It Has Finally Been Found: The Worst Wrestling Opinion
Usually this take is idiotic because AEW and WWE operate under different booking philosophies. This particular sentiment was inexcusably, wilfully dumb because AEW had literally, four days earlier, promoted their own adaptation of a madcap DDT-style comedy match - which, reductively, is an irreverent fusion of comedy and violence fought in an unusual location.
There is an idea, perpetuated amongst hardcore WWE fans that for "whatever reason" cannot handle another critically-acclaimed wrestling show, that the "bias" is so strong that AEW is enjoyed or acclaimed automatically because it is AEW. This is an insane take. They are very different. But, serendipitously, in the same week, each company made a run at the same medium, one enforced by the unfolding global crisis.
The "if" went right through a table, as the "when" went over in a squash match in which this hypothetical argument endured a Shockmaster debut when the light turned red.
When WWE and AEW did much the same thing, it was revealed that they couldn't have done so any differently.
The Street Fight on the May 6 Dynamite was filmed live and it felt like it. WWE's Money In The Bank Ladder match was prepared meticulously. Both companies, for a deep side-by-side comparison, drew on nostalgic visual gags in pursuit of the pop. WWE hid a guy who looked not a bloody thing like Doink The Clown behind a chair. This visual was in itself the joke. Hey, remember Doink?! He was crazy!
CONT'D...(3 of 6)