Opinion: How things may go for AEW against WWE
Things are starting to look very promising in the wrestling world these days. The recent announcement of Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks' new promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) with the likes of some big names such as Chris Jericho joining the promotion.
Other big signings are Hangman Page and former WWE Superstar Neville (Pac) along with many others.
Even former WWE announcer Jim Ross is rumored to be heavily involved with the upcoming company as well as Goldberg.
Former New Age Outlaw Billy Gunn will also be a producer. The big question on a lot of people's mind is that 'will it be successful and could it be a viable threat to the WWE'?
With the backing of the Jacksonville Jaguars owners, Shad and his son Tony Khan, the promotion looks to have a healthy and strong future ahead.
That is providing that they can secure some top talent. They have already seemingly secured a TV deal with a cable network (which is always a challenge for a new company that isn't even established) and it is a step in the right direction.
However, the question that we should be asking ourselves is 'How are they going to secure more top big-name talents from around the world when they aren't even an established company yet'?
They are going to need as much underutilized talent from other companies as possible. They are also trying to lure a few big names to put them on the map as a threat.
It's not hard to see that AEW is going to struggle for the first couple of years in business. That is until they establish themselves as most other promotions do, but once they establish firm ground in their company (and don't go bankrupt or lose their TV deal) then they might become a legitimate threat to the WWE.
All going well we could even see shades of the Monday Night Wars all over again in a few years. It would definitely make for some absolute thrilling TV.
If you are a talent and you're looking at joining a promotion that is just starting up, do you take the risk and sign a contract when there is no guarantee of success of the whole thing?
To answer this question we need to look at a few things. Firstly is that every promotion always starts from the ground up and talent is always needed to help build a roster. To help build the promotion, some people may wish to take the chance with AEW being a success, those being underutilized talent from either the WWE or other companies.
Kenny Omega may be willing to take the risk to join his close friends in helping to get the company off the ground. This may inspire other top talent from around the world to join the company such as Japanese wrestlers that are no longer under contract with NJPW.
I would personally like to see Kenny Omega go to the WWE until All Elite Wrestling has established itself for a couple of years. Then maybe he could reassess his future with WWE and see out the rest of his career in the Elite's new promotion.
That way he could go to their company and take it to the next level with his outstanding performances after he has had as much success as possible in the WWE. He could get his world titles and have the dream matches the fans desperately want him to have in both promotions.
It seems like a long and distant possibility of Kenny Omega signing with the WWE. It would be a huge scoop for All Elite Wrestling and really legitimize the company and its future of success if they did manage to get him.
Of course, I don't expect what they would offer him to be even close to what the WWE has been rumored to.
We must remember that Kenny Omega is not as much about money as he is about the creativity of his character and he will not get that creative control being in WWE.
It certainly gives All Elite Wrestling the distinct advantage of picking him up. I think WWE could offer him all the money they like but he would be pushing strongly for that creative control of his character and merchandise more than he would be worried about the money. Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks would allow him to have all the creative freedom that he wants in their company.
None of anything mentioned above is to take any credit away from the hard working minds of Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks. There is a difference between hosting a one-off event in Chicago Illinois (All In) last year, and running a wrestling promotion full time but if there's anybody that could do it, it would be Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes' legendary late father Dusty Rhodes was one of the best bookers of both the NWA, WCW and he also played a big hand in helping Triple H launch NXT into the success that it is now. Cody certainly has the business savvy mind to make the promotion a success. The Young Bucks will be great probably to help recruit talent and also play a vital part in running the company.
I'm hoping to see AEW rise to great success and in the next few years, take the fight to the WWE. Their alternative type of wrestling will obviously be more indie style and not so much based on entertainment. I would like to think that we could end up having another Monday Night Wars or something similar.
I don't imagine Cody would want to run WWE out of business especially when he started his career there. Cody's promotion wouldn't be mismanaged or have egomaniacal wrestlers backstage trying to control everything like WCW. I think it would just be a stiff and friendly competition for WWE.
I really do think it could work out for Cody if he takes firm control of the promotion along with the Young Bucks.
Hopefully, they can sign some big-name talents to help get the company off the ground with a big bang. They have all the tools that they need to succeed and we will just have to wait and see where it goes from here.
Let me know what you think below