(Photo by AEW)
If you’d have told me a couple of years ago that in September 2021, WWE would have a brand-new promotion breathing down their necks that have just announced the signings of Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and most importantly CM Punk, I would have laughed in your face and assumed you had your fantasy booking hat fit a little too tightly to your head to the point it was cutting off the circulation to your crazy brain. However, after pinching myself numerous times, this is a very real scenario that has been put before us as wrestling fans.
My relationship with Professional Wrestling had been very much a love hate one up until this point, with the typical response that is echoed by many that loved it as a kid after playing the incredible line up of Wrestling games that the PS2 and Xbox had in its holster (my favourite being Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain), but then ‘growing up’ and thinking it was no longer cool, which for me was around 2009. I was lapsed for a while, dipping in and out when I had heard of a great match or storyline such as John Cena v CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011, eventually coming back for good around Wrestlemania 31 in 2015 after constantly watching YouTube videos from people like ‘WhatCulture’ (but mainly the guys that split and formed Cultaholic), ‘Wrestletalk’ and ‘Wrestling with Wregret’. All I had ever known was WWE growing up, so I had no real knowledge of the independent circuits or the indie darlings that were slowly taking the wrestling world by storm. This changed when a friend of mine from school started going to independent shows and we started going together to shows such as Fight Club Pro’s ‘Dream Tag Team Invitational’ and a special show hosted by New Japan Pro Wrestling in Altrincham.
Fast forward a few years and I felt my love for wrestling fizzling out again, whilst NXT was incredible and often produced the shows of the year, the lack of creativity and characters on WWE’s flagship shows ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown’ left me searching for alternatives. Enter Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks. Recently released Cody Rhodes wasn’t satisfied with the stereotypical scenario an ex-WWE wrestler would take, go to TNA/Impact Wrestling, or tour the independent circuit for a bit and settle. He wanted more. He initially started by making a list of dream opponents and events he wanted to test himself against, such as wrestling at the ‘Battle of LA’, wrestling against Kurt Angle (which I saw live for myself), and other independent juggernauts such as Chris Hero or Roderick Strong. One name on that list (or I should really say two names) were The Young Bucks, a tag team comprising of Matt and Nick Jackson who elevated tag team wrestling with their cocky attitudes and finger on the pulse mentality when it came to marketing themselves and their style, always keeping up with whatever could make them even more popular and successful. Cody and The Bucks felt like kindred spirits in a sense, with their coming together seemingly destined as something that was going to be much more than a match or programme together. Cody was ushered in as the latest member of Bullet Club, a stable that ran dominant through New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor, being one of the most popular and well-known stables throughout wrestling, a stable that also featured The Young Bucks. Working with Matt and Nick, as well as some of the greatest wrestlers on the planet such as Kenny Omega, they had an idea. An unprecedented idea. Could we put on a show on our own backs and sell 10,000 tickets. Now this seemed outrageous. And there were many, many question marks raised over the prospect of this event happening, with nobody selling more than 10,000 seats apart from Vince McMahon’s sport entertainment giant of WWE. But they got planning.
The name of the show. ‘All In’. A very symbolic name that represented the risk and confidence they had put on display with this bold idea, a name now synonymous with AEW’s branding nowadays, but at this time it was a one-off event that was very much make or break for the trio. The stage was set, Chicago, Illinois, September 1st, 2018, with 10,000 tickets selling out in just 30 minutes. Incredible. And this was with only one match announced at the time when tickets went on sale. The wrestling world had its eyes fully set on All In, with a card shaping up to be one of the most star-studded cards that the independent circuit could allow, with stars from New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring of Honor, AAA, NWA, and many more showcasing talents from across the globe. The show was an incredible success, being the first show that wasn’t a WWE or WCW show to sell 10,000 seats since 1993. Some highlights were Cody winning the NWA title from Nick Aldis, a title synonymous with his late and great father Dusty Rhodes in a truly emotional bout, Kota Ibushi teamed up with The Young Bucks to defeat a dream team of former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio, Rey Fenix and Bandido.
