I have been watching professional wrestling for as long as I can remember, and I honestly don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be a fan of the sport. So far in 2024, WWE has put WrestleMania 40, a two-night wrestling extravaganza that ushered in a new era, and AEW has produced arguably its best pay-per-view yet with Dynasty. Both of those events took place in a span of two weeks. That’s just straight-up crazy.
These two vastly different yet equally entertaining events not only showed off the company’s respective strengths, but also helped make a case for wrestling promotions being able to succeed in today’s ever-changing climate despite competition. And that success, as shown in the past few weeks, can be found by taking completely different approaches to how they book major events and their overall direction moving forward.
WrestleMania 40 Showed That WWE Is At Its Best When Going For The Larger-Than-Life Spectacle
There’s so much about WrestleMania that separates it from everything else WWE and promotions like AEW and NJPW do each year with their All In and WrestleKingdom events, respectively. The massive scope and scale, two days of wrestling matches sometimes a year or more in the making, and a polish that is simply unmatched all work together to create a larger-than-life sensation. WrestleMania 40, with its shockingly great card and that ridiculous Night Two main event, was proof of that.
See, WWE is at its best when it’s a spectacle. Nothing quite sets the tone for an event better than a football stadium packed with 70,000-plus wrestling fans from around the world watching the likes of Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, and The Rock walking down a ramp from a state-of-the-art stage. The rest of the year is great and all, but this is WRESTLEMANIA we’re talking about.
Dynasty's Intimate Atmosphere Highlighted AEW's Strengths As Well As Those Of Its Wrestlers And Fans
On the flip side, AEW just put on one of the best shows in the promotion’s history with Dynasty in April, an event that wasn’t held at St. Louis’ UFL stadium, its MLB stadium, or even its NHL arena (where most local WWE events are held). Instead one of the greatest nights in professional wrestling history took place in front of 7,000 raving fans in an NCAA basketball arena that doesn’t have a whole lot of space.
I was one of the 7,000 fans packed into Chaifetz Arena, and honestly, it felt like it was the best possible venue and setting for the magic created by stars like Bryan Danielson, Will Ospreay, the Young Bucks, and newly crowned AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland. The intimacy of it all created an atmosphere that I’ve never experienced before, and instead of trying to compete with WWE and have big shows at sprawling stadiums, they would be better off trying to recreate this feeling in smaller, more crowded (and rabid) settings.
With Its Stacked Roster, AEW Could Recapture The 'Dream Match' Feeling Of Bryan Danielson And Will Ospreay's Instant-Classic
One of the big draws for AEW, at least in my eyes, is the way the company has been able to bring in big international stars and put together matches fans never thought they’d see outside of a video game or something. Through the co-promoted Forbidden Door shows with NJPW or the various agreements with other international promotions, AEW has built a reputation as a company known for booking incredible dream matches, like Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay's instant-classic at Dynasty.
I’m not saying angles aren’t important in AEW, as the whole CM Punk “Brawl In” footage situation leading to Jack Perry showing up and costing FTR the tag team championship was great, but letting the story play out in the ring with matchups like Kazuchika Okada vs. MJF (when he returns), Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland, and the Young Bucks vs. Adam Copeland and Christian Cage (This has to happen, right?), would be huge and work to the company’s advantage.
Cody Rhodes Finishing His Story Was Damn Near Perfect And Highlighted WWE's Knack For Long-Term Storytelling
Though I don’t know what the future holds for Cody Rhodes or who’ll eventually take the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship off him, I do know that the execution of his story leading up to and at WrestleMania 40 was damn near perfect and highlighted WWE’s long-term storytelling. Before someone jumps down my throat and brings up the whole situation of Rhodes giving his opportunity to The Rock earlier on the Road to WrestleMania, the fan response and subsequent pivot by WWE made the program all the better.
We’ve seen WWE turn chicken shit into chicken salad in the past (even if they messed up the original plans) when it came to the Daniel Bryan-anchored WrestleMania 30. That epic show ended with the underdog becoming the champ after first defeating Triple H in the opening match and later the main event triple threat with Randy Orton and Batista. While that story started at the previous year’s SummerSlam, Rhodes’ angle was building for the better part of the past two years.
Both Companies Should Keep On Highlighting Their Respective Strengths And Offer Fans Two Different Approaches To A Wrestling Show
What made the rivalry between WCW and WWF so much fun (at least in the early days) was the fact that the two companies offered their respective audiences different experiences that highlighted different styles and philosophies of professional wrestling. We’re seeing this in the current landscape with AEW and WWE, especially after WrestleMania 40 and Dynasty. Both were technically wrestling events, but the comparisons end there.
If I want a more polished wrestling experience, I’ll turn to WWE with its state-of-the-art production and “spare no expense” approach. And if I want to see Bryan Danielson and the legendary Yuji Nagata kick each other’s heads in, I’ll watch AEW. That’s what great about wrestling. There’s always an alternative, at least for the time being.
However, This Doesn't Mean WWE And AEW Shouldn't Learn From Each Other's Successes (And Failures)
That said, this doesn’t mean that AEW can’t learn a thing from WWE, or the other way around. They should be watching the shows week in and week out to see what works, what doesn’t work, and how they can continue to improve. When WCW was acquired by WWF in 2001 and pretty much all competition went away, wrestling on a mainstream level got rather stale. Sure, there were the ROHs, PWGs, and Chikaras of the world on the indie scene, and NJPW later had a resurgence that helped usher in the modern era, but WWE didn’t have anywhere to learn from, at least on that scale.
Wrestling is about anticipating your opponent’s next move and figuring out a way to use that to your advantage. I’m not saying AEW and WWE need to have a heated battle (the tribalism among fans is bad enough), but learning from the success and failure of your competitor is big.
As I said earlier, we’re currently in the middle of a boom period for professional wrestling, and as fans, we should be excited for what’s to come. With so many great upcoming WWE events and a whole calendar of AEW PPVs on the horizon, it looks like things are just picking up.
