What is WWE‘s mindset behind their recent change in strategy to place main roster premium live events against AEW pay-per-views?
It was reported earlier this week that WWE has plans to run a yet-to-be-announced premium live event on September 20 to go head-to-head with AEW All Out. Later in the week, it was reported that WWE is also interested in changing the date of John Cena’s retirement match to go head-to-head with AEW Worlds End.
For a company that claims that AEW isn’t competition, why the sudden, drastic change in strategy?
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE is in the process of delivering a “major full court press” against AEW with additional assistance from TNA to hurt their overall business.
“They (WWE) really want TNA to become the other promotion because they can control TNA,” Dave Meltzer said. “And it’s a—this is a major full court press, —They just want this guy (Tony Khan) out of the box. And they know that if the numbers stay good, that he’s going to get a renewal at a much bigger number, just like they did, and a number that will make him increase.
“It’s already very profitable. The number will make him incredibly profitable, and they’ll never get away with him, you know, away from him or anything like that. So they feel that they need to make sure this is the last contract.” [H/T: WrestlePurists]
Will John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar negatively impact AEW All Out next month?
Meltzer also spoke on the upcoming unnamed WWE premium live event going head-to-head with All Out, with a main event attraction of John Cena versus Brock Lesnar.
“It is [John] Cena and Brock Lesnar on September 20th,” Dave Meltzer said. “I think that’s very clear now. And that’s going to go head-to-head with All Out in Toronto. And you know what the effects of there are, we don’t know. The one thing we do know is that for All In: Texas, it didn’t hurt at all, and it probably hurt NXT a lot worse.
“Now, when it’s main roster pay-per-view with Brock Lesnar against John Cena head to head with AEW, or will AEW go to the afternoon, or what? I don’t know what Tony Khan’s response is going to be. Obviously, the last time he moved to the afternoon, he can easily do that again. Wouldn’t be that difficult to move Toronto to the afternoon. It’s probably beneficial to do that. But we’ll see.” [H/T: WrestlePurists]
Stay tuned to WrestleZone for more information as it becomes available.
READ MORE: Report: WWE Scheduling A Main Roster PLE The Same Day As Upcoming AEW PPV
What do you make of Dave Meltzer’s overall comments? Do you think the war between WWE and AEW is just getting started? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