Following the huge success of the show, Matt, Nick, and Cody left Ring of Honor and partnered with billionaire owners Shahid and Tony Khan to form All Elite Wrestling on January 1st, 2019. This was a statement of intent. From the success of All In, you could tell this wasn’t just going to be an alternative to WWE, but direct competition. Since then, the rest is history, signing incredible talent that appealed to everyone; the lapsed casual fan that I felt myself becoming with the signings of WWE Icon Chris Jericho and the recently released Neville, now under his old name of PAC. It appealed to those who idolised the independent circuit with signings such as Hangman Adam Page, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, and Dr Britt Baker DMD just to name a few. Shortly after it was announced that AEW would get its own weekly televised TV Show, on the TNT network no less which was the home of WCW throughout its life, the only direct competition WWE has had to best in recent memory. AEW Dynamite was born and has gone on to spawn another weekly show, AEW Rampage and multiple YouTube exclusive series such as AEW Dark and Dark:Elevation for even more ways to see the AEW roster. New champions have been crowned, storylines have developed, and new signings have been constantly arriving to shake up the system. But September 2021 is when AEW went from strength to strength with the earth-shattering announcements that they would make. They had signed CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Adam Cole. What I find fascinating is that each of these three signings signal something important about the inception of AEW and its impact on Professional Wrestling.
CM Punk is undoubtably one of the most idolised and important wrestlers in modern history, with an almost God like aura around him ever since he stepped foot into a ring, and when he stepped out of the ring for good in 2014, having lost his passion for wrestling after his treatment in WWE. CM Punk walked away from wrestling whilst in his prime, it was very much like Michael Jordan stepping away from Basketball or Khabib Nurmagomedov stepping away from the UFC, one of the most influential and successful men stepping away from his sport in his prime. Since he left, people have not been able to keep his name from their lips, hijacking every show with chants for the Chicago native and desperately clambering for him to step back between the ropes. Alas, nothing. 7 years of hoping and wishing. All for him to finally make his heroic return in his hometown on the launch of AEW Rampage. Goosebumps. A moment we all thought we would never see. Punk was back in wrestling, and he gave that industry shifting moment to AEW. This immediately got the attention of the lapsed wrestling fan, as well as every wrestling fan on the planet, and glued their eyes towards AEW, with Punk’s in ring debut being shortly after at All Out 2021, where he faced Darby Allin in Chicago. Punk’s return signifies that AEW isn’t just a new promotion, that it demonstrates a clear ambition and desire to be the best it can possibly be. Such an industry shifting singing wouldn’t take place if Punk didn’t believe in the project put forward to him by Tony Khan and is a real statement of intent towards WWE especially.
Bryan Danielson was the poster boy for WWE in the late 2010’s, going by the name Daniel Bryan during his long stint there, with his accidental rise to prominence coming about through the defiance from the fans surrounding the stereotypical WWE Champion, a big, muscular dude with little to almost no wrestling experience before WWE. Daniel Bryan was one of the most charismatic and talented wrestlers that WWE had at the time, and he was constantly overlooked in favour of wrestlers from past eras, or wrestlers that Vince had handpicked for that top spot. Bryan worked harder than everyone else and got to a point where it was undeniable that he was eventually going to be the WWE’s number 1 guy (with WWE suggesting this was always the plan when it absolutely was NOT the plan). A loyal company man throughout his stint, the American Dragon enjoyed great success in the promotion, becoming a multiple time WWE champion, meeting his wife in the company, and making moments that will last a lifetime. This all changed however with some earth-shattering news. Bryan would have to retire from the ring due to ongoing health issues surrounding concussions, with WWE doctors not clearing him to compete despite Bryan going to other doctors and being cleared from them, WWE wouldn’t risk it after past issues with concussions and CTE. All Bryan wanted to do was wrestle. Two years after his emotional retirement in Washington, his home state, Bryan was cleared to return to in ring action by WWE doctors and his dream was alive once more. During his retirement WWE had kept Bryan on as an on-screen personality, as the General Manager of the recently rejuvenated Smackdown Live, and throughout this time an in-ring return was teased with some emotional moments with The Miz, but many thought that Bryan’s health conditions would prevent this. Again, like Punk, Bryan left in his prime, this time not out of his own accord, and had returned. He enjoyed a very successful return in ring with WWE, winning the WWE championship again and enjoying high calibre matches with AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar and Kofi Kingston to name a few of his more memorable bouts. Then his contract was coming to an end in 2021. And he wasn’t signing. After the announcement of CM Punk, wrestling fans salivated at the chance of seeing Bryan Danielson in AEW, and not even a few weeks after Punk was announced, Bryan Danielson made his AEW debut at All Out 2021. Wow. Bryan Danielson’s announcement showed that there was a viable alternative to WWE, a place that had given him everything he could have asked for but didn’t quite scratch that itch of wanting to WRESTLE.
