MR. TITO: Assessing WWE and TKO’s Recent Anti-Competitive Moves Against AEW
Recently, Vince McMahon attended his 80th birthday party and the likes of the Undertaker, John Cena, Kane, Michelle McCool, Shane McMahon, R-Truth, Sheamus, Sgt. Slaughter, Bruce Prichard, and JBL were there to celebrate with him. While most of them were veterans or long-time WWE producers, John Cena, R-Truth, and Sheamus are active performers.
But who wasn’t there? Well, much of the WWE roster, but also a clear absence by Vince’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, and son-in-law Triple H.
We just got through the whole Hulk Hogan saga where Brooke Hogan hasn’t spoke to her dad for years and even had him rewrite his will to have Brooke removed from it. Life is short… You only have one dad and acting like he doesn’t exist won’t make him go away… For Stephanie, every professional and mostly personal opportunity is because of her dad’s hard work and riches. She doesn’t get an all-paid ride to college without WWE money. She joins WWE without any experience and obtains the Creative Lead through late 2000 out of clear nepotism. Through wrestling, she meets Triple H, her future husband and father to her own kids. Stephanie received promotion after promotion within the WWE, making her way up to titles such as Executive Vice President, Chief Brand Officer, and co-CEO.
I bring this Vince party up because 3 active wrestlers showed up, Bruce Prichard appeared (he sits next to Triple H, always, in gorilla as seen by WWE Unreal), and WWE veteran Undertaker were there. Kind of defiant against TKO/WWE’s wishes of wanting to ignore that Vince McMahon ever existed.
I bring this up because that’s a slight rift (not an “Aaron Rift”) or wedge that could see the tide eventually turn against the WWE.
Don’t believe me?
What are you currently seeing with WWE fans? Higher ticket prices, more expensive to stream WWE stuff in the future, and massive price gouging on WWE merchandise. Oh, and bigger WWE events are being sold to the highest bidder. Wrestlemania will be in Saudi Arabia one year, mark my words.
However, what are you seeing with wrestlers? Well, analytics are being applied and measuring their salary against weekly output. Braun Strowman found that out, twice, as WWE deemed him “overpaid” for his output versus merchandise revenue received. But how about R-Truth? He was released because he was deemed to be overpaid as a longtime veteran who wasn’t wrestling as frequently as he once did. But, he had an electric feud with John Cena and then was released immediately after it ended. Fans had an uproar and WWE had no choice but to overpay the guy to bring him back.
Oh, who by chance was at Vince McMahon’s birthday party? R-Truth…
Folks, what I’m trying to express is that there’s some tension outside and inside the WWE right now. I wouldn’t say it is necessarily against Triple H or his creative system, as I think most like the environment that Triple H has built and it’s healthier than the toxic one that Vince built. That said, I think the ones who weren’t signed by Triple H as EVP of Talent Relations are NOT as loyal to him as you think… Gee, who was at the party? Cena, R-Truth, and Sheamus, 3 guys who were NOT signed by Triple H (though Triple H used to love Sheamus creatively).
All of the heat is against TKO and its corporate overlords ranging from those at Endeavor and Nick Khan. Much of the same criticisms of WWE going away from certain traditions and squashing its competition is exactly what Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has already performed. UFC has dismantled its competition and in return, fighters are getting paid less and things are getting pretty stale within that promotion. You see more of the UFC brand being pushed versus its fighters. As TKO assesses WWE, that’s where we are headed… Hence why a conglomerate of wrestlers are being pushed as main eventers and the WWE no longer being extremely reliant on one guy to do it all, like Roman Reigns before 2024.
Which brings me to recent antics towards All Elite Wrestling (AEW) by the WWE…
WWE is actively undercutting AEW’s Pay Per View events with alternative programming. When AEW had its top event, All In, WWE hosted multiple events that weekend with NXT, Women’s Evolution PLE, and Saturday Night’s Main Event featuring Bill Goldberg’s retirement match. Now, WWE is about to frequently oppose AEW’s future Pay Per Views with some of their own shows.
