It's Official: WWE Is Trying To RUIN AEW (WWE News)

WWE's counterprogramming of AEW is only going to intensify.

by Andrew Pollard
Triple H WWE
WWE.com

With WWE continuing to counterprogram AEW by running Wrestlepalooza up against AEW All Out later this month, don't expect that trend to stop anytime soon.

Speaking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez noted how, from people he's spoken to in WWE, the market leader plans to continue targeting AEW events.

Not only is WWE going to strategically schedule PLEs to go up against AEW shows, but Alvarez also believes that WWE will eventually start to alter its own start times as a response to any changes AEW may make. Of course, AEW recently announced an early start time for All Out, moving that 20 September PPV from its original 8pm ET slot to the earlier time of 3pm ET.

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Alvarez doesn't believe that WWE will switch up the Wrestlepalooza start time, but thinks that the company would make such moves in the future in order to continue to counterprogram AEW offerings. As he put it, "The day is gonna come where WWE counterprograms, AEW moves a show, and then WWE moves their show", and that WWE is "gonna screw with" Tony Khan because "they know this guy's gonna blink, he's gonna move his show".

WWE has previously lined up NXT specials to go head-to-head with AEW PPVs, but Wrestlepalooza marks the first time WWE has put a main roster PLE in direct competition with AEW. Well, until AEW responded by bringing their PPV forward by a few hours.

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With two weeks still to go until WWE Wrestlepalooza and AEW All Out, it remains to be seen whether WWE will make further changes to run direct competition to AEW in that 3pm ET slot. Given WWE's aggressive stance in recent months, it wouldn't be a surprise whatsoever to see WWE put something up against All Out.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.