Vince McMahon see AEW as competition for WWE – Chris Jericho explains

Former WWE World Champion -- Chris Jericho has revealed that the Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) – Vincent Kennedy McMahon does see All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a completion for his company.

The erstwhile WWE nine-time Intercontinental champion did not mince his words when talking about the supposed ‘war’ between AEW and WWE.

Originally, NXT and AEW were both on Wednesday nights and the latter dominated that battle in total viewership and the coveted 18-49 demographic.

AEW won probably over 80 per cent of those head-to-head battles before NXT decided to move its show to Tuesday nights.

The WWE chairman was recently asked if he saw AEW as competition at this stage and he bullishly said:

“Well, it certainly is not a situation where ‘rising tides’ because that was when WCW owner -- Ted Turner was coming after us with all of Time Warner’s assets as well.

“That was a different situation. AEW is where they are. I don’t really know what their plans are, all I know is what our plans are.

“I don’t consider them competition in the way that I would consider WCW back in the day, not anywhere near close to that.”

Chris Jericho, who performed for both WCW and WWE back in the Monday Night Wars McMahon refers to, believes the WWE chairman might be telling a little lie with his analysis.

Jericho is a WWE legend, but he was the first man to sign for AEW and help the company grow. He believes AEW aren’t far off getting the TV deals WWE have.

“We don’t see WWE as competition.

“The whole time with the NXT versus AEW war, which ended in a total abysmal failure for NXT. WWE is not competition for us.

“We’re competing for ourselves. So for Vince to say that – to me, it’s probably reverse psychology and that he does see us as competition.

“The WWE is the WWE and they have billions of dollars locked in TV deals and we are working towards that. Now when our demo ends up beating theirs and TV deals start coming in for us at the billions, then I truly think there will be a lot of competition.” ,” Jericho told Inside The Ropes 

Jericho would be correct in that assumption. When AEW start to dominate the marketplace that WWE operates in and influence their primary sources of income, it’s a different ball game.

Many fans believe the tide is starting to turn on WWE and AEW are in the ascension. While they’re not the global powerhouse WWE are with decades of growth around the world, they do have a product that feels energized and alive.

If AEW do indeed secure CM Punk and Daniel Bryan as they are widely expected to, those TV deals Jericho is talking about might be a reality sooner rather than later.