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Today is the day pro wrestling officially changes forever, and with two billionaire-backed companies with platforms on major television stations competing for pro wrestling real estate on a national scale comes more opportunities for just about everybody.
WWE has already reacted significantly to the new landscape in pro wrestling by locking down talent to bloated contracts and moving NXT to the USA Network on Wednesday nights—to the tune of an estimated $30 million—among a host of changes.
With double the national wrestling companies, there's essentially no such thing as an expendable wrestler. Both WWE and AEW have scoured the globe for the next great talent as FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) has overtaken pro wrestling scouting where no stones are unturned.
The mere threat of AEW has already completely changed how business is conducted within the genre as a whole. Wrestlers continue to receive raises that reflect WWE's monumental come-up from signing a pair of billion-dollar television contracts. Names like Mike Kanellis, Maria Kanellis, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson have all successfully leveraged their expiring contracts to land enviable deals with the worldwide leader. In hindsight, it's fair to wonder whether or not these raises would even be considered in a landscape with no competition.
AEW's message of inclusion and diversity, among other alternative features, should continue to push WWE in the same direction especially if the upstart promotion continues to overachieve and gain momentum. The history-making Aubrey Edwards has already reportedly inspired WWE to seek more female referees.
The Wednesday Night Wars should theoretically bring out the best in both WWE and AEW. Should both companies manage to exist in harmony—or the closest thing to it—over the long haul, similar to WWE and WCW of the Monday Night Wars, the results could bring about a much-needed boom period for pro wrestling.
If this be the case, there may be no shortage of beneficiaries on the new wrestling frontier.
#5 Women Referees
In the main event of its last pay-per-view, All Out, AEW boasted a statistic that had managed to evade WWE throughout its more-than 60-year existence.
WIth Aubrey Edwards officiating the inaugural AEW Championship matchup between Chris Jericho and Hangman Adam Page, she became the first woman to officiate a world championship match at a pay-per-view.
Cut to WWE's main roster and women referees are few and far between. The fact that AEW undersold this feat, almost as if women referees in pro wrestling is nothing new or novel, made WWE look even more behind-the-times.
Currently undergoing a women's evolution, the fact that WWE still hasn't gotten around to employing a full-time female referee on the main roster somewhat undermines its initiative for equality between male and female performers.
Right on cue, WWE has reportedly been aiming to hire more female referees which should lead to more opportunities for a concept that was literaly nonexistent in national pro wrestling as recently as three years ago.
#4 Pro Wrestlers
It almost goes without saying, but perhaps the biggest direct beneficiaries from the dynamic of a Wednesday Night War are the pro wrestlers themselves. Upon the announcement of AEW at the beginning of the year, WWE almost immediately began scrambling, locking up talent to long-term contracts to keep them from going to the competition.
Some of the reported figures for contracts awarded to lower midcard talents have been eye-popping, but given the sacrifice these men and women make for a promotion that misclassifies them as independent contractors, the more money that is being thrown around the better.
The value of pro wrestlers has suddenly skyrocketed as anybody coming anywhere near free agency stands to sign an impressive contract with either WWE or AEW.
Pro wrestlers as beneficiaries in the Wednesday Night Wars also goes well beyond the scope of basic contracts as AEW offers lighter schedules for its talent and has even kicked around the idea of a potential wrestlers union.
With AEW in the picture, far more performers who would have been given the cold shoulder by WWE have a platform for their once-overlooked talents, even if that platform is in WWE as a means to counter AEW.
#3 NXT
Prior to the existence of AEW, NXT was seen as a harmless, hip developmental territory featuring a combination of legit neophyte talent and veterans of the independent wrestling circuit.
But when AEW announced its flagship show would air Wednesday Nights on TNT, WWE made its biggest counter-programming move to date when it announced NXT would air on the USA Network.
WWE wasted no time moving its popular Wednesday night showcase to USA, choosing to shrewdly debut the program two weeks prior to AEW Dynamite. With the NXT announcement came an additional estimated $30 million from a company—in NBC Universal—already paying WWE upwards of a billion dollars for Raw.
Vince McMahon is notorious for despising the notion of competition and has been known to use any cutthroat tactic at his disposal to end all threats.
Still, the financial gain for WWE in a year that was already filled with them is a very positive aspect of the national wrestling war that Vince never wanted.
NXT also benefits by bringing its talented roster from a cult following to a national viewing audience.
Though this has not been confirmed, nor does WWE have any obligation to do so, it's fair to assume salaries for NXT stars figure to skyrocket in conjunction with the once-feeder promotion going national.
#2 CM Punk
Of all the surprise announcements and debuts that have already come out of pro wrestling's sea change, with more to come, perhaps one of the more surprising caveats is the sudden emergence of CM Punk on the national wrestling scene.
Once thought to have been finished with anything and everything having to do with pro wrestling, CM Punk reportedly filmed test material for forthcoming talk show WWE Backstage. Suddenly, CM Punk—of all people—feels like a candidate to make one of the more unlikely returns in an industry that is no stranger to mending fences.
Punk certainly seems like he is leaning toward a WWE return as both he and AEW appear to have had a falling out of sorts, but should Punk play both sides—whether his return is in-ring or simply as a broadcaster—he stands to bring in one of the bigger hauls of any wrestler in this young era.
By sitting back and letting these two sides duke it out, chances are one side will fall behind and get desperate, opening the door for an opportunistic Punk to potentially land an even bigger contract than he would receive today, especially if he returns to WWE and its multi-billion dollar valuation.
#1 The Fans
Clichè as this sounds, the fans are right up there with the wrestlers as the biggest beneficiaries of the Wednesday Night War. Though fans will not be in the position to sign multimillion-dollar contracts, the presumed entertainment value of seeing two national wrestling companies wage war is priceless.
If the Wednesday Night War is even a fraction of the Monday Night Wars of the mid-nineties, pro wrestling fans are in for a treat as two of the most talented rosters and creative minds look to one-up each other for the sake of winning over wrestling fans.
Fans have an even louder voice, and not having a monopoly in pro wrestling means an alternative for those who feel their voice is not being heard.
WWE's Raw season premiere already showed examples of enhancing the fan experience as the promotion brought pyro back to its weekly broadcast, something AEW promised its fans dating back to last year's All In pay-per-view.
And while AEW has continued to give lip service about being more fan-friendly, WWE has used its pre-existing television to do just that by ceding more power to Internet Wrestling Czar Paul Heyman and even loading up its flagship shows with pay-per-view calibre matches throughout premiere week.