These are clearly anti-competitive and AEW could possibly allege this in court… Oh wait, probably not. WWE is firmly in the pockets of our current administration, as seen by Triple H willingly appearing with President Donald Trump for the fitness challenge event at the White House. Trump’s Justice Department and Securities Exchange Commission already let off WWE for possible misstatements of financial statements relating to Vince McMahon’s NDA transgressions. Meanwhile, any challenges to WWE’s employment status of independent contractors or any other alleged monopolistic practices will now go unnoticed (as it will for most companies who have made political favors).
While the Khans have donated to this same cause, their support is minimal compared to the WWE or the McMahons. Plus, I’d argue that Donald appreciates what the WWE has did for his career and persona. He’s a pro wrestler cutting promos on a daily basis…
With the green flag waved to mess with AEW, WWE is going to do it…
But what I want to keep emphasizing here is what Endeavor already did for UFC… Those corporate sharks want to ELIMINATE competition because in the end, they can further control PRICES and SALARIES.
If AEW gets squashed by the Endeavor/TKO monster, then that leads to the following without any true competition:
1) Prices of WWE products go up further. No worthy competition to seek as a cheaper alternative. Plus, competition keeps those prices somewhat in check right now from being even higher. Competition goes away, prices really go up.
2) Wrestlers get paid LESS. See the 2000s… Wrestler payouts plateaued and really didn’t go up until AEW arrived during 2019. Now, WWE had competition and had to lock down its wrestlers. Without competition, wrestlers have no where else to go and won’t see salary increases. Furthermore, the threat of being easily replaced comes into play.
3) TKO/WWE fan focus revenues on keeping competitors out. Go back to 2001… Losing WCW and ECW was bad for business, as WWE had a strong control over wrestling resources. Yes, TNA emerged, but they had to scratch and claw to get into the marketplace by offering Pay Per Views and then later weak paying deals with Fox Sports and SpikeTV. Now, TNA is in the pocket of WWE… AEW’s emergence has caught WWE by surprise and caught the WWE when their business was declining through 2018.
With TKO/WWE beginning to scale back wrestler downside guaranteed salaries again, despite making record breaking revenues, the WWE wants to squash the AEW bug before it becomes a true threat. TKO has shown its hand in wanting to push the WWE brand over wrestlers and I believe they did it too early. Slowly but surely, wrestlers are beginning to realize that TKO cares far more about pleasing its board members, executives, and shareholders moreso than the guys bumping in the ring. And that is what happened to UFC, as the same parties are getting jerked off more than fighters taking the beatings in the octagon.
John Cena’s appearance at Vince’s party has me most curious… John has given off a few vibes that some of the creative decisions lately were not his or his preference. While I think Cena has overall respect for Triple H, he knows what Triple H has become and that is company first and wrestlers second. I think the R-Truth release was a big wake-up call to many wrestlers and then the kneejerk reaction to bring him back, only to poorly use him, was a second one. Thus, while I think many wrestlers enjoy working for Triple H’s comfortable system, they aren’t loyal to it because everything has become about business under the TKO climate.
TKO keeps bragging about these new WWE deals… Billions from Netflix, billions from USA Network, and billions from ESPN. Gee, how has that translated to wrestler salaries?
Yeah, wrestler payouts are NOT growing relative to WWE’s massive media deals. Nor are they growing relative to massive gates at WWE live events, either. Or merchandise.
Many of you are complaining about Roman Reigns’s usage lately… You try to blame it on Triple H, even though Triple H made the Bloodline BETTER with his 2022-2023 booking that fueled the biggest Wrestlemania ever during 2024 with WM 40. It’s not Triple H, folks… Roman Reigns has chosen to take more time off, and therefore, his output from his LACK of availability is NOT measuring well against his massive downside guaranteed salary of probably $5 million or more. I guarantee you that TKO corporate overlords are instructing Triple H to either reduce the pushes of Roman or elevate other wrestlers to become his equal… Take your pick on which way it is going, whether Roman has come down to the rest of the roster or the rest of the roster has risen up to Roman’s level. Either way, Roman Reigns is NOT as valuable to WWE during 2025 than he was during 2023. That’s a FACT! And possibly by design…
What makes AEW a true threat is if many of these WWE veterans willingly jump to AEW. Let’s say Roman Reigns jumps to AEW. Now, you might think that “AEW will ruin him” and that “AEW can’t call him Roman Reigns”. Very true… During 1996, it was thought that WCW would “ruin” Diesel and Razor Ramon. Yet, all it takes is one great creative spark to repackage any wrestler to become very effective. Quickly, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash became household names and WCW exploded with growth.
