Monday Night Wars, Version 2.0: WWE getting a head start on AEW competition
In a move that sent waves throughout the wrestling world on Thursday, WWE named Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as executive directors to oversee “Monday Night Raw” and “Smackdown Live,” respectively.
The news, first reported by Sports Illustrated, comes ahead of “Smackdown Live” moving to Fox and, perhaps more importantly, before the launch of All Elite Wrestling’s weekly television show, both of which are scheduled to take place this fall.
Per WWE’s release, the newly created roles will report directly to Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and will give Heyman and Bischoff power to “oversee the creative development of WWE’s flagship programming and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business.”
It’s difficult to not view WWE bringing in Bischoff — and to a lesser extent, expanding Heyman’s role — as a pre-emptive strike against AEW as the company gears up to face a challenge it hasn’t seen in nearly two decades.
AEW, the wrestling company founded by former WWE star Cody Rhodes, Matt and Nick Jackson, Kenny Omega and Tony Khan, is expected to directly compete with McMahon’s conglomerate.
Despite only having put on one official pay-per-view event, “Double or Nothing,” AEW has been gaining traction in the marketplace and attracting former WWE talent such as Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose), Shawn Spears (Tye Dillinger), Dustin Rhodes (Goldust), and Chris Jericho.
This summer, AEW will put on three more shows, “Fyter Fest,” “Fight for the Fallen,” and “All Out.” Demand for these shows, particularly “All Out” has been extraordinary, with the event selling out just minutes after tickets went on sale.
WWE is not sitting and waiting idly for AEW to launch to ramp up the competition however. Announced earlier this week, the WWE Network will air WWN Evolve’s 10th anniversary show on July 13, the same night as AEW’s “Fight for the Fallen” event. The move drew the ire of Omega, who in a since-deleted tweet criticized WWE for encroaching on a charity event.
The very next night, July 14, WWE will hold its “Extreme Rules” pay-per-view.
In addition to those events, WWE’s popular NXT brand will have one of its signature events, NXT UK “TakeOver: Cardiff,” on the same night as AEW’s “All Out.”
Feeling nostalgic yet, wrestling fans? You should, because this all feels like the “Monday Night Wars, Version 2.0.”
Heyman, who has been working both in front of cameras and behind the scenes with WWE, served as president of ECW from 1993-2001 and is regarded as one of the smartest and most respected minds in all of wrestling.
During his time with ECW, Heyman secured pay-per-view distribution and a national television deal, a significant accomplishment for the smaller brand during the intense battle between McMahon’s WWE and Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling.
The more surprising hire is Bischoff, who was the mastermind behind the New World Order, arguably the greatest storyline in professional wrestling history. Bischoff, who was one of the primary players during the “Monday Night Wars” in the 1990s, brought WCW to unforeseen heights, including an 83-week streak atop the ratings charts.
While both will still report directly to McMahon, Heyman and Bischoff will be tasked with helping “Raw” and “Smackdown Live” feel like two distinct brands under the WWE umbrella. WWE split its roster in August 2016, but now, thanks to a newly implemented “Wild Card Rule” the waters have been muddied and talent freely moves across both brands on a weekly basis.
It remains to be seen what kind of impact Heyman and Bischoff will ultimately have, but the move certainly is sending a message that WWE is ramping up for another potential version of the “Monday Night Wars.” Having two seasoned veterans leading the creative charge is a significant step toward WWE getting a jump-start on this fall’s anticipated ratings battle.
In a summer featuring “Toy Story,” and “The Lion King” as Hollywood’s big blockbusters, WWE announced one of its own.
It’s 1995 all over again.
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