10 Times WWE Ripped Off AEW

1. A Suspiciously-Timed Tournament

Jon Moxley Rey Mysterio
WWE.com

With a roster downsized by various stay-at-home orders, AEW had to operate out of QT Marshall's gym with a skeleton crew for over a month across March and April.

No Champions could make the bulk tapings, only Kenny Omega without his partner, and so AEW created the new TNT Championship around which to create stakes and drama in the absence of heavy star power. This was all so deft; the tournament brackets allowed Cody and Darby Allin to resume their Misawa Vs. Kobashi-inspired long-term programme, and Allin's failure to win incited his current conflict with Taz and Brian Cage. In the opposing bracket, Lance Archer smashed through Dustin Rhodes to reach the final, intensifying what was now a high-stakes professional and personal rivalry with Cody. This was Tony Khan's booking in full, glorious gear.

On the other channel, NXT with very suspicious timing copied AEW's homework, but changed it up a little with a round robin interim Cruiserweight Title tournament for which very few bothered to do the maths.

WWE gave up on it, too, shortening the match durations significantly, barely bothering to use its platform to build a scene after its conclusion, and generally using the tournament to suck itself off.

"How magnanimous are we, hiring back that fired guy?!"

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!