Too Soon to Call AEW the New WCW?

[Bobby Barrows]

Calling AEW the new WCW is a slight on AEW.

AEW is 100 times better than WCW. And that's coming from a former WCW fan.

Tony Khan loves wrestling. Ted Turner loved money. Eric Bischoff loved money. Jim Herd loved money. That's why AEW is already better than WCW and will continue to keep improving.

Hell even look at the in ring talent. People in AEW are there because they want to entertain. In WCW most of the top guys were there chasing the money. Hall and Nash didn't go to WCW for the same reasons that Punk and Bryanson moved to AEW...

Goldberg didn't give a damn about wrestling....

Tony Khan is making a wrestling show for Tony Khan. And that's why AEW is and always will be superior to WCW.

Ted Turner was the only reason WCW stayed on Turner Network for so long.

He absolutely loved wrestling, to say he didn't would be pretty wrong.

 

[Kross Rhodes]

AEW is 100 times better than WCW. And that's coming from a former WCW fan.

AEW is coming close, but WCW in 1998 made like $250 million in profit. That's after whatever they paid their huge roster for the year.

In 1999, the year this is comparing AEW to WCW, WCW did a show at the Georgia Dome in over 5 million homes and 38 thousand in attendance.

I love AEW, but please don't tear down WCW to prop them up because I don't want to have to tear AEW down to defend my WCW.

 

[Moon Bird]

Ted Turner was the only reason WCW stayed on Turner Network for so long.

He absolutely loved wrestling, to say he didn't would be pretty wrong.

No doubt Ted loved the Rasslin' And I appreciate he tried his best to keep WCW going. But I don't believe (and I'm not an expert so correct me if I'm wrong) that Ted had any real involvement with the running of WCW. I feel like he just paid the bills, watched the shows and that's it.

So yes, it was wrong of me to say Ted loved money. I mean he did but he loved Rasslin' too.

But i do believe the reason AEW is a better product in my eyes is because Tony Khan loves wrestling and because of how heavily involved he is.

 

[Kross Rhodes]

Ted Turner was the only reason WCW stayed on Turner Network for so long.

He absolutely loved wrestling, to say he didn't would be pretty wrong.

Ted adored pro wrestling. He believed he owed his empire to it.

He literally had to be couped out of his power in own company to remove WCW from the books.

 

[Stellar]

Well AEW already has some similarities to WCW from the production side with Keith Mitchell and from having some former WCW people. Tony Khan has admitted to being a fan of WCW. So he basically created his own.

Business wise they aren't to the level of WCW yet and they are based in Florida instead of Georgia but other than that..yes, they are basically todays version of WCW.

Ted Turner did love wrestling. Maybe still does. He maybe watches AEW for all that we know. WCW would have probably stayed alive longer on TNT even though it wasn't making money if Ted still had complete control.

 

[Kross Rhodes]

No doubt Ted loved the Rasslin' And I appreciate he tried his best to keep WCW going. But I don't believe (and I'm not an expert so correct me if I'm wrong) that Ted had any real involvement with the running of WCW. I feel like he just paid the bills, watched the shows and that's it.

So yes, it was wrong of me to say Ted loved money. I mean he did but he loved Rasslin' too.

But i do believe the reason AEW is a better product in my eyes is because Tony Khan loves wrestling and because of how heavily involved he is.

Ted didn't run WCW because he was a wise enough man to know it wasn't in his wheel house. He just wanted to see it thrive on his network.

 

[Moon Bird]

AEW is coming close, but WCW in 1998 made like $250 million in profit. That's after whatever they paid their huge roster for the year.

In 1999, the year this is comparing AEW to WCW, WCW did a show at the Georgia Dome in over 5 million homes and 38 thousand in attendance.

I love AEW, but please don't tear down WCW to prop them up because I don't want to have to tear AEW down to defend my WCW.

At the end of the day the wrestling landscape has changed a lot since the days of WCW. It's a totally different product. I've got nothing against WCW. I used to watch Nitro religiously and was a huge fan. I just don't think you can make a comparison between the two companies.

