarter hour in the earliest days of the two sides going head to head. On an evening defined by the ongoing niggle, this was the deftest dig.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett