AEW is Going To Start Another Monday Night War
In the mid-90s times were tough for WWE. Vince McMahon had just gone through the steroid trial that almost put him away in jail for many years. While Mr. McMahon was busy clearing his good name, he took his eye off the ball and let many things slip through his grasp. Huge WWE names, such as Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Mean Gene Okerlund, Razor Ramon, Kevin Nash, Bobby The Brain Heenan, and many others left him in the dust and signed with rival promotion WCW. In the 1980s, everybody knew most of the top competition was in the WWE. WCW had some huge stars, but the vast majority of big names resided within the confines of WWE. That's why WWE crushed WCW during the 80s. It's like choosing between watching the NBA and European League Basketball. Any basketball player worth anything plays in the NBA. Likewise, any wrestler in the 80s who was worth anything (with the exception of Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes) fought in WWE. The European League Basketball championship is a cute little prize, but the epitome of basketball greatness is winning the NBA title. Coming out victorious at the NWA's biggest yearly event, Starcade, was a nice little accomplishment, but it was miniscule in comparison to just being on the card at WWE's WrestleMania! To put it bluntly, WWE was synonymous with wrestling in the 80s. The WWE universe is all that mattered during that time. Things looked even more bleak for WCW in the very early 90s when their biggest star Ric Flair (the only man who was comparable to Hulk Hogan in star power) went to WWE. The NWA was left with a bunch of poo! The NWA knew they had to rebrand themselves and they spent the next little while putting together plans to rise from the ashes. Meanwhile, WWE was seemingly untouchable. Ratings were high. Merchandise sales were strong every year. And WrestleMania was always a huge success. But things were not all perfect in paradise. Vince McMahon failed to book the dream match of Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair at WrestleMania 8. Instead Ric Flair fought Macho Man Randy Savage. This angered Flair because he wanted Hogan. He didn't properly prepare for Randy Savage and he ended up losing his World Title at WrestleMania 8. This created animosity from Flair towards McMahon. It seemed, in Flair's mind, that McMahon was perhaps not the great promoter that he was made out to be. Flair felt that Mr. McMahon didn't really appreciate his greatness and just took him for granted. Less than a year after Mania 8, Flair purposely lost a "loser leaves town" match to Mr. Perfect so he could return to WCW. It was a shock to WWE, but they still had the infrastructure in place to get over it. WWE was still the place where most of the best superstars of the time called their home. However, the steroid scandal soon hit WWE. Vince McMahon was accused of encouraging his superstars to take steroids. These were slanderous accusations, but Vince had to fight a very tough legal battle. At one point, even Vince wasn't convinced that he would be able to clear his name and he started to make contingency plans for WWE in his possible absence. With Vince focused on his legal battles, he neglected the demands of his superstars.
As all of this was going on, WCW was rebuilding itself. WCW was bought out by billionaire Ted Turner and he put Eric Bischoff in control of it. Eric Bischoff immediately showed he meant business when he was able to sign away Hulk Hogan away from WWE. Vince McMahon was too distracted with his legal battles to notice that Hogan's contract was expiring. Hogan was still the biggest star in the business and he demanded a hefty price. McMahon couldn't match WCW's money offer, and he couldn't spend time trying to woo Hogan to stay for less money, so he let him slip away to WCW. Hogan signing with WCW was a gamechanger. When wrestlers saw how much Eric Bischoff was willing to throw at them they decided to abandon the place where they became famous. Eric Bischoff was offering ridiculous amounts of money to WWE wresters just so he could pry them away from Vince. Normally, Vince would've been able to ward off Bischoff's pillaging. Even though Vince couldn't match the money that was being dished out by WCW, he still knew how to convince his top stars to stay. Vince could still smoothly talk his biggest talent into staying. Unfortunately, Vince was had to spend almost all of his energy on proving his innocence on the steroid accusations so he didn't have to rot away in jail for the rest of his life. Vince had to neglect his wrestlers. This allowed Bischoff and Ted Turner to swoop in and take away all of WWE's top talent.
