Professional wrestling finds itself in an interesting place in 2025. In the Autumn, the rivalry between AEW and WWE has intensified, with the latter reportedly seeking to implement counterprogramming measures. It’s been a wild, wild year, and we’re just inches into the second quarter.
From television deals to booking premium live events on the same day as AEW’s pay-per-views, it’s clear that WWE wants to apply pressure. From a business perspective, this approach has its advantages and disadvantages. And it’s not the only time WWE has aggressively approached their competition with AEW.
History of WWE’s Counter-programming of AEW
WWE’s initial response to AEW in 2019 was mild, but it steadily grew. They began freezing contracts, signing as many independent and international talent as they could feasibly find, and running gimmicked NXT episodes on the same nights as AEW specials through the COVID lockdown.
Most of these NXT episodes revived old WCW and WWF pay-per-view names, hoping that name value would drive some eyes. Eventually, NXT’s repetitive losses in the ratings to AEW saw WWE tap out.
NXT soon changed air dates to Tuesday nights, leaving Wednesday as AEW’s dominion. This continued well into WWE’s regime change, with the company streaming NXT PLEs parallel to AEW’s PPVs.
Brush AEW off as they might, WWE never kept its eye off of them. Factor in bidding wars for free agents and accusations of contract tampering, as well. WWE has, in some regards, seen AEW as steadily growing competition.
Regardless of how coyly they’d play it, they knew it would be a threat to this monopoly of theirs. For further information on this, Allan_Cheapshot provided a more detailed rundown on this timeline in his Substack.
As of this writing, this counter-programming method continues. WWE is currently planning an as-of-yet unnamed PLE on September 20, 2025, the same night AEW airs All Out from Toronto. According to an X post by Andrew Baydala, WWE’s also potentially running John Cena’s final match on either December 13 (my birthday!) or December 27. Coincidentally, the latter date falls on the same night as AEW’s World’s End PPV.
It is crucial to point out that the NFL Saturday Night Primetime game is a factor, which Baydala more eloquently illustrates in his post.
TNA and Other WWE Partnerships
Before Paul Levesque and Nick Khan took the helm from Vince McMahon, it wasn’t uncommon to see WWE mingling with independent promotions, or even TNA. Whether it’s Christian Cage returning to TNA for one night in 2012 or Triple H making a surprise appearance at Scotland’s Insane Championship Wrestling promotion in 2017, the precedent was always there.
Now, under different hands, WWE’s more flexible. Superstars are allowed to visit old stomping grounds, such as Finn Balor and JD McDonagh returning to the Irish promotion OTT, or Ludwig Kaiser in Germany’s wXw. In other instances, superstars are allowed to compete with wrestlers in NWA, GCW Bloodsport, Pro Wrestling NOAH, TNA Wrestling, and the newly acquired AAA.
Some of these come after the revelations of AEW’s various partnerships. The most glaring example is WWE’s acquisition of AAA the weekend of WrestleMania 41, shortly after Tony Khan announced AEW would run a Grand Slam special Dynamite episode in Arena Mexico with CMLL luchadores.
My Take
Bluntly speaking, this is business. This has been WWE’s modus operandi for decades. Vince McMahon booked as much in the 1980s, establishing Survivor Series and Royal Rumble to challenge NWA’s Starrcade and Jim Crockett Promotions’ Bunkhouse Stampede, respectively.
This is nothing new. Cut off one head of the hydra, and more will take its place. Just because Vince McMahon isn’t around to enforce his tactics doesn’t mean others won’t copy his playbook.
WWE seemed content with its recent successes, post-Vince, from 2023 to 2024. A lot of content from these two years was excellent. Title chases were compelling. Tag team wars were nuts. The women’s division grew. Stars got over organically. Paul Levesque struck gold with the output from a compelling creative team and hungry talent. Not only that, but he lucked into AEW having an awkward PR period and the Bloodline’s star power.
Yet, AEW’s put that behind them. Having long-term storylines pay off, healthy relationships with CMLL, NJPW, MLW, and Stardom, and new crops of stars rising, Tony Khan’s promotion is on fire. They’ve learned from their mistakes. Moreover, AEW has put full faith in its talent, production, and fanbase.
The same can’t be said for WWE, based on their new strategy. Positioning TNA on a better television channel, based on the rumors, would be a positive PR move. Yet, moving it to a Wednesday night slot to counter AEW Dynamite betrays that, as though they don’t trust this partnership.
Furthermore, the talks of booking PLEs on the same night as AEW PPVs show they have the same trust in their product. As I write this, WWE has gone weeks with main event matches ending in deflating disqualifications. Instead of relying on their wrestlers, creative team, and fanbase, they cling to carny business methods to maintain their monopolistic hold.
How This Affects the Industry
Regardless of how I feel, there’s a bigger thing to note here.
WWE will be fine. Despite their recent controversies regarding the Janel Grant case and the Brock Lesnar situation, they’ll scrape by. While ticket sales are astronomically high, attendance continues to match that. They still sell out arenas and stadiums. Eventually, they’ll pivot from the right-wing grifting of Donald Trump and Tony Hinchcliffe as soon as the political winds shift, like many multi-billion-dollar corporations do. This, to them, is another Tuesday.
AEW, however, will also be fine. Tony Khan has veterans of wrestling on his team to serve as history books on what not to do. He has the confident backing of Warner Bros Discovery, most importantly, the ruthless David Zaslav backing them. Tony and Shahd Khan are billionaires who could sustain the company for years, decades even, and barely see a dent in their budgets.
With wrestlers starring in films, celebrities involved in the product, and the evergreen promise of an alternative to sports entertainment, AEW will be fine.
What this means for the industry, however, shows that WWE will enact any means necessary to stifle AEW. Whichever method they can use to kneecap AEW, they’ll try. Spreading their content across the table, they want to distract from AEW.
The weekend of All In 2025 featured a SmackDown, an NXT PLE, a Saturday Night’s Main Event special starring Goldberg, and a resurrected Evolution event. AEW’s an active threat as they thrive once more, and WWE’s mask is fully off. Throwing its main roster at AEW?
It’s on. The tribalism, PR wars, media strategies, and more will continue. It’s only a matter of time until WWE addresses AEW in full on their programs. It’s going to get nasty before anything settles.
And this forbidden door will stay locked until cooler egos prevail.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
