The biggest story this week has, of course, been WWE's decision to start airing NXT on the USA Network on Wednesday nights. That puts the developmental brand head to head with All Elite Wrestling's weekly show on TNT and there's been a lot of accusations about counterprogramming thrown around.
Now, AEW commentator and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has shared his thoughts on the matter and believes that Vince McMahon was never going to let
"AEW grow independently and freely" because
"he feels threatened for some crazy reason." However, he's still optimistic about how things are going to play out moving forward:
"Competition is good. It’s gonna be like a football scrimmage. We’ll be very happy to compete. We knew it was gonna be a competition all along. We all knew it wasn’t gonna be an easy road. But at no time in my interview process, or my short experience since March with Tony Khan and AEW, have I heard one person every say that 'Oh, we’re gonna get the WWE on this one.' It’s never been brought up! It’s brought up online. It’s brought up in the wrestling media. And I just see that when Vince moved NXT off his own network that’s streaming.
"I’ve been a loyal subscriber to the WWE Network since the day it started … but man, I tell you, Conrad, it tells us all we need to know… is WWE aware and cautious about the development of AEW? Well, the answer is obviously yes! Should they be? I don’t really know if they should be or not. Because no one is going to supplant WWE as the #1 sports entertainment company in the world. That’s just the way it is."
The fact is, as things stand, AEW stands no chance of taking AEW down. However, there's definitely going to be a new wrestling war on Wednesday nights moving forward and if AEW gains momentum, they could compete with RAW or SmackDown Live somewhere down the line.
For now, it seems everyone at AEW is more interested in creating a great show for fans and that's hopefully WWE's plan with NXT as well!