The Real Alternative
By Scott Keith on 20 October 2023
Saw some online chatter about this and was curious on the blog's opinion. A big part of AEWs early success was they were an alternative to WWE and really Vince's vision of wrestling. They were able to pick up all the disillusioned fans who didn't like the PG product or Vince's ideas that mostly went against what a decent majority of fans wanted. But now HHH is in charge and finally has full control, things are different. It seems he has been able to blend the best parts of NXT black and gold with the sports entertainment of the main rosters. We are having epic title reigns, logical storylines that are planned out way in advance, and a ton more great wrestling featured weekly on TV. Even the PLE aren't money grabs overfilled with matches and are now the less is more approach. Is HHH taking over the worst thing to happen to AEW?
It almost as if WWE has leaned into was AEW was offering, and AEW has leaned into what WWE is offering. Only one is doing it alot of better at it than the other. Clearly there are a bunch of fans who are watching both products, but if given a choice, most are picking WWE over AEW when on at the same time. AEW isn't going anywhere, and they truly are a viable 2nd option, which is great for everyone. But HHH being in charge now seems like there are less fans to pick off, and if anything, more fans willing to give WWE a chance. There are only so many hours in the week to watch wrestling, so if WWE is going you a bit of everything there is less reason to watch the alternative.
And is AEW really even an alternative at this point. Outside non PG elements, I don't think there is much you can get from AEW that you can't get from WWE or NXT. Now there will always be people who won't support a company that Vince is involved in, and obviously there is a definitely a fanbase that AEW will always appeals to more than WWE. It just seems smaller now with Vince out of the way. I saw someone say Tony has to be a great booker to build momentum, HHH just has to be a good booker.
Very true, but also keep in mind that HHH basically inherited an empire that has been #1 since 1984 and is armed with a team of agents and a super genius business negotiator at the helm and billions of dollars to work with. AEW had to literally start from nothing and build up from that, so there was always a huge disadvantage in WWE's favor from the start. And yeah, it sucks for AEW, but it's true that they have to be great all of the time or WWE is gonna blue shell them from behind by virtue of being WWE.