WCW soon had so much talent that they were able to start running a weekly wrestling show, Monday Nitro, that could directly compete with WWE Monday Night Raw. At first things appeared to be a stalemate. Even though WCW at this time had the superior roster, WWE still had some good talent and the competition was interesting. But then WCW introduced the cruiser weight division and they brought in the best highflyers from around the world to compete. WWE didn't have anything like the fast-paced spectacular action of the WCW cruiserweights. WCW was proving that they were a company of innovators, while WWE remained stagnant. And then just as WWE was reeling, Eric Bischoff was able to steal away Kevin Nash and Razor Ramon in June 1996. This was devastating to WWE. Kevin Nash was the best talent in WWE, and Razor Ramon was the most interesting personality. Without these two men, the WWE roster was extremely thin. Now the two best talent that WWE had were mediocre wrestlers Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. In the 1980s WWE had such good competition that men like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels would've never been able to compete for the WWE World Title. But now with a watered-down roster these two men would rack up multiple world title championships. Winning a WWE World Title was no longer prestigious. The WWE was starting to look like a joke. The undercard was even weaker: freaks like Doink The Clown, The Repo Man and the Gobbledy Gooker were wrestling each other in embarrassingly bad matches. People quickly turned to WCW for the best wrestling competition in the world. For 84 weeks in a row WCW beat WWE.
Eventually WWE was able to recover. Even though I hate the Attitude Era - especially Stone Cold Steve Austin - I will admit that he helped save WWE. Stone Cold was a phenomenal wrestler who WCW disregarded (probably because they saw him as a thug criminal). Vince took a chance on him, and even though Stone Cold gave him a headache every single day, he put life into WWE. Stone Cold was the most talented wrestler in the world at that time. His fights were raw and gritty, which many people absolutely loved! But he alone was not enough to rise WWE from the brink of defeat. Another unforeseen factor came into play: the rise and star power of the Rock! When the Rock debuted at Survivor Series 1996, many people thought he would be a very good wrestler and possibly even a world champion, but nobody realized how good he would actually be. The Rock was so talented that it didn't take him long to win the intercontinental title. His talent was so good that he soon became an errogant cocky bully. He cut scathing diss promos on other WWE wrestlers that were actually very funny. With the Rock's wrestling talent, charisma, hilarious jokes, and movie star good looks, many people fell in love with him. He won his first world title after just two years of becoming a pro wrestler. Soon great matches were once again being shown on WWE television. The tides were starting to turn. WWE then took advantage of some of WCWs mistakes and they were able to sign a bunch of disgruntled WCW wrestlers. WWE was even able to sign some good talent away from ECW. WCW was stuck with aging has-beens. WWE now had great young athletic talent that were giving awesome competitive matches. WWE won the Monday Night War, but Vince knew how close he came to losing. He knew that if had indeed lost, then everything he had worked for his entire career would go right down the toilet. WCW nearly put WWE out of business. Vince vowed to never go through something like that again. For the past 18 years, WWE hasn't had to deal with any serious threats. Vince meticulously watches over his product 24/7 and the talent on the WWE roster. He makes sure to keep his top talent content and only let's go of wrestlers if they don't have the talent to be in WWE, or if they're ungrateful chumps like CM Punk. However, in the past year, I think Vince McMahon might have gone senile. Top talent is leaving WWE left and right. More and more unrest is brewing in WWE. Many top stars are going to a new promotion called All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Even the greatest wrestling announcer of all time Jim Ross has signed with AEW. This is eerily similar to how Bobby the Brain Heenan signed with WCW. The WWE treated Bobby the Brain Heenan like trailer park trash and fired him on live television in late 1993. He ended up quickly going to WCW. WWE never really appreciated how good Jim Ross was. They mocked him constantly and he was even forced to join the Vince McMahon kiss my ass club. WWE fired Jim Ross in 2013. Jim Ross now has seemed to bounce back with AEW. The