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Triple H commented on whether or not he sees AEW as competition, as well as whether or not he is actively part of their audience.
AEW emerged in 2019 founded by Tony Khan and the Elite faction consisting of Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and the Young Bucks. The Jacksonville promotion has established itself in the three years since as the primary alternative product for WWE in the wrestling industry.
WWE Head of Creative Triple H made it clear in an interview with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport that he has been keeping tabs on AEW, even if it's not every week:
"That's funny I've heard Nick [Khan] say that and I've heard people say to him it's a cop-out answer, it's not a cop-out everything is competition we pay attention to everything, you have to. We pay attention to AEW. Do I watch it on a week-to-week basis? No. Am I aware of what's happening there to a degree right now I'm not. I'm not following everything they do sometimes I'll see somebody would say well that's very similar to what they did I just had no idea." (34:30)
Triple H led creative for the NXT brand during a time dubbed the 'Wednesday Night Wars. The Wednesday Night Flagship show for All Elite Wrestling, Dynamite, went head-to-head with WWE's third brand. Week after week, they drew better ratings and viewership before NXT found itself moved to Tuesday nights.
In case you missed it, you can check out the AEW Dynamite results here.
Triple H maintains that AEW didn't force the NXT 2.0 reboot
In 2021, NXT rebooted from the Black & Gold brand fans had come to know and love. The shift in focus saw a more playfully stylized NXT 2.0 brand and featured more collegiate athletes as opposed to the pro-wrestler-centric brand before.
Triple H maintained that the change had not been a result of the 'Wednesday Night Wars' and was a plan put in place before the pandemic:
"No. People put so much pressure on this, all these competitive wars. It never was that. First of all, they beat our developmental system, good for them. No, it was never that, it was never even pressure of, 'You have to beat them.' It was never that, we put on the best product we could. Like I said, it shifted over time, they're in the pandemic, all of that shifted over time." [30:35 - 31:18]
NXT and All Elite Wrestling will share an event date this weekend, with Worlds Collide and All Out both airing on September 4th.
Do you see AEW as competition for WWE? Let us know in the comments section below.
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