While WWE and AEW have both tried to downplay claims that there is a war between them, there has been evidence to suggest that they want to undermine each other. Superstars and personnel from both companies have repeatedly fired shots at the competition , and now a report has emerged which states that people within WWE have been spreading lies about AEW’s ticket sales.
Citing Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter , WrestlingNews.co reports that some members of WWE’s staff have claimed that AEW co-founder Tony Khan bought the tickets for the company’s sell-out shows in an effort to make the company appear successful.
According to Meltzer, he found out about the rumor when he was being interviewed for an upcoming documentary, where the director revealed that some WWE employees told the filmmaker about Khan’s alleged actions.
The accusations have proven to be false, as AEW’s pay-per-views and shows have consistently packed arenas. The WrestlingNews.co report highlights how AEW’s ticket sales have been above average in most cities, so it’s evident that the company has been legitimately successful since being founded in 2019.
However, the report doesn’t state which WWE employees propagated the rumors. The author of the article speculates that the false information was given to some talent in order to make it spread. Perhaps this was the company’s way of trying to discourage its talent from planning to jump ship when their contracts expire.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, several WWE superstars have requested their releases in recent months, including Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder of The Revival. Now that there’s another mainstream company on the scene, wrestlers have an alternative viable option to ply their trade.
My friends and I at the pregame pic.twitter.com/GHxRh8160b
— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) January 11, 2020
The belief is that some WWE performers are unhappy at the way they’re being used by the company, and want to join AEW for a lighter schedule and a better creative direction.
As documented by WrestlingNews.co , Dynamite has been consistently beating NXT in the Wednesday night ratings war, so there’s a case to be made that the company is more successful than WWE’s black and gold brand at this point.
However, Dynamite ‘s ratings have failed to eclipse those of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown , but it’s worth bearing in mind that AEW is fairly new to television.
Of course, it’s highly likely that both companies will spread rumors and take shots at each other in an effort to attract more fans. They’re competing against each other at the end of the day, and sometimes that involves delivering a few blows.