WWE Vs AEW: The War Is OVER!
Like countless feuding partners booked over countless years in WWE or the teammates brought together via AEW's Blind Eliminator tournament, the two companies are begging the question "can they co-exist?"
On the evidence of the last few months alone, the answer's yet another resounding "Yes".
It's not that there aren't clear and obvious differences, and this should be apparent to anybody that watches both shows let alone those that choose one over the other because of the explicit separations in style. Tony Khan is still more of a booker than a promoter, and Triple H leans in on all he was shown by Vince McMahon as much as he does his old NXT faves and tropes. But rather than acting as stark alternatives to each other, both now just feel like they're moving in slightly opposite directions from the same starting point.
In 2023, AEW has badly lacked all those difficult-to-define qualities that came to reflect the very best of the product between 2020 and early-2022. Nouns like "flair", "elegance" and "verve" were commonplace analysing specific matches and stories during that time because it was impossible not to sit back and admire the ambition, vision and execution. We are not there, and may never get back there again.
Conversely, business has boomed for WWE in 2023, and after enormous barren spells, the market leader feels like the home of wrestling's biggest stars once again. Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns have been hitting at the box office and in the Nielsens, Sami Zayn and Damian Priest were both given enormous boosts as situational B-Show main eventers, Kevin Owens joined his best mate and The Usos reshaping the tag division around a host of fresh challengers, Gunther became the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time by every metric, and Rhea Ripley has enjoyed as much success as Women's Champion as she has leading the riotous Judgment Day on their tear through all three brands.
Of course, the relative parity of both companies isn't as simple as one getting worse and the other getting better until they meet in the middle. They've borrowed from each other for better and worse until those all-important vibes were as readily available from either outlet.
[CONT'D]