• “Cody Rhodes is a megastar because AEW exists” – Top AEW Star
WWE and AEW shows have gone head-to-head on multiple occasions since Tony Khan started the Jacksonville-based company.
Lately, WWE has had the upper hand in the war against its biggest rival as multiple top stars have jumped ship from AEW to work under Triple H. Tony Khan is forced to change Collision’s start-time when there’s a WWE Premium Live Event on Saturday, while the show already suffers from low ratings.
In an interview with Jon-Bernard Kairouz, Bryan Danielson discussed WWE’s decision to counterprogram AEW. Below is what he said:
“I think of it and I wonder, right? Like, I’m just curious what the people who are making these decisions, what they’re thinking. In the sense of this, ‘Oh, okay. This AEW thing, it’s real dangerous to our billion dollar business.’ That can’t be it.
The one thing I think is that AEW existing and being this challenger brand, and being as successful as we’ve been, has changed the landscape for wrestling for the wrestlers themselves… but we’re still the challenger brand, catching up on however many years WWE has had.
But it’s interesting, because we’re not at the point of being a threat. It’s one of the things where people who really crave power and a lot of money play these weird games that I don’t understand.
It’s like, okay, we’re going to run all the competitors that might be competitive with us out of this business. Why? It’s good for the wrestlers both in AEW and WWE. It’s been good for them like – okay, if AEW wouldn’t have started, would Cody Rhodes be where he is right now? No. They have a megastar because AEW exists. Would CM Punk ever have come back? Probably not.
The people in WWE, a lot of the people I know, are great people. So I’d be interested to know what’s the decision-making process in this? But, you know, it’s not my monkey, not my circus, whatever the line is for that, you know what I mean?”
WWE is reportedly planning to aggressively counterprogram AEW. This comes after Tony Khan changed the time of All Out, so it doesn’t clash with Wrestlepalooza as both shows are scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 20th.
• “CM Punk is spending too much time with Seth Rollins” – RAW Star Wants Punk/Rollins Feud To End
Nearly two years have passed since the historic return of CM Punk to WWE. The Best In The World has had beef with Seth Rollins since he showed up at Survivor Series: WarGames 2023.
The two men are still not done, as both of them will team up with their wives to lock horns in a Mixed Tag Team Match at Wrestlepalooza in less than two weeks.
Grayson Waller wants the feud to end now because he wants to have his moment with CM Punk. The former WWE Tag Team Champion recently spoke to No-Contest Wrestling and expressed excitement about a potential battle on the mic with the former AEW World Champion.
“I wanna fight CM Punk; I wanna fight CM Punk so bad. I wanna have the microphone next to CM Punk.
He’s just spending too much time with Seth Rollins, we’ve gotta try and drag him out of that and those two have gotta stop fighting, and I wanna see what Punk’s really about.
That’s one of my dreams, because on the mic there’s no-one better. As someone who prides themself on their microphone ability, I wanna test myself against CM Punk. Because I know he’s not gonna hold back at all, he’s gonna say whatever he thinks, and that’s something that doesn’t really exist anymore.
I’ve got a lot to say about CM Punk, but we’ll save that for the day that it needs to be said. I’ve been saving that for a long time.”
