MR. TITO: WWE Focuses on QUALITY of Matches while AEW Gives Away QUANTITY of Matches
When interviewed about the Monday Night Wars between World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Arn Anderson is quoted as saying something-to-the-effect that he knew WCW was done because they were burning through too many big matches too quickly. WCW Nitro was a 2 hour weekly show, but they also had WCW Saturday Night along with monthly Pay Per Views. Then, WCW Nitro expanded to 3 hours by August 1997 and by early 1998, a brand new 2 hour show called WCW Thunder arrived.
On top of that, you had an egomaniac named Eric Bischoff who became so full of himself that he only booked for the present and not for the future. He became so intoxicated with driving nails into WWE’s coffin that he didn’t realize an iceberg was heading towards his promotion. As 1997 wore on, Eric Bischoff put more time into his role as an on-screen member of the New World Order (NWO) group and keeping the NWO itself strong that he put less quality minutes into ensuring WCW’s creative focuses on long-term growth of the promotion. The end result was many top matches occurring for FREE on Nitro or even Thunder or immediately happening on the next Monthly Pay Per View.
By July 1998, he gave away Hulk Hogan vs. Bill Goldberg for FREE on WCW Nitro in Atlanta just to impress the Turner executives attending the event and to pop a number. Well, he accomplished both, but long-term, it was a disaster for WCW. Goldberg had already peaked and they had nothing else for him to accomplish for pretty much the rest of 1998. Then, in a move of desperation, Bischoff brought back the fully formed NWO to start 1999 and Hulk Hogan was champion again. WCW had NOTHING, as all of their “dream matches” were exhausted hence why they recycled the NWO idea again. In 2 years, the WCW promotion was dead.
Fast forward 25 years and we have WWE versus AEW. With Triple H now firmly in charge, he has purposely slowed down things and allowing for fans to savor storylines. At least night’s Survivor Series, many fans (including myself) expected maybe a Paul Heyman heel turn, maybe a CM Punk heel turn, or possibly an appearance of the Rock. None of the 3 happened… Instead, it was just another chapter in the OG Bloodline versus the “New” Bloodline battle with the OG Bloodline winning a great match to end Survivor Series 2024.
Following Survivor Series, WWE has the following storyline possibilities:
• What will Paul Heyman do? He mostly manages heels.
• What did Paul Heyman promise to CM Punk?
• What will result between the tension of CM Punk and Roman Reigns?
• What’s next for Solo Sikoa? Humiliating loss, but he still deems himself as the “head of the table”.
• When will the Rock appear next and what does that mean for either Bloodline?
Sooooo many possibilities.
And that’s what happens when you take things SLOWLY and have shows that are more story-driven rather than match-driven, unlike All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
AEW, recently, has between 10-15 matches per Pay Per View, compared to WWE often having just 5-6 matches per Premium Live Event while also being shorter than AEW events. Yet, which touring show is drawing more people? Aside from the Wembley novelty, AEW struggles getting 10,000 in a North America arena, let alone 5,000. Survivor Series packed that Vancouver arena with 17,000+ fans to watch just 5 matches.
AEW has exhausted most of its top matches already. Who else could Will Ospreay wrestle that you haven’t seen already? MJF? Okada? Young Bucks have wrestled everybody on the roster already. That, or wrestlers are just so un-interesting in AEW that you honestly don’t care who they wrestle. Sorry, but something is OFF with Mercedes Mone. She’s not herself and I could imagine she’s miserable in AEW aside from the nice paycheck that hits her back account every other week.
What kind of big matches are we waiting for in WWE?
Well, pull up a chair…
• Rock vs. Roman Reigns
• Rock vs. Cody Rhodes
• Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk
• Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk (2025 versions, much different than their 2014 versions)
• Gunther vs. Brock Lesnar
• Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk
• Gunther vs. Roman Reigns
• Gunther vs. Cody Rhodes
• Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley
And there are more that I’m likely not thinking of, along with thinking about WWE’s younger wrestlers like Tiffany Stratton and Bron Breakker receiving opportunities against top stars.
Yes, WWE has hours of programming to fill… But they give you nothing but short matches for RAW and Smackdown while filling the rest of those shows with highlight packages or promos. Wrestlers aren’t exhausting themselves for the current WWE pace. Hell, the WWE just did taped shows for RAW and Smackdown to give wrestlers time off to spend with their families for Thanksgiving.
Survivor Series had 5 matches, AEW Full Gear had 9 matches (with 3 on its pre-show). Show before that, AEW WrestleDream had 13 matches with 4 of them on the pre-show. All Out had 12 matches with 4 on its pre-show. All In had 12 matches with 3 matches on its pre-show.
But think about this with Survivor Series… Where was Cody Rhodes? WWE’s top champion wasn’t even on the show and had zero presence whatsoever. He wasn’t needed and thus WWE can save him to help headline WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 14th.
That is why WWE is growing and why AEW is slowing.
LESS IS MORE… You cannot burnout your fans by giving them too much, and by giving them too much, it reduces anything “special” that is left to give them. For WWE fans, they have so much to look forward to for future events. So many possibilities and that’s all because WWE’s creative team under Triple H isn’t giving away everything for free or quickly. Instead, they use creative story telling to satisfy the fans without giving them a plethora of matches.
AEW, on the other hand, thinks that they can grow by shoving out QUANTITY rather than QUALITY. Their declining AEW Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision viewership numbers, attendance, and merchandise sales say otherwise. Moving to a smaller arena in Australia also says otherwise. Getting a good TV deal from a desperate Cable channel is not an indicator of success, as a declining WWE received good deals during 2015 and 2019 too. In 5 years when that deal expires, the $45 billion in DEBT that Warner Bros. Discovery racked up is going to bankrupt them and they won’t exist to sign another big deal with AEW. Neither will other cable channels with the same debt problem.
It’s literally that simple… WWE doesn’t give away the far on each show while AEW foolishly does. They have no “dream matches” left.
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