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WAS THE FIRST SHOT IN THE NEW WWE VS. AEW WAR JUST FIRED, AND IF SO I BET TONY KHAN WISHES HE KNEW IT WAS COMING

It was announced by WWE in their NXT Europe expansion press release that “Worlds Collide, a premium live event featuring NXT and NXT UK Superstars, will be presented live on Sunday, September 4 at 4 p.m. ET on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else.”

My first thought was, “Hmm, something else is happening that day isn’t it?” Of course, it is, AEW’s All Out PPV takes place that same day, albeit later in the evening.  So, now viewers who may not be sold on the All Out PPV, especially following the decision by Tony Khan to take a match that would have sold a lot of PPVs in Jon Moxley vs. CM Punk off of the show and push it onto free TV next week, have another much cheaper option to watch if they are not enamored with what is an eh PPV card with not a whole lot announced with one Dynamite left to go before it airs.

Now, I am sure it could be a TOTAL coincidence.  Do I believe that?  Not for a second.  Obviously, AEW and WWE are rivals but when you take a deeper look at the timing, it’s kind of telling to me.  We all saw NXT UK stars invade NXT 2.0 on Tuesday (and Heatwave did its best rating numbers in almost a year).

WWE could have easily made their announcement yesterday, but they waited until after Dynamite aired to do so.  Why?  My guess is to see what AEW would do last night to set up their PPV.  Had the release dropped yesterday, would Tony Khan have made the odd decision to make Mox-Punk for the PPV, only to reverse it about an hour later?  I am guessing no, he wouldn’t since it is the only really strong drawing bout that he has for the show thus far with very little time left to build interest.

Now?  He has one week to try and get people to reach into their pockets to pay and watch his PPV following not one but two WWE PLE events from the reenergized WWE/NXT on the much cheaper Peacock platform.

Will it kill AEW?  No, it won’t.  Will it maybe cost them some buys from people who were on the fence as to whether to buy a show that doesn’t have a great build to it when they can now watch two shows from a company that has been doing good TV?  Yes, I think it will.

HHH once said about the “war” between WWE and AEW that “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”.  It sure seems that way now.  And if I am noticing, I am betting Tony Kahn is as well.

David Baldini and I will discuss this and more when The Business Of Wrestling returns later today, and boy do we have a lot to talk about.

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