Amongst the noise of Triple H choosing all of the violence and Raw is Bore, AEW told us they’re headed to New York City this September.
Putting aside one’s feelings on Chris Jericho’s assessment of the situation, this is kind of a big deal.
But, while it helps to have an insanely rich father willing to blow his money, Papa Khan’s observation about the chances of AEW succeeding was on point: none of this was guaranteed.
But TNA never felt like a legitimate competitor to WWE, a fact made painfully evident when they tried reigniting the Monday Night Wars.
It shows the difficulty of the task in front of AEW because the odds were not in their favor.
Shaquille O’Neal, Snoop Dogg, and Mike Tyson successfully lent their respective juice to Dynamite, playing different roles while signaling to the world AEW is for real.
Even though the company shares the same umbrella with an NBA legend and the guy who made Doggystyle, not everyone who watches wrestling knows or even cares about such things.
I don’t think anyone is under the illusion that NXT is Raw or SmackDown in terms of ratings or name recognition, including anyone in AEW.
That said, the brevity of the “Wednesday Night War” adds to the corporate narrative and is something for people in boardrooms to brag about.
Wrestling fans and media types know the importance of that city in WWE history and why the company considers it “home.” While Arthur Ashe Stadium isn’t Madison Square Garden, it has its own sports history and is named after a true legend.
While some may roll their eyes at the belief that making it in New York means you can make it anywhere, that doesn’t make it untrue.
Playing in front of a packed New York City crowd is just one more step in AEW establishing themselves as the new big boy on the block in the eyes of not just wrestling fans but those in the business community who make the blue ball spin.