Vince McMahon dismisses AEW as WWE's competition, takes sly dig at Tony Khan
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was asked a number of questions on the WWE Q2 2021 earnings call with investors. Inevitably, one of the topics he was questioned on was Tony Khan's AEW.
Vince McMahon dismissed Tony Khan's promotion, stating AEW is nowhere close to the level of competition that WCW was.
The caller cited AEW's recent roster developments and increasing viewership in the 18-49 demographic, asking Vince if WWE will look to counter AEW's "rising tide" but the WWE boss maintained his stance that WWE is the "horse in front" and is focused on its own product. (H/T: WrestlingInc)
“Well, it certainly is not a situation where ‘rising tides’ because that was when Ted Turner was coming after us with all of Time Warner’s assets as well,” Vince responded. “That was a different situation. AEW is where they are. I don’t really know what their plans are, all I know is what our plans are," stated Vince McMahon.
Vince McMahon took a sly dig at Tony Khan and AEW for recruiting released and ex-WWE stars.
“I don’t consider them competition in the way that I would consider WCW back in the day, not anywhere near close to that. And I’m not so sure what their investments are as far as their talent is concerned, but perhaps we can give them some more,” said Vince McMahon.
Can Tony Khan's AEW ever overtake Vince McMahon's WWE?
Vince McMahon has built an empire with WWE. His business acumen cannot be overstated as he's ensured over the last 30 years that WWE is unanimously associated with the word wrestling.
When Tony Khan conceptualized AEW, the vision was to take a chunk of the market share from Vince McMahon's juggernaut. AEW has done a stellar job so far with respect to their product, roster and ratings.
With CM Punk and Daniel Bryan reportedly coming in, it will only bolster AEW's position. Fight for the Fallen reported 1.1 million viewers with a 0.45 in the 18-49 demographic, which was dangerously close to WWE Raw's 0.49 this week.
However, when it comes to overtaking a behemoth of a company like WWE which is unquestionably the biggest wrestling promotion in the world and by quite a distance, it's extremely unlikely to happen in the near future at least.
Tony Khan and AEW are doing their thing and the results have been amazing, but WWE have rubber stamped their authority in this industry for 3 decades and it won't go away anytime soon.