10 Times WWE Ripped Off AEW
8. Wrestlers Acting As Fans
In an interview with Variety in March, Stephanie McMahon had the bare-faced cheek to wag her finger in the direction of All Elite Wrestling for their handling of the ongoing global situation.
"There’s extensive testing and screening when you first come in the facility regardless of whether you’re a talent, a crew member, or anyone else. Working with our doctors, you have your temperature taken. If you have a temperature over 100.4 degrees, you are automatically asked to leave. We’re taking every precaution we can. It’s also why you don’t see talent or anyone else in the audience."
That was clearly a swipe at AEW, who positioned talent in the crowd on the first Dynamite after the shut-down to lend the show a much-needed ambience, at least as it pertained to the quality of the show. Nothing was "needed" anywhere, much less essential.
"Extensive testing" did not incorporate one (1) actual test. "Every precaution" did not incorporate one (1) actual test. Christ, imagine supporting this racket.
What was already a brazenly bullsh*t exercise in optics - if any wrestling style doesn't lend itself to social distancing, and none do, it is Baron Corbin breathing down necks with his protracted chinlocks - blew up in their face months later. All the while, AEW had implemented stringent actual tests to ensure the relative safety of the crew.
WWE's enforced testing measures were introduced after the decision was made to eat sh*t and follow the leader by planting talent in the crowd. When WWE eventually did so, they couldn't even get any of it right.
The fake optics of the plexiglass were shattered when the "crowd" interrupted a brawl on the first RAW, and the uncanny valley quality of it - everybody cheers the babyfaces and boos the heels like good children should - had nothing on AEW's approach, which developed characters and storylines (see: the glorious evolution of Britt Baker) from a disadvantageous position.