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In the last year or so, I’ve seen a number of my friends lose interest in WWE and stop watching altogether. Despite this, I’ve dutifully continued watching the weekly shows and monthly pay-per-views, and I think I know why. It’s because I first discovered and fell in love with pro wrestling in 1993. It was too late to have childhood memories of Hogan, Savage, and the Ultimate Warrior in the prime of their sweaty, screamy careers. It was too early to have my first memories of wrestling consist of the exciting mayhem of the Attitude Era and the Monday Night Wars. Nope, I fell in love with the industry during the era of wrestling clowns, tax collectors, and garbagemen.
This is all to say that comparatively, things aren’t all that bad now. WWE currently has the greatest roster in the history of the company, so I’ll sit through some seemingly directionless creative decisions if it means I get to watch Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, and Andrade instead of Mantaur, Ludvig Borga, and Bastion Booger.
Unfortunately, it was far easier to look past the low points when I was nine years old. I’d like to think I haven’t grown cynical in the quarter of a century I’ve been watching WWE, but there’s no denying that the current product (at least on the main roster) leaves a lot to be desired. Recent additions like the “wild card rule” and the 24/7 Championship reek of last-minute, Band-Aid ideas to boost the sagging ratings and dwindling fan interest. Raw and Smackdown have a combined five hours of weekly TV time, yet they somehow never seem to find the time to fully utilize exceptional talent like Cesaro, Finn Balor, Aleister Black, and The Revival. More damning still are the reports of numerous Superstars requesting their release from the company in recent months.
Public perception of the company is at a low, with mainstream coverage of WWE shining a light on controversial practices like the wrestlers’ independent contractor statuses or the company’s lucrative dealings with Saudi Arabia. Regardless of your thoughts on the politics of the latter issue, there’s no denying that the Saudi shows have a major negative impact on the TV product in the weeks leading up to them. Why should fans get invested in these short builds to a show that most of us won’t be able to watch live (thanks to its Friday afternoon air time), featuring matches that will never be acknowledged again?
It’d be unfair to say that WWE is failing on all fronts, however. When the stars align, they can still knock a story out of the park. We saw that just a couple of months ago at WrestleMania with the crowning of Becky Lynch and Kofi Kingston (despite the uneven builds in the months preceding). They’ve even done a killer job with making a genuine new star in Ali, who’s getting cheers out of everyone from children to jaded internet fans.
If there were ever a time for a company to have a fighting chance at becoming an alternative to WWE, it’s right now. Attempts in the past have been straight-up sad to watch, particularly TNA’s 2010 move to Monday nights. However, last weekend served as the first glimmer of hope that a true alternative to the monolith of WWE might arise.
AEW’s Double or Nothing was just one show, and the road to becoming a genuine threat to WWE will be long and difficult even if everything goes as smoothly as possible. But man oh man was it refreshing to see. Other promotions have tried to recapture wrestling’s past with lame retreads of the Attitude Era (TNA) or ECW (WWE’s relaunch of ECW). When Double or Nothing wanted to evoke wrestling’s past, it did so in the dramatic battle between the sons of Dusty Rhodes. When that match used blood -- and lots of it -- it did so in service of the story, not just because everyone bladed all the time during the boom period of the late 90s.
It didn’t lean on aging stars, a tactic that eventually went poorly for WCW. Chris Jericho is nearing 50, but his place in the company makes perfect sense considering his history and recent work. Of course the self-absorbed wrestling journeyman that’s found success in every promotion imaginable would want to further cement his untouchable legacy by succeeding in the newest promotion in town and reinventing himself once again. Plus, he’s just one character, not a cavalcade of aging stars like Ted Turner brought in during the mid-90s (also, 2019 Chris Jericho is way better than most of the WWF cast-offs were back then).
While the first half of Double or Nothing wasn’t quite as exciting as the second, the match variety was still incredibly refreshing to see. For all the talent WWE has on its roster, so many of the company’s matches seem to follow a similar formula. Sure, you’ll see more high-flying in a Ricochet match than you will when Bobby Lashley is in the ring, but the rhythm of most matches feels similar. Double or Nothing completely avoided that. At one point the show went from a six-woman Joshi tag team match to a bloody Southern brawl to a balls-to-the-wall Lucha-style tag. Boredom doesn’t come easy when variety is around every corner.
As much as I enjoyed Double or Nothing, I’m not gonna jump the gun and agree with the tweets predicting WWE’s imminent demise. AEW has a lot going for it -- the praise for this first official show, the Khan family’s money, a roster filled with young and hungry talent, a perfect window to garner enthusiasm while WWE is at a low point and fans are craving an alternative -- but it’s going to be a very long road. Mainstream audiences won’t know most of this roster at first. Putting on one exciting show is a very different beast than maintaining engaging storylines week after week once the TNT TV deal starts. Having talent lead creative has led to issues in wrestling’s past, and we already saw one hiccup with the PAC situation before the first AEW show even aired. We’ve yet to see AEW’s full profit-making potential through merch, vendor deals, and advertisers. Double or Nothing was a thrilling night of wrestling and might eventually be regarded as the kick-off point for something massive, but it’s too early to know for sure.
Two nights after Double or Nothing, I turned on Raw and wondered if I’d see any indication of a renewed sense of urgency. Instead, I saw Brock Lesnar dancing with a boombox in a moment that made me think of Jerry Lawler begging the crowd to “Fandango” more than anything else. If WWE is at all concerned about AEW, they’re clearly not showing it yet. It seems like business as usual right now in McMahon-land, and that’s the last thing I want to see after getting a glimpse of something as new as Double or Nothing.
Unlike some, I am not rooting for AEW to rise up and destroy WWE. I want AEW to succeed so that a fire is lit under WWE and the competition brings out the best in both companies. As Dean Ambrose (I mean Jon Moxley...oh yeah, did I mention that DEAN AMBROSE debuted in what felt like the biggest, most shocking moment of the night and he seemed more fired up and alive than I’ve ever seen him in WWE?) said in his first AEW backstage promo, this was a “declaration of war.” Both WWE and AEW are stacked with incredible talent right now, and a war between them could lead to a more exciting era of professional wrestling than we’ve seen in two decades. No matter what, the back half of 2019 is going to be a hell of a lot more interesting than anything I was watching back in 1993.