Now, obviously, AEW needs a ton of help… Tony Khan isn’t the best leader, nor is he the best creative mind either. Young Bucks are toxic and demand allegiance from the roster they’ve constructed. But WCW had a ton of turmoil back during the mid 1990s and had some massive creative flops. See WCW Uncensored 1996, for example… But then, Scott Hall calmly walked to the ring on WCW Nitro and cut one of the best promos ever that intrigued everyone.
Right now, WWE is very top heavy with older veterans on top as Virtue has listed in this tweet. One of my main criticisms of Triple H is that he’s not a strong developer of talent. Aside from Gunther and at times Kevin Owens, he hasn’t developed a massive main eventer. Rollins, Reigns, Cody (originally), Drew McInTyre (originally), and the Usos were FCW signings while John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, and CM Punk were OVW signings. Hell, Bron Breakker was signed during 2021 by John Laurinaitis when he replaced Triple H as talent manager.
WWE doesn’t have a strong pipeline of younger MALE wrestlers to replace the main eventers now. Thus, if WWE were to lose a chunk of those top stars, that could be the slight crack in the dam…
I think someone as smart as Nick Khan recognizes this weakness and is opting to have TKO/WWE squash the AEW bug before it has any opportunity to become a threat to exploit WWE’s future roster weakness.
Remember with wrestling… All you need is ONE wrestler to get over and captivate an audience, particularly of casual fans to convert them into loyal fans. WWE went from almost dead during early 1997 to growing and thriving again thanks to Stone Cold Steve Austin. WWE’s business was declining through 2004 but John Cena became a bright star to give WWE’s business a much needed boost for the rest of the 2000s. WWE declined badly through 2020 but then they opted to turn Roman Reigns heel. WWE has grown ever since.
Just takes one… And if AEW homebrews it or just grabs that right free agent, WWE has a real threat on their hands.
Just go back to 2021… CM Punk brought AEW closer to the WWE than anybody ever has. 1 million views for Dynamite versus WWE RAW’s 1.5 million. THAT close, and that was with CM Punk.
Endeavor and TKO want to squash the AEW bug so that they can fully exploit fans with higher prices and then cut salaries of wrestlers. They’ll become a Monopoly for pro wrestler (single producer of goods/services who can exploit prices and supply) while becoming a Monopsony (single employer) to wrestlers to really lowball them on salaries to take bumps inside the ring. With only one producer and employer of wrestling, QUALITY will drop like it did during the early 1990s and most of the 2000s and 2010s.
TKO wants your money, wants you to pay more money to streaming services by becoming ESPN/Netflix’s customers, and wants to pay wrestlers less of what they should truly earn.
Want to put an end to this?
Then boycott ANY WWE events that are placed against AEW. I don’t care if the Rock vs. Roman Reigns match is booked on a WWE event that directly opposes AEW. Boycott it!
And if you really want to make a difference, boycott WWE’s anti-competitive show and then financially support AEW’s show. I know, those $50 Pay Per View prices suck, but it’s a short-term investment for a long-term gain.
Then, try and watch AEW Dynamite… I don’t care if you just leave the TV on and walk away. Help pump up those numbers to help ensure that a new TV deal happens for AEW in 3-4 years.
Why not attend an AEW event when it happens near you?
And on top of all of that, hold Tony Khan accountable online. Quit being so nitpicky with his stuff, while loyalists need to stop being such enablers. Be vocal, but also support the product to keep the WWE honest.
Because otherwise, WWE is going to turn into a brand like UFC and the wrestlers won’t matter who performs for that promotion.
Let’s stick it to TKO, brother!
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