10 Times WWE Had Their Head Up Their Ass
7. The AEW Counter-Strategy
WWE has had a full two years to strategise against the inbound threat of All Elite Wrestling: mainstream billionaire-funded competition headed up by the three men, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, who proved themselves drawing cards within a monopolised industry they had little right to transcend.
WWE armed itself with cynicism and sh*tload of excuses that never washed.
WWE embarked on a contractual renewal spree and broke its pay scale to thwart the temptation of a rival offer. A month after the inaugural Double Or Nothing impressed at the gate and within critical circles, WWE installed Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as Executive Directors in an attempt to hoodwink fans expecting much-needed systemic creative change.
Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman worked an angle instead of an opening promo on RAW one time, if that counts?
Vince McMahon undermined the "blood and guts" of AEW to undermine investors. WWE also positioned NXT as a defence shield in the "Wednesday Night War". The yellow brand soon felt like a party-pooping interloper and turned heel, in effect, ruining WWE's one remote connection to the pulse of acclaim.
Faced with a day of reckoning, WWE fought back with capitalism without ever considering that what it passed for art might just be the problem.
AEW is the manifestation of change WWE fans willed into existence in 2011 and 2013. WWE, in response, continued to curl out the same old sh*t.