WWE for the moment still has the superior roster, but it's thinning everyday. AEW may be a new upstart, but WWE can't take this new threat lightly. With the talent they have been able to assemble in a short amount of time, combined with the fact that the company is owned by billionaire Shahid Khan who can offer more money than Vince can to top talent from all across the world, AEW is becoming a huge force. Vince can't let the situation get out of hand. He needs to get his head out of his ass and make sure to keep his top talent satisfied - and he needs to start signing some of the best talent from around the world before AEW snatches them up. But most of all, Vince needs to keep John Cena happy! I have heard rumors that John Cena is not happy with WWE not giving him many matches anymore. John Cena doesn't want to just be a part time wrestler. He still has plenty left in the tank to take on a full schedule. John Cena might be starting to feel like WWE is trying to put him out to pasture. John Cena may be past his prime but he is still an elite level wrestler. An elite level wrester wants elite competition. If WWE becomes too lackadaisical, then all the elite competition will go to AEW. And then John Cena will have to say sayonara to WWE and say hello to AEW. If John Cena goes to AEW, I'm going to have to start watching them... and even supporting them! I still believe Vince has what it takes to settle things down, but he needs to get to work right away to stifle the advances of AEW!
If Vince doesn't get things back in order, the main event of WrestleMania 36 is going to be Eugene vs Doink the Clown!
As all of this was going on, WCW was rebuilding itself. WCW was bought out by billionaire Ted Turner and he put Eric Bischoff in control of it. Eric Bischoff immediately showed he meant business when he was able to sign away Hulk Hogan away from WWE. Vince McMahon was too distracted with his legal battles to notice that Hogan's contract was expiring. Hogan was still the biggest star in the business and he demanded a hefty price. McMahon couldn't match WCW's money offer, and he couldn't spend time trying to woo Hogan to stay for less money, so he let him slip away to WCW. Hogan signing with WCW was a gamechanger. When wrestlers saw how much Eric Bischoff was willing to throw at them they decided to abandon the place where they became famous. Eric Bischoff was offering ridiculous amounts of money to WWE wresters just so he could pry them away from Vince. Normally, Vince would've been able to ward off Bischoff's pillaging. Even though Vince couldn't match the money that was being dished out by WCW, he still knew how to convince his top stars to stay. Vince could still smoothly talk his biggest talent into staying. Unfortunately, Vince was had to spend almost all of his energy on proving his innocence on the steroid accusations so he didn't have to rot away in jail for the rest of his life. Vince had to neglect his wrestlers. This allowed Bischoff and Ted Turner to swoop in and take away all of WWE's top talent.
WCW soon had so much talent that they were able to start running a weekly wrestling show, Monday Nitro, that could directly compete with WWE Monday Night Raw. At first things appeared to be a stalemate. Even though WCW at this time had the superior roster, WWE still had some good talent and the competition was interesting. But then WCW introduced the cruiser weight division and they brought in the best highflyers from around the world to compete. WWE didn't have anything like the fast-paced spectacular action of the WCW cruiserweights. WCW was proving that they were a company of innovators, while WWE remained stagnant. And then just as WWE was reeling, Eric Bischoff was able to steal away Kevin Nash and Razor Ramon in June 1996. This was devastating to WWE. Kevin Nash was the best talent in WWE, and Razor Ramon was the most interesting personality. Without these two men, the WWE roster was extremely thin. Now the two best talent that WWE had were mediocre wrestlers Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. In the 1980s WWE had such good competition that men like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels would've never been able to compete for the WWE World Title. But now with a watered-down roster these two men would rack up multiple world title championships. Winning a WWE World Title was no longer prestigious. The WWE was starting to look like a joke. The undercard was even weaker: freaks like Doink The Clown, The Repo Man and the Gobbledy Gooker were wrestling each other in embarrassingly bad matches. People quickly turned to WCW for the best wrestling competition in the world. For 84 weeks in a row WCW beat WWE.