If you remove the numbers from it, I'd sooner call AEW the new ECW in terms of the talent pool, pushing the boundaries, innovation and so forth. WCW and WWE were almost mirror images of each other. That's not the case with AEW.

Again, nothing against WCW. I just think the product AEW puts out is so different to what WCW were doing that calling AEW the new WCW does AEW a disservice.

 

[Hidden Blaze]

As a huge WCW fan in the day, I’ll say this. Watching it weekly and everything, I truly feel like I did as a kid during the 90s. I’ve said that a few times over the last few months. That I’m loving AEW so damn much. Like it lit a fire in me I’ve not felt in quite sometime.(least sometime mid 2010s) and surely like the one I felt in the late 90s. It’s doing impressive numbers. Ticket sales, and PPV buys are really great and I only see it getting better.

 

[Roy Mustang]

Ted Turner was a mega wrestling fan. Also I'd say it is the next WCW as someone who has finally over the last few years watched some old WCW (the good periods not Russo bollocks). WCW wasn't always shit. It had several great years.

 

[CakeWalker]

WCW was better than WWE.
AEW is better than WWE.

Anyone that preferred WCW back in the day [I include myself] for the first time since 2001 feels like, a product that was missing for so long is back - TNA got close, but this feels like Nitro is back

 

[Y2Jayne]

I'm just glad they're doing well and the product is better than Impact Wrestling.

 

[Cwalker]

WCW was competition.

AEW is a competitor.

There’s a difference. WCW had Vince McMahon on the brink. AEW can never do that with all the TV rights and money that WWE has made.

AEW means more to the fans than it worries Vince McMahon.I promise you.

 

[Deezy]

WCW was competition.

AEW is a competitor.

There’s a difference. WCW had Vince McMahon on the brink. AEW can never do that with all the TV rights and money that WWE has made.

AEW means more to the fans than it worries Vince McMahon.I promise you.

Truth.

WWE gets more for a Saudi show than AEW gets for their TNT deal.....this is facts.

 

[Villano69]

AEW is AEW. They're not WCW or WWE.

WCW was a huge success in 1996-97, and a dumpster fire from 1999-2001. They went from making $60m in one year to losing $60M in one year.

WWE has every possible advantage and way more money than AEW, but despite that they're pissing those advantages away, quickly. However WWE is not in danger any time soon. They get over $600M a year in TV money from Fox, USA/Peacock/Comcast. They have that ridiculous deal with the Saudis where they traded their morals and ethics for $50M per house show. Their TV production is incredible--the shows look great on the surface. But there are cracks showing...TV ratings are way down from their peak, ticket sales are way down in some markets, the creative and booking are shit, and the actual wrestling and TV is not nearly as good as AEW.

AEW has a long way to go to catch WWE, but their ratings are up 33% over last year, which is incredible in a market where almost all TV other than the NFL is down year over year, and the ratings are way closer to WWE than a 2 year old company should be--they have beaten Raw and Smackdown in the key demo. Ticket sales are hot in most cities, and their PPV buys are up 100% over just a year ago. No question they are on the way up, and are gaining loyal viewers each week. They're going to get a huge boost in TV money in a few years, and TK 's family has more money than VKM so they're not running out of cash anytime soon.

And most important, in the ring, AEW is just a superior. The promos are way way better, and the in ring performance is so much better than WWE. They have better workers, better booking, better promos, and more exciting matches. AEW is better in the ring than post 1994 WCW ever was.

 

[Deezy]

WWE doesn't need TV ratings, they're a brand onto their own, they have better sponsors and networks are looking for that.

The television medium is dying and looking to grab what they can, so ofcourse they'll always want the one with the high powered sponsors, sorry, Tony Khan and his band of buddies are not getting that.

Why you think TNT freaked out over a pizza cutter?

Subjective tastes over what's better means absolutely.......jack shit.