WWE Fan Says it's Okay to Support Another Television Show

Vince McMahon and Cody Rhodes face off at the end of May for Pro Wrestling Supremacy. Or are they? Photos courtesy of ROH, WWE, and AEW.

May 17, 2019

By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)

What a wonderful time to be alive and to love wrestling!

Right?

Well, …one would think so.

AEW and WWE Co-Existing in May

This Sunday, the WWE is ready to present another exciting installment to their ever-growing list of Pay-Per-Views. Not to mention a fan favorite in the annual program: Money in the Bank. With massive implications to the main event scene coming into play, how could one not be excited?

A week from this Sunday will be the beginning of something entirely new for the wrestling scene. Completely new…and hopefully…completely different from WWE.

Cody Rhodes’ master plan of running a wrestling company by his own rules, will finally take the first steps beyond being a t-shirt company. The show Double or Nothing, which takes place on May 25th and officially starts at 8pm.

My reference to AEW being a t-shirt company is part of the problem I am about to address. With AEW less than two weeks away from its inaugural show, why aren’t we universally happy that this new thing exists?

Competition is Best for Business

In the ‘good ol days’ of television, humans did not have a lot of choice in what to watch. As a family, you either decided you could all stomach the same show or you…ick…read a book…

Maybe it wasn’t always reading a book, but there’s a reason why we aren’t all going back to the archives to catch up on every episode of Leave-it-to-Beaver or old Soap Operas. It’s because, without significant competition, the writer’s responsibility was creating wholesome family content that could help sell soap, not creating ‘great’ TV.

Now our television options feel infinite. We don’t need cable anymore. And how long has satellite been a joke?

And with the increased content comes A LOT of garbage: I would say 75% of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon is unwatchable. But now that we play a numbers game, there has never been more great TV. And a great TV that is watchable for multiple playthroughs.

And You’re a liar if you don’t have a show, like The Office, that you’ve gone back to 6 or 7 times in the last decade.

With the consumer finding new ways to consume their scripted shows, comes the need to be better. The need to find excellent writing, invest in good acting and continue to upgrade and grow. Grow…and change with the times.

We can’t say if a show like Game of Thrones would have been as successful, had it been released 15 years prior, but we can definitely see that effort was made, by HBO, to diversify their programming and reward the best performances with more money and more extended contracts.

And what is happening with all of the leading streaming services, based on the success of Game of Thrones? Netflix picked up a fantasy series called the Witcher, Amazon is producing Lord of the Rings, and everyone else is hoping a new name will be their ticket to the big bucks!

Adapt. Grow. Become Better.

Because of increased competition.

AEW is not the Bad Guy

As the new competition for the WWE, there are still a lot of things to dissect to continue this conversation.

First of all, AEW is way too small to hurt the WWE. You’re a fool if you think that’s possible soon and you’re a doofus if you let those claims get to you.

Second of all, we should reiterate how “new” they are. Like…brand spanking new! What they did last year, with All In, just happened to have the same people. What AEW represents is a brand unique spectacle hoping to meet a different market (maybe one that has evolved from the existence of the WWE) that wants a different kind of programming.

And finally…AEW does not want WWE to fail. And their goal is not to do that. They’ve made it clear, especially in the last 24 hours after announcing their TV deal with TNT, that they will be a different kind of program. One focused on delivering more pro wrestling, and less “soap opera scripted content.”

If we can all agree on this, we can continue.

Don’t get lost in the fact that the WWE has created a ‘need’ for AEW. And I’m NOT SAYING WE ALL HAVE THAT NEED! But the need exists, even if it doesn’t pulse through YOUR body.

It’s the same need that created Netflix (because Blockbuster failed us too many times). It’s the same need that is bringing Xbox and PlayStation together (because the people demand it). It’s the same need that caused TNT to team up with WCW, years ago, and usher in one of the most memorable and experimental times in pro wrestling history: The Attitude Era.

Attitude Era Isn’t Guaranteed, but Change Is

You knew this conversation was coming. Of course, silly old Matt was gonna bring up the Attitude Era. An Era lauded by most as the most significant era in wrestling history. It’s also an era when gone over with a fine-toothed comb, that is racist, sexist, unwatchable, and embarrassing.

BUT GUESS WHAT!?!

It worked at the time.

Those decisions were made because it was going to bring eyes to the TV. Stone Cold didn’t wrestle a lot on Monday Night Raw, but because Vince ripped up the playbook and allowed Stone Cold to drive to the ring in a Zamboni, we’ll never spend too much time thinking about his limited wrestling schedule.

We were an even more disgusting fan, back in the day, and it worked.

But it wasn’t just fueled by the viewer’s wants and expectations, it was because two companies were doing very similar things, and one needed to evolve with the consumer’s tastes.

At the time, it didn’t matter that the program degraded women, put wrestlers in horrendously racist makeup, and told the whole world to ‘suck it.’ It was a (excuse the overuse of the word) ‘raw,’ uncensored, dirty program that worked for primetime television.

It still works for today, but at the time it was why the Sopranos (again, on HBO) was so successful from the get-go. We wanted something that showed a real person, like Tony Soprano, who wasn’t doing good things but became a character we rooted for. And every now and then there were boobs.

The WWE became the Sopranos of pro wrestling (or maybe the Sopranos became the Monday Night Raw of premium television). Some of those tastes remain, and I am even binge-watching the Sopranos as I write this, but maybe the ratings for the WWE are suggesting a pivot or adjustment from the current habits and patterns of the WWE Creative Team.

Long story short, maybe everyone isn’t demanding AEW become the new WWE, but enough people are looking for something else to watch, that AEW very-well might be the answer to that search. And they definitely have every right to try and succeed.

Oh…I don’t know…kind of like how no company will ever be more significant than the NFL but dumb things, like the XFL, exist.

AEW is your Friend

I’m going to wrap up here by reminding you what 99% of the content is for the Brothers of Discussion. It’s WWE.

We are huge WWE fans! And we are still super excited to watch money in the Bank this Sunday (even if we have to wait till Game of Thrones is done), but we’re also SUPER EXCITED for AEW! Jericho and Omega! Cody and Dustin! The Young Bucks and the Lucha Brothers! All talented pro wrestlers who are destroying their bodies for our pleasure!

I’m not saying they don’t like their paycheck and I’m certainly not suggesting that you support every pro wrestler out there (because I’m sure a lot of them are passionate…they just might be lacking in the ol talent department). What I am suggesting is that these guys are good wrestlers, they care about each other, and they started doing this to make us happy.

And hey…If it sucks …we’ll have a new thing to complain about. And who doesn’t love having things to complain about?

But if it’s good…OOOOOOOHHHH, MOMMA! What a time to be alive!

Enjoy the article? Every weekend the Brothers of Discussion offer more thoughts and opinions through the podcast! They also went pretty heavy into the Women’s Battle Royal match!

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