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WATCH OUT: THE ELITE IS COMING

All-Elite Wrestling (AEW) is a new federation sponsored by billionaire Shahid Khan. Representatives of The Elite - Cody, Young Bucks and Kenny Omega became its vice-presidents and key-wrestlers. It is too early to judge the real potential of the Cody and the company promotion. It can either grow into Vince's first real rival, or just become another indie federation in the USA.

The key of AEW success

1)     Disappointment in WWE

It is not a secret that most wrestling fans, both in the US and abroad, are disappointed with the WWE product today. This is evidenced by extremely low weekly ratings. People are frustrated by the Vince`s leadership, but one can hardly blame fans for devotion when there is no real competition for a company in the USA.

AEW will become daring underdogs who have challenged the old and arrogant monopolist in the eyes of fans. So, the Elite can expect not only the outflow of a significant part of WWE fans, but also a sufficiently large credit of trust from them.

2)     The WWE recruiting policy

The WWE roster has now a surplus of any format performers in the company. Rusev, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Chad Gable, Akira Tozawa, Jack Gallagher, Lorcan, Marcel Barthel, Amber Moon, Sarah Logan, Tony Storm, Tony Cross - all of them are performers who can leave the WWE and become important figures in any other promotion. In WWE, they are playing second-part roles, having lack of full-fledged scenes. At the same time, the company continues to recruit new and new wrestlers every year. Therefore, the chance to realize themselves in WWE will decrease. Consequently, more wrestlers will leave the scene.

Over the past few years, wrestlers such as Alberto del Rio, Johnny Mundo, Cody, Pak have shown that leaving WWE can be a significant step in the career and, moreover, the ability to earn more. From this point of view, AEW chose a very good time to start.

3)     Own unique style

The Elite – is a kind of phenomenon in the world of modern wrestling. No one else feels just as good about a reality-era and does not see all the possibilities for booking. Jacksons, Cody and Omega are able to independently “lead” their own characters without other federations, to use the opportunities of YouTube and social networks, to keep in touch with their fans.

Cody Rhodes regularly appears on the YouTube channel, giving viewers all the details of preparing to Double or Nothing. We can watch how musicians, costume designers, artists work on the show. How bosses negotiate with wrestlers and commentators in real time. All this creates a noticeable contrast with how WWE got used to run its business, keeping the internal kitchen in secret. Perhaps, AEW will be able to show how the wrestling promotion should look like in the reality-era.

Conclusion

In practice, AEW has only a hint of the future roster. There is a huge way ahead until AEW can provide at least minimal competition to WWE. Namely, the promotion needs:

·        to successfully conduct its first show;

·        to complete the roster team;

·        to lure from other federations at least a few top performers;

·        to run its own weekly show and broadcast it on TV;

·        to bypass the Impact and ROH;

·        to regularly conduct special shows on large arenas;

·        to create its own performance center and analogue of the WWE Network.

All this is a great job, requiring a lot of time and work of hundreds of professionals.

 

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