Wednesday Night War: AEW could learn from WCW & TNA
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AEW is taking the professional wrestling world by storm. They are gaining great momentum for their next big show All Out and their TV debut in October.
All Elite Wrestling has the hype and momentum to become a strong wrestling promotion but like Spanish poet George Santayana once said, ‘’Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’’. This phrase is something AEW should always try to remember every time they make a decision.
The organization can learn many things from the mistakes made by WCW and TNA (IMAPCT) to improve in certain aspects.
Hiring ex-WWE Talent
Both WCW and TNA had a bad habit to hire many former WWE wrestlers. Also, both promotions would book these wrestlers in higher positions on the card over other established talent they had.
AEW so far has very few ex-WWE talent. If AEW hires many ex-WWE wrestlers, they will become just another dumping ground for them when they get dropped or leave WWE. They don’t want to be perceived like TNA was and has been for years. But this doesn’t mean they wouldn’t hire ex-WWE wrestlers at all. If they have the chance to sign a team like The Revival, they should sign them immediately. In another case CM Punk should also be a wrestler that AEW should try and approach.
It’s good to see AEW is focused on talent that will fit their plan for the promotion and looking more into the independent wrestling scene, obtaining young wrestlers like Darby Allin, Jungle Boy, Private Party and others that have potential to be future stars.
The Comparison of The Elite & NWO
The NWO and The Elite have a lot of similarities and these coincidences they both have with each other are no surprise at all. Both the Elite and NWO are also part of the creative process for each promotion they are associated with.
The guys in The Elite, with no doubt, have these similarities of them and NWO in their heads. This could be a good and a bad thing booking-wise. The NWO was a big factor of the WCW’s death and their ability to not share the ball with others, but we know The Elite is not like them and someone could argue they are opposites of NWO.
AEW should be careful of not booking themselves on top for the sake of avoiding comparisons to the NWO.
Vince Russo
Both WCW and TNA made the mistake of hiring Vince Russo for creative. No one can deny the success Russo had with WWE in the Attitude Era. The booking process of Russo of focusing on shock value over in-ring work would not work well, especially in AEW who look for great in-ring work.
It’s safe to assume that Russo will not have any working relationship with AEW, but never say never in professional wrestling.
Fighting Directly with Vince
Both TNA and WCW fought directly with Vince on Mondays and at the end lost big time to Raw. In no moment should AEW even consider the idea of fighting WWE directly on Mondays.
We all know about the legendary ‘’Monday Night War’’ between WCW and WWE, and how for 83 weeks WCW beat WWE in the ratings. In the case of TNA, Vince and WWE never took them seriously and at the end that ‘’war’’ TNA lost.
It’s safe to assume AEW won’t try to compete directly with Raw on Mondays for ratings, instead will compete with NXT on Wednesdays. AEW should only focus on itself though and have a solid product before even considering a ‘’ratings war’’.
Identity
Both TNA and WCW in different periods tried to copy the WWE formula and like so many have said, no can beat Vince in his own game. AEW should not try the ‘’sports entertainment’’ that so many have tried to copy and failed miserably. Even if things get tough for them, they should not try to emulate WWE in those aspects and just keep going with their own identity.
AEW so far is nothing like WWE, but only time will tell if they will keep their identity going forward.
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