WWE Vs AEW: The War Is OVER!

Truthfully, there was never as much a "wrestling war" as a "wrestling difference of opinion" from the beginning.

Vince McMahon might have once enjoyed the idea of trying to park his figurative and literal tanks on Ted Turner's front lawn, but AEW's foundations were built on the WWE's negligence during the 18 years they held a monopoly over mainstream televised professional wrestling. Had Dynamite debuted and proffered a like-for-like rendering of Monday Night Raw from the off, it might well have earned the same rights fee agreements but wouldn't have encouraged curious viewers to stick around on the promise of a genuine alternative.

The different creative styles of McMahon and his successor Triple H are small-yet-mighty for those watching WWE weekly, and a sharp upturn in logic, plotting and earnest attempts to get everybody more over has been the most welcome tonic to decades of Vince's antagonistic slop. But it'll likely never win back the fans lost in (at the latest) 2019 - they went to AEW and have no desire to return. A "war" in this case implies that there's a fight for the wandering eye of the casual fan. This is a mythical concept in 2023. Devotees might pick a side, floating voters might choose both but the idle channel hopper doesn't exist.

The war isn't a thing and the "difference of opinion" is over, because the two sides have accepted their lot and/or moved on.

Regardless of what differences do remain between WWE and AEW, the market leader's base is so satisfied that business has literally never been better, and those packed houses and insane merchandise sales still don't even account for 50% of the revenue. Meanwhile, the challenger brand's domestic struggles have been obscured by a history-making and industry-defining event at Wembley Stadium. The creative woes are going nowhere fast, but crowds like Sunday's and an impending seven-figure television deal will serve as objective evidence that future is fine even if the present leaves a bit to be desired.

Coke and Pepsi, McDonalds and Burger King, Apple and Android and now WWE and AEW. Both brands lightyears ahead of their alleged competition, both brands so well-slotted into their own positions that they're not barely in competition with one another. It might not be forever, but four years after the literal blood was figuratively first shed, it's where we're at for now.