Eventually WWE was able to recover. Even though I hate the Attitude Era - especially Stone Cold Steve Austin - I will admit that he helped save WWE. Stone Cold was a phenomenal wrestler who WCW disregarded (probably because they saw him as a thug criminal). Vince took a chance on him, and even though Stone Cold gave him a headache every single day, he put life into WWE. Stone Cold was the most talented wrestler in the world at that time. His fights were raw and gritty, which many people absolutely loved! But he alone was not enough to rise WWE from the brink of defeat. Another unforeseen factor came into play: the rise and star power of the Rock! When the Rock debuted at Survivor Series 1996, many people thought he would be a very good wrestler and possibly even a world champion, but nobody realized how good he would actually be. The Rock was so talented that it didn't take him long to win the intercontinental title. His talent was so good that he soon became an errogant cocky bully. He cut scathing diss promos on other WWE wrestlers that were actually very funny. With the Rock's wrestling talent, charisma, hilarious jokes, and movie star good looks, many people fell in love with him. He won his first world title after just two years of becoming a pro wrestler. Soon great matches were once again being shown on WWE television. The tides were starting to turn. WWE then took advantage of some of WCWs mistakes and they were able to sign a bunch of disgruntled WCW wrestlers. WWE was even able to sign some good talent away from ECW. WCW was stuck with aging has-beens. WWE now had great young athletic talent that were giving awesome competitive matches. WWE won the Monday Night War, but Vince knew how close he came to losing. He knew that if had indeed lost, then everything he had worked for his entire career would go right down the toilet. WCW nearly put WWE out of business. Vince vowed to never go through something like that again. For the past 18 years, WWE hasn't had to deal with any serious threats. Vince meticulously watches over his product 24/7 and the talent on the WWE roster. He makes sure to keep his top talent content and only let's go of wrestlers if they don't have the talent to be in WWE, or if they're ungrateful chumps like CM Punk. However, in the past year, I think Vince McMahon might have gone senile. Top talent is leaving WWE left and right. More and more unrest is brewing in WWE. Many top stars are going to a new promotion called All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Even the greatest wrestling announcer of all time Jim Ross has signed with AEW. This is eerily similar to how Bobby the Brain Heenan signed with WCW. The WWE treated Bobby the Brain Heenan like trailer park trash and fired him on live television in late 1993. He ended up quickly going to WCW. WWE never really appreciated how good Jim Ross was. They mocked him constantly and he was even forced to join the Vince McMahon kiss my ass club. WWE fired Jim Ross in 2013. Jim Ross now has seemed to bounce back with AEW. The WWE for the moment still has the superior roster, but it's thinning everyday. AEW may be a new upstart, but WWE can't take this new threat lightly. With the talent they have been able to assemble in a short amount of time, combined with the fact that the company is owned by billionaire Shahid Khan who can offer more money than Vince can to top talent from all across the world, AEW is becoming a huge force. Vince can't let the situation get out of hand. He needs to get his head out of his ass and make sure to keep his top talent satisfied - and he needs to start signing some of the best talent from around the world before AEW snatches them up. But most of all, Vince needs to keep John Cena happy! I have heard rumors that John Cena is not happy with WWE not giving him many matches anymore. John Cena doesn't want to just be a part time wrestler. He still has plenty left in the tank to take on a full schedule. John Cena might be starting to feel like WWE is trying to put him out to pasture. John Cena may be past his prime but he is still an elite level wrestler. An elite level wrester wants elite competition. If WWE becomes too lackadaisical, then all the elite competition will go to AEW. And then John Cena will have to say sayonara to WWE and say hello to AEW. If John Cena goes to AEW, I'm going to have to start watching them... and even supporting them! I still believe Vince has what it takes to settle things down, but he needs to get to work right away to stifle the advances of AEW!
If Vince doesn't get things back in order, the main event of WrestleMania 36 is going to be Eugene vs Doink the Clown!
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