And lastly Adam Cole. The signing of Adam Cole shows the underlying issues within WWE when it comes to securing their next generation of superstars and the way that Vince sees his future main eventers. Cole had an electric stint in NXT, debuting with immediate impact when he attacked then champion Drew McIntyre and formed the Undisputed Era along with Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly, later adding Roderick Strong to the group. Cole would go on to be the first North American champion in an incredible ladder match at NXT Takeover: New Orleans and later go on to hold the NXT Championship for a record setting 403 days. Cole had checked off every significant milestone in NXT, including winning both the North American and NXT Titles, defending the Tag Titles, and participating in both War Games and the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (with winning efforts in both). When Cole lost the title and the Undisputed Era finally imploded, question marks arose over Cole’s next destination. Would a stint on the main roster be in the future? Doubts were immediately cast due to Vince McMahon’s preference of larger performers, with speculation that a debut on the main roster would limit any potential Cole would have at succeeding to the heights he achieved in NXT. To coincide with this, Cole was one of a few WWE superstars that were active on Twitch, with recent controversy arising over WWE’s attempts to control the superstars’ social media accounts and limit the ways that they can make revenue for themselves (despite not being recognised as official WWE employees, I know, I was just as baffled). This led to controversy with stars such as Paige and Zelina Vega, the latter of which left the company over this dispute before returning a while later. Cole didn’t want to let his Twitch go and was seemingly one of the key factors in his decision to move elsewhere, despite suggesting that he and Vince had a good conversation prior to his contract expiring. But it seemed destined that Cole would join his good friends The Young Bucks (from their time together in Bullet Club before Cody joined), and head to Tony Khan’s shiny new promotion. Creative freedom and no attempts to control their performers and their other sources of income seemed to help Cole make a pretty obvious decision into a no brainer, and AEW now have completed three marquee signings in the space of a mere few weeks.
Now I understand that this article sounds like I am very much pro AEW and anti WWE, but I can assure you this isn’t the case, I just want wrestling to be better, and the competition that AEW is providing to WWE can hopefully only make WWE better (it worked once before if I remember correctly…). WWE is all I have ever really known growing up, but the excitement surrounding AEW is just too infectious to ignore, leading to perhaps the most exciting period of wrestling for western audiences since the late 90’s and early 2000’s in the days of the attitude era. Both companies have incredibly talented performers wrestling for them, and it has certainly sparked my interest again in a time in which my love for wrestling was perhaps beginning to dwindle over the last few years.
Who knows how the landscape of professional wrestling is going to change over the next few years? With the intense focus on ratings, rosters and wrestling, the future looks bright for us as wrestling fans, with this competition put before WWE giving them the perfect opportunity to up their game and produce the best wrestling content (or sports entertainment) that put them on the map as the face of the western wrestling scene in the first place. Who knows how long this rivalry is going to last, but what I can absolutely guarantee, is that it is an incredibly exciting time to be a wrestling fan.
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