AEW is WWE’s first real fight in decades. It may change the face of pro wrestling in theU.S.
PAC ( center) throws Andrade El Idolo from the graduation in the Casino is wwe staged Ladder Match at the AEW Dynamite show in Philadelphia.
PAC ( center) throws Andrade El Idolo from the graduation in the Casino Ladder Match at the AEW Dynamite show in Philadelphia. (Rachel Wisniewski/ For the Washington Post)
NEW YORK — On a Wednesday night in New York City,
wrestler Bryan Danielson has a slight grin as he kicks Kenny Omega in the head, drawing a collaborative “ Yes!” from the further than suckers in attendance. The primitive yells inside Arthur Ashe Stadium only get louder with every kick “ Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Soon enough, Omega rebounds and proceeds to cutter- edge
chop Danielson in the casket so numerous times that his upper body now resembles a lump of raw, used ground beef. Both men ultimately take to the top rope and throw their bodies at each other, important to the delight of a crowd that knows the fight has only just begun.
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Still, part entertainment — it’s also part of a broader battle playing out between World Wrestling Entertainment, the company that brought America legends like “ The Rock” and “ Stone Cold” Steve Austin, If this seems like an naturally violent fight in the world of professional wrestling — part calisthenics.
The match bending Danielson, a former WWE legend, against Omega, AEW’s world champion, was the loftiest- profile one so far for the company, innovated lower than three times agone, and it was part of AEW’s bet that it could continue to mince down at WWE’s dominance.
“ Pro wrestling is stupendous, and AEW has rejuvenated me,
I ’ll tell you that,” said Danielson, 40, “ I truly believe that when you show excellent professional wrestling to anyone, they ’re going to enjoy it.”
This videotape is presently not available n his All Elite Wrestling debut match, Bryan Danielson, a former WWE champion, scuffled AEW world champion Kenny Omega to a time limit draw onSept. 22. (TNT/ AEW)
While WWE continues to be the pro wrestling drive in business and pop culture,
AEW sees the company as vulnerable. Some suckers on podcasts and social media have bemoaned WWE and its principal superintendent, Vince McMahon, for turning “ Monday Night Raw,” the company’s flagship show on USA, into a three-hour program that they say is shamefaced of being too long and largely predictable. In the process,
WWE has lost some of its most blessed and popular players — several of whom have plant a home in AEW — in favor of trying to find stars who could replicate the kind of mainstream crossover appeal as John Cena and Dave Bautista, who ’ve erected successful careers in Hollywood.
Led by its own billionaire Tony Khan — the owner of the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars and FulhamF.C.
of the English Football League Championship — AEW has largely gone the contrary direction so far, taking expert players known nearly simply by die-hard suckers for their in-ring wit and giving them time in front of public followership. Compared with the WWE, which has long promoted outdoors-the-ring theatrics and trash-talking, AEW emphasizes further performance and skill inside the ring.
While suckers see both companies as popular druthers to unscripted combat sports like the Ultimate
Fighting Championship, WWE has historically pushed hard into the theatrical aspect of its product. The most recent illustration is Alexa Bliss, a popular womanish star whose character has supernatural capacities and a stylish friend in the form of a satanic-looking doll named Lilly. Both companies use a blend of scripted issues and dialogue with extemporary physical combat in the ring.
At AEW, the players, generally shorter than their WWE counterparts,
bring a blend of pro wrestling disciplines from around the world that have been celebrated, from the hard- hitting strong style of Japan to the highflying lucha libre kidney in Mexico. Dave Meltzer, the longtime wrestling annalist and intelligencer with the Wrestling Observer, said in an interview that AEW’s crusade to come the volition to WWE has steered in “ the most intriguing and instigative time in pro wrestling” since 1999. The late 1990s brought what’s known as the assiduity’s “ Station Period” for megastars and increased violence and sexual content, which were shown to be largely effective in soliciting larger cult.
“ AEW shouldn’t be as close as they’re right now to WWE,
but they’re there,” said Meltzer, whose newsletter has estimated AEW’s request value to formerly be about$ 400 million. “ Utmost people in the Television business would say Vince’s gospel is a better bone than Tony’s, so this is truly an trial to see whether wrestling can be different from what WWE has done.”
WWE declined to note.
AEW, which has substantially surfaced during the coronavirus epidemic, faces multiple challenges. Utmost of the stars at the top of the card are White, and suckers have call for the womanish players to get further screen time.
Khan, 39, said the company is apprehensive of the examens but is confident where it’s title. “ I do n’t suppose you ’ll ever please every wrestling addict, but if you can make utmost of the suckers happy utmost of the time, also you ’ll have a great addict base,” he said
Bryan Danielson makes his entrance at the show in Philadelphia. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)
Though the TV contracts are just below those of professional sports leagues
in the United States, the plutocrat spent on broadcasting pro wrestling is serious. AEW is in the middle of a$ 175 million TV deal with WarnerMedia to state matches on “ Dynamite” and “ Rage” twice a week on TNT, before moving to TBS coming time.
It’s a daunting rise, but AEW has had some successes. While WWE substantially has a headlock on Television conditions, AEW lately defeated “ Raw” in successive weeks in the coveted 18-to-49 Television demographic. Khan said the success of the company’s “ All Out” pay-per- view over Labor Day weekend, which earned the most deals in AEW history, “ burned the passion of wrestling suckers worldwide.”
“ That passion has been within the suckers each on,” Khan said. “ The suckers were just looking for an outlet to express it.”
The sanguinity has been due, in part, to marquee signings of some of the biggest and stylish players of the once decade, including Danielson and Adam Cole. One of those big- ticket accessions is CM Punk, real name Phil Brooks, who left WWE in 2014 in an rancorous disagreement over medical treatment he entered from a company croaker. Announcement
Punk, who didn’t respond to an interview request,
has said that AEW’s business identity as a professional wrestling company was what converted the 43- time-old to put on the tights and thrills again. “ We ’re the punk gemstone band that used to play at your bowling alley,” he lately told Sports Illustrated. “ It has that spirit and love of the art. It’s a place where you can make a living and learn the craft.”
Some in WWE are dismissive of AEW. WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns,
real name Joe Anoa’i, said in an interview with Complex that he didn’t see “ real competition (with AEW) because I suppose their addict base legitimately is a deep addict base.” “ So there’s like a ceiling and a erected-in ground to that viewership,” Reigns said to Complex, adding that WWE is “ trying to connect with everyone.” At the occasion of “ Dynamite” in the city of Queens, a massive number of people wearing CM Punk T-shirts were connecting with the legend.
“ It’s been a long time since I ’ve been in New York City,
” Punk barks at the crowd. The suckers erupt into the familiar chant of “ C-M- Punk!” as one sign in the lower coliseum stands out amid the ocean of humanity “ I got vaccinated 4 CM Punk.” He compactly pauses before landing a shot of his own at WWE,
which has long had a stranglehold on the Big Apple “ It’s been an indeed longer time since professional wrestling has been in New York City!” CM Punk celebrates after cascading opponent Daniel Garcia at the show in Philadelphia. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)
‘Professional wrestling is an art form’
AEW’s pro wrestling rebellion comes as WWE remains the assiduity’s dominant business force. Though WWE’s Television conditions are nowhere near where they were in the late 1990s and early 2000s when millions tuned in each week,
the company has managed to make further plutocrat while being not as popular in traditional media, in large part because of its worldwide Television and media deals. The public company has also tried to ameliorate its image after allegations of sexism in the
