Why AEW Should Be Worried About The New WWE

While it's unlikely that WWE's new regime of Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan possesses a magic wand fit to cure the market-leading promotion's ailments in a flash, their appointments have been met with a unanimously positive response. Fans are awash with hope, wrestlers are optimistic, and network partners are publishing celebratory articles.

Paul Levesque's 'Papa H' image was born of his run at NXT's helm, during which he forged lasting, positive relationships with an overwhelming majority of the people he pushed. His first roster meeting as head of creative saw him stress the importance of reopening communication and making work "fun" again. Though Triple H learned much of what he knows about running a wrestling company from his father-in-law, Vince McMahon (whom wrestlers would often wait hours to see, only to be turned away) he is not.

Hunter and Stephanie, regardless of all the justifiable criticism thrown their way over the years, will want to rehabilitate WWE's image. They will prioritise changing its perception as a micromanaged void where individual creativity dies and "Head of Talent Relations" has become a synonym for "Head Bastard."

Successfully doing so would greatly harm AEW's position as America's number two.

What becomes of Khan's group if smaller wrestlers no longer shy away from WWE for fear of being ditched for jolly green giants? If scripted promos, heavily-agented matches, and nonsensical storylines go the way of the Dodo? If WWE's "old boys club" image dies and the market leaders at least project the idea of progressivism?

CONT'd...