10 Anti-WWE Moves AEW Made Out Of Spite
2. Throne Breaker
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.