How Vince McMahon's Biggest Nightmare Hid In Plain Sight

2021 in wrestling has thus far been a tale of two Khans.

Nick Khan is the man being credited/blamed/held responsible for the numerous WWE money saving measures that have seen the likes of SummerSlam 2020 main eventers Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt let go before the following year's show even occurred. An over-stuffed roster has become substantially less so, but so-called "budget cuts" haven't exactly jived with the record revenues the company has posted for years now.

There's a philosophical shift taking place in Stamford, and Tony Khan has spent the last year weighing up how to make that benefit for him. Signing some - but not all - of the talents, Khan's attempts to balance his own loaded roster haven't always worked, but people get over that when the free agents are cool as f*ck. Daniel Bryan and CM Punk are the coolest of the cool, and Adam Cole would be at the very same level.

Furthermore, the tone of the discussion couldn't be more different. As many lament WWE's needless greed, only joyous excitement surrounds the discourse around All Elite Wrestling's product potentially benefitting. The fertile marketplace is good for the people that deserve it the most, as wrestlers reclaim a bit of power from promoters and fans feel the benefit in the form if exciting new broadcasts.

Of course, you know all this because WWE told you it over and over again in countless Monday Night War documentaries that always ended with them implying that winning was more important than battling. That's the paradox at the core of Vince McMahon's blackened heart - he knows what makes this sh*t good, but he knows what sh*t makes him richest.

Something's got to give.

CONT'D...