10 Times AEW & WWE Went To War In 2021

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Who do you think 'won' 2021 out of AEW & WWE? Let me know in the comments. 10: 1:00 9:   2:02 8:   2:59 7:   3:55 6:   4:48 5:   5:42 4:   6:42 3:   7:43 2:   8:51 1:   9:53 10 Times AEW & WWE Went To War In 2021 #AEW #WWE #2021  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/

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00:00 Four score and three years ago, the latest great wrestling war began on American soil.

00:06 Two companies pit their finest soldiers against the other on Wednesday nights to determine

00:10 which promotion would earn the bigger share of the wrestling viewing audience. However,

00:14 in the years that have passed since the launch of All Elite Wrestling, the war with WWE has

00:19 evolved. Now the two promotions don't spend nearly as much time counter-programming each

00:22 other as they did in the early days of the Wednesday Night War, but the war itself is

00:26 still very much alive. With AEW continuing to gain traction and WWE continuing to sabotage

00:32 their own public perception within the wrestling community, there have still been a number

00:35 of moments where the two companies have been at odds with each other. Ten of them, in fact.

00:39 Just enough for a list. Huh, how convenient is that?

00:42 I'm Pete, hailing from PartsFunknown, and these are 10 Times WWE and AEW Went to War

00:47 in 2021.

01:04 What happened to Cody Rhodes? At the start of AEW Dynamite, he was the most beloved babyface

01:09 in the company. Now, well, he's the furthest thing from it. Was it his divisive "Rah

01:14 America" promo that did it in? Or perhaps has his status as the former WWE guy with

01:18 a chip on his shoulder been taken over by so many talents over the past two years that

01:22 it no longer makes him feel special? You be the judge.

01:25 As for Cody, however, he still loves to point out his history with the Fed, making a pretty

01:29 on-the-nose reference to Triple H on the December 1st episode of Dynamite. Cody looked under

01:34 the ring for some handy-dandy plunder, and emerged with a sledgehammer. What could that

01:38 possibly be in reference to?

01:40 Cody, of course, has been called the Triple H of AEW very often, with some fans feeling

01:44 that he hasn't put over new talent akin to the dreaded "Run of Hunter the Terrible"

01:48 from yesteryear. Despite losing to MJF, Darby Allin, Manakai Black, the list goes on and

01:53 on. Cody was quick to toss the sledgehammer aside in favour of a golden shovel, as he

01:57 yelled that he was going to "lean in" to the reaction he was getting from the fans.

02:01 I dunno what that could've been referencing either.

02:05 It feels weird to put one specific jab in a promo on this list, as that would hardly

02:10 constitute a war. But when it happens frequently all year, enough jabs become a talking point.

02:15 Granted, many of these moments have come from AEW, such as Christian Cage telling Adam Cole

02:19 that he should be used to losing on Wednesdays, a direct shot at his role in NXT, or Don Callis

02:24 mocking WWE's no-leg-slapping policy. But from time to time, WWE would send jabs back

02:29 the other way. Drew McIntyre made light of AEW's infamously botched Exploding Barbed

02:33 Wire deathmatch from Revolution, oh god let us all please forget that moment, telling

02:38 MVP on Raw that when you make a promise you can't deliver on, sparks fly and people

02:42 get disappointed.

02:43 Moments like this happen regularly, and while some of it is fairly trivial and should not

02:46 be taken so seriously by the fans, this is also part of the fun of having a wrestling

02:51 war. Hell, Shawn Michaels slapped a WCW sticker on a little person dressed as Bret Hart in

02:55 1997, and we certainly haven't crossed that line yet.

03:02 One year after his best friend Edge made a miraculous return from retirement at the Royal

03:06 Rumble, Christian did the same, wrestling his first match in seven years at the 2021

03:10 Rumble event. He looked as good as he ever had, and he watched as Edge won the Rumble.

03:15 Surely this incredible return could play into a fantastic storyline for WrestleMania. His

03:19 best friend in the main event, unfinished business with Big E over the Intercontinental

03:22 Championship, the possibilities were endless.

03:25 That is why it was so bizarre to find out that WWE had no plans for Christian after

03:30 his return. What? One of the best in-ring performers of his generation with a built-in

03:33 story to your hottest period of the year? No interest? Well, don't mind if I do, said

03:39 Tony Khan, who welcomed the rechristened Christian Cage - try saying that five times fast - at

03:44 Revolution 2021. Christian has continued to show why WWE was foolish to pass on him, wrestling

03:49 great matches regularly, including the main event of All Out against Kenny Omega for the

03:53 AEW World Championship.

03:56 This business isn't big enough for two Khans. For years, people said wrestling was run by

04:00 "Khan-men". Now it's just run by "Khan-men". While it sounds nutty now, WWE at one point

04:06 made an effort to form a working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling as a way to keep

04:10 Daniel Bryan in the company. This relationship never materialised, of course, because sharing

04:14 with WWE sounds like about as much fun as shaving my taint with a cactus.

04:17 WWE President Nick Khan was reportedly at the helm of this, and AEW President Tony Khan

04:22 made sure to let Nick know that there would only be one Khan with a relationship with

04:26 New Japan.

04:27 Many of Tony's Twitter speeches have made light about battles with WWE, but this one

04:31 was certainly the most direct, as he told Nick that there was only room for one Khan

04:35 in pro wrestling. Naturally, WWE and Nick Khan would not return fire at AEW, but AEW

04:41 is the one with New Japan talent on their shows. Although, can you imagine Tomohiro

04:44 Ishii vs. Walter at an NXT TakeOver? Dear God in Heaven.

04:48 Boy, WWE sure released a lot of talent in 2021, didn't they? That list is about 80

04:57 people long, and that's just from this year, let alone the dozens gone in 2020 as well.

05:01 WWE made a point to sign as much talent as possible when AEW launched, because it doesn't

05:06 matter if they want to play with this toy as long as no one else can play with them

05:09 either.

05:10 Sure enough, WWE's releases made the wrestling free agent pool a dealer's choice situation

05:14 for AEW, with Tony Khan getting to choose which stars he would like to bring on board.

05:19 Enter the likes of Andrade, El Idolo, Malakai Black, Ruby Soho and Bobby Fish, all of whom

05:23 have been given the opportunities to put on fantastic matches that they weren't given

05:27 on the WWE main roster. For years, the theory was you didn't want to sign too many of

05:31 WWE's castaways, but that applies much more to Val Venis beating Christopher Daniels in

05:35 2010 TNA, and less to world-class talent that should never be let go over f*cking budget

05:41 cuts.

05:42 The last real example of NXT and AEW Dynamite putting on big specials opposite each other

05:52 came on the first episode of 2021. To kick off the new year, AEW put on New Year's

05:57 Smash while NXT aired their New Year's Evil special. Both shows had major matches on their

06:02 cards. Dynamite featured a five-star main event as Kenny Omega defended the AEW title

06:06 against Rey Fenix, which only served as the appetiser for the AEW debuts of Karl Anderson

06:11 and Doc Gallows.

06:12 Meanwhile, on NXT, Raquel Gonzalez and Rhea Ripley put on an outstanding Last Woman Standing

06:17 match which signalled the end of Ripley's time on the brand. The main event was a rematch

06:21 of the classic Finn Balor vs. Kylo Reign match from TakeOver 31, and overall this made for

06:26 one incredible night of wrestling.

06:28 The Wednesday Night War had basically been decided