Tony Schiavone makes a fascinating comparison of the Monday Night Wars to today's product (Exclusive)

With All Elite Wrestling now firmly established as a driving force in the industry and with WWE still bringing the goods, there’s an argument that we’ve never had it so good in terms of content and action – and that’s without taking into account New Japan and a thriving independent scene.

Wednesday nights see AEW’s Dynamite go up against one of WWE’s weekly offerings in the form of NXT, with the shows aired on TNT and the USA Network respectively.

With fans on either side – or both sides – of the fence reveling the thick of the high-flying action, it's understandable that some begin comparing it to halcyon days of the past, not least the Monday Night Wars of the late 1990s and early 2000s that saw WWE and WCW go head to head.

In what was arguably wrestling’s most controversial yet entertaining era, the two companies went to war with one another – almost literally in some cases – with livelihoods on the line, and WCW eventually ending up on the ‘losing’ end in being bought out by WWE supremo Vince McMahon.

There aren’t many people who’ve survived in the business long enough to have endured both that era and the one in which we presently find ourselves, which makes AEW announcer Tony Schiavone uniquely placed to pass verdict on how the two might compare.

He was the voice of the WCW announce desk during the Monday Night Wars, and now joins the likes of WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross in presenting the weekly offering from AEW.

Speaking as part of a wide-ranging, candid and exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, the 62-year-old admitted that while times of changed somewhat, the thrust and thunder of straight up competition is still very much alive.

Asked whether he thought the 2020 era of professional wrestling represents one that’s less cut-throat than the Monday Night Wars, though no less competitive, he said:

“Yeah, I think that’s fair. Because of all the different [content platforms] that are available now, our competition is more than just NXT and the WWE now. Our competition is, basically, entertainment. You’re right, it’s not as cut-throat as it used to be. There is still a want to be better than the other guy, but I think competition makes everybody better and everybody would agree with that. The cut-throat nature of what it was back in the day was really exhausting.”

Don’t forget to catch up with the full, exclusive interview with Schiavone as part of Dropkick Diskussions below: