WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon was recently a guest on The Bill Simmons Podcast to discuss this weekend's two-night WrestleMania and, surprisingly, the subject of All Elite Wrestling came up. McMahon was asked if she believes it's good for the company to have competition, and as you might expect, she chose her words carefully.
I think having to a competitor, it always makes you - it’s not that we never had a competitor. We just look at everything as competitive," McMahon said. "Anything that’s competing for eyeballs and attention is a competitor. We’re all competing against each other, but in terms of a direct wrestling competitor, I think hopefully, it’s going to make you a better company. It’s going to make you re-examine everything that you do and do it to the best of your capability."
Whether WWE has learned anything from AEW is up for debate, but as Dynamite has mostly competed with NXT, it's unlikely those in charge of RAW and SmackDown are giving the company too much thought. Regardless, Simmons pointed out that Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose) has gone on to become an even bigger star, and asked Stephanie whether letting his go was a mistake.
"In his particular case, he was leaving anyway, and I do believe that was a mutual decision. Though, I wasn’t a part of those conversations," she noted. "His case is a little bit different, but I remember back when it was WCW and the Monday Night Wars and our talent were getting stripped away and showing up on their show. I think it taught us a lot about business. Handshake deals don’t necessarily matter at the end of the day. You need to have contracts. You need to do business differently."
That mention of a "handshake deal" is interesting, and could be a shot at AEW allowing its talent to work for other promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling and IMPACT Wrestling.
Of course, that's been beneficial to AEW in terms of the depth of its roster, and it's hard not to wonder whether WWE could allow its Superstars to work for other promotions in order to increase their profile. If that brings international talent to the company, then that would obviously be a bonus.