Recently, Canadian-based publication the Toronto Star wrote an article about All Elite Wrestling. It spoke about AEW’s rise from being a dream of Tony Khan to being the number two promotion in North American and the best weekly wrestling TV show on the planet.
However, the article also featured criticism from a source inside the WWE. The WWE, firing shots against AEW after they defeated NXT in the “Wednesday Night Wars”, criticised AEW about it’s use of blood in a recent match. In a sexist tirade, WWE laid waste to AEW’s use of blood in the recent women’s tag team match between TayJay (Tay Conti and Anna Jay) and Penelope Ford & The Bunny.
Check out how WWE ruined the women’s division in 2022
Despite AEW having had plenty of matches featuring this level of weaponry and blood, WWE has failed to mention their opposition to it when it was men inside the ring. This shows a clear bias by WWE, showing that they do not think that women should be able to perform in the same match types. WWE has a history of degrading their women and reducing them mere sex object, or bathroom breaks.
WWE have come under fire recently during their own Queen’s Crown Tournament. They held an 8 women tournament in the build up to their blood money funded Saudi Arabia show. However, the average match type for the tournament was around 2 minutes, with the entire tournament lasting under 20 minutes. That is less than a huge amount of women’s matches in AEW, which have been allowed to main event TV with little fanfare about how “progressive” they are about letting women wrestle.
The article from the Toronto star quoted WWE as saying,
“If you look at the gory self-mutilation that bloodied several women in the December 31 event on TNT, it quickly becomes clear that these are very different businesses. We had an edgier product in the ‘Attitude’ era and in a 2022 world, we don’t believe that type of dangerous and brutal display is appealing to network partners, sponsors, venues, children, or the general public as a whole.”
WWE as “Dangerous and Brutal”
WWE have showcased themselves not only as sexist, but as as hypocritical. In their criticism of AEW, they claimed hat they don’t believe in the value of “Dangerous and brutal displays”. This seems to be at odds with their product, which has featured just as bad if not worst displays of violence as the women’s tag team match.
Just a few years ago, Kevin Owens headbutted the 76 year old Chairman of WWE Vince McMahon on the head until he bled. If doing that to an OAP isn’t dangerous then I don’t know what is.
In addition, WWE ran a program with former UFC Champion Brock Lesnar and WWE star Randy Orton, with a match taking place at that years Summerslam. With WWE banning the use of razorblades to put a slight cut in the foreheads of the performers to cause bleeding, they resorted to the 280 lb Lesnar repeatedly elbowing Orton in the forehead, causing him to bleed. This also caused a concussion for the former WWE Champion, and had to be sent for hospital after the match.
And that’s not even mentioning the “Eye for an eye” match between Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins, where Mysterio had his eyes gouged out in 2020 after losing a match.
If WWE want to tear down AEW, they should at least notice their own faults and prejudices and try to improve themselves. It’s a better look than taking down your competition that dare to do what you do, but better.
