10 Anti-WWE Moves AEW Made Out Of Spite

2. Throne Breaker

Young Bucks Bobby Fish Adam Cole
AEW/Pro Wrestling Tees

It was hugely important to Cody Rhodes that AEW exist as an alternative to WWE.

All Elite Wrestling's sole purpose wasn't to differ from the market leader, but Cody's placement in the company absolutely had to exist in direct opposition to his time as Stardust, 'Dashing', or whatever ever other bullsh*t they were saddling him with for all those months.

Smashing a skull-and-iron cross-adorned throne with a sledgehammer scanned as a direct hit towards Triple H, but by 2019, 'The Game' wasn't considered the enemy of their potential elite excellence. His NXT would eventually be slain by AEW in a one-sided war, but Vince McMahon simply didn't have any iconography as evocative and (it's Cody after all) literal. The act did generate discussion on both sides of a brand new divide, and the critics weren't without historical precedent. Just about every company had over-relied on ragging on WWE as part of its Modus Operandi. AEW set its stall out to Change The Universe, and this didn't feel all that different.

In the years since the moment, AEW has proven itself not only capable of eventually unseating WWE as the world's favourite wrestling promotion, but taking jabs at them like this without them becoming the organisation's defining characteristic.

In this post: 
Elite
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

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