Triple H's WWE Vs. Tony Khan's AEW: Which Is Better?
2. Star Creation
It's difficult to gauge what makes a star because the old metrics are broken as a result of WWE's monopoly.
WWE is a synonym of professional wrestling in 2022. Still. Every time a major mainstream outlet (like Sports Illustrated) covers AEW ahead of a pay-per-view, it is still talked about as an upstart competitor three years later because that is the easiest way to frame it for fans of basketball or whomever might be taken in by the cover image.
Put it this way: every single wrestler who performs on WWE Raw and SmackDown draws a higher TV rating than every single wrestler who performs on AEW Dynamite or Rampage. That doesn't however mean they are bigger stars that people are truly and earnestly drawn to watching. Take Shotzi or Elias for example; neither get a major ovation, and their matches are almost invariably very quiet. Kenny Omega has a far more impressive, objective record as a draw.
He has drawn fans to his performances; he set gate records in Japan, he doubled NJPW World subscriptions across his matches with Kazuchika Okada and Chris Jericho in 2017 and 2018, his Revolution 2021 main event spiked the AEW PPV buy rate into a new stratosphere before the arrival of CM Punk, and his presumed presence at G1 Supercard sold out Madison Square Garden - before the secondary market collapsed when it became apparent that he wasn't going to be there. And yet, Shotzi's segments perform better than Omega's on TV.
WWE's brand value and visibility is so strong, because they were the only show in town for so long, that it itself is the draw. This is an established truth, almost an anti-insight, but the rise of AEW, to only a certain level, reinforces it to a staggering extent.
WWE has done a superb job with the very promising Solo Sikoa this year. Bianca Belair isn't as relevant as she was, but WWE has built a Horsewomen-tier talent there. So many of Triple H's returning "stars" however have made a total mockery of the Infinity Gauntlet meme, not that it wasn't laughable in the first place. Karrion Kross went 50/50, Johnny Gargano went to improv class, and Top Dolla is the embodiment of buyer's remorse.
The Acclaimed have become the top merchandise shifters in the entire promotion this year, Konosuke Takeshita worked subjectively better and objectively louder matches than 99% of WWE's TV output, and Jamie Hayer's awesome power game and attitude might have somehow rescued the friggin' women's division with Toni Storm's tremendous assist.
Winner: AEW