5 Reasons why Vince McMahon seems to be losing control of WWE

#1 Legitimate alternatives to WWE

With the early success of AEW and other smaller promotions thriving, WWE doesn't have the captive audience it once did.

It is difficult to argue that WWE has ever been consistently great for more than a few years at a stretch. Some of that’s a matter of the talent at the company’s disposal, and some of that’s about creative.

Some of it’s a matter of ebbing and flowing, as it’s difficult to imagine any show going on continuously for decades without some weak spots. Particularly for the last eighteen years, however, WWE has had some room to rest on its laurels because it hasn’t faced any meaningful competition. Since WWE bought WCW, no other wrestling promotion has been able to compare with WWE’s brand exposure, financial resources, or history.

The last decade or so have seen smaller promotions carve out pieces of the pie, making it a legitimate choice for a talent like Cody Rhodes to walk away from WWE in the first place and pursue a perfectly respectable, lucrative career by stringing together bookings elsewhere.

AEW is the next step in that progression as there’s now not only a thriving scene of smaller promotions fans can watch online and wrestlers can earn livings from but also a genuine billionaire-backed product with a major TV deal. Now that wrestlers and fans alike have increasingly legitimate alternatives to WWE, Vince McMahon’s stranglehold on top talent and loyal fans is slipping.