I'm On The Other Side for this "War"

Hey, remember this blog? Remember wrestling? I do. Kind of. It's the thing with the puck and the stick, right? No? Wait, that's hockey. Anyway, we're back!

*General indifference from the crowd. A small "CM Punk" chant breaks out because of course it does*

Truthfully, none of us have written anything here in a while for various reasons, but the main one is that WWE has turned us off of caring. At least that's true for me. I can't even truthfully write "the WWE product is stale" like so many others have because I have not watched since WrestleMania. I barely even check out highlights on YouTube anymore.

But it's not just the product that turned me off WWE. It's WWE itself. I've mentioned this before but WWE as a company is hard to get behind. Sure, all corporations have their problems, but WWE seems to have more.

However, you can't discuss any sort of wrestling in 2019 without talking about Vince's house of regret and confusion. Sure, there are a number of great promotions out there and indie wrestling is still doing very well, but WWE is the elephant in the room and it's an angry elephant fueled by Saudi money, a new TV deal, and the Trump Foundation. It's impossible to ignore for very long even if you're trying to ignore it.

That's why, for years, fans have been asking for "real competition." And now, starting tomorrow, we just might get it. AEW is the closest thing WWE has had to competition since WCW. It's backed by a very, very rich man, it's airing on TNT, and it has a buzz. WWE knows it, too, because they've added pyro back to their shows, tried to lock everyone under the sun into contracts, moved NXT to Wednesday nights on USA, and even looked like they care recently. It's fun to see them sweat. Yes, WWE is an institution and one that will likely not be in any sort of real financial trouble for many, many years (if ever), but this is still fun. It's real competition.

I was always a WWF guy. That clip up there? I openly cheered when Vince bought WCW. I rarely watched Turner's company. Not only that, but I hated it. I hated it because Vince McMahon told me to hate it. When my high school was filled with kids in nWo shirts, I supported DX. When Bret Hart, my favourite wrestler growing up, went "down south", he was dead to me. I was WWF/E to the core. I rarely watched ECW either. Even during TNA Impact's ill-fated "Monday Night War 2", I cheered for WWE to crush them.

But things have changed. Maybe it's because WWE is so uninteresting to me now. Maybe it's because of the Trump connection and all of the bad things Vince McMahon has done in his life. Maybe it's because of how WWE insisted on constantly degrading and insulting WCW even years after it closed. Maybe it's things like Chris Benoit and how WWE has treated wrestler deaths in general. Maybe it's just because it's just fun to see real competition. I'm not quite sure. But this time I'm not on the WWE train. 

It won't ever happen, but I'd love for AEW to blow WWE out of the water. I'd love to see Cody and Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley appear on Raw one day bragging about how they "bought the competition." I want AEW to win this war. It's a nice dream.

The reality is WWE isn't going anywhere. It's too big. The sad truth is that they'll likely be able to lure some talent away from AEW in the future once the hype has died down but the allure of competing at WrestleMania remains. They'll probably be around long after AEW closes its doors.

For now though? I'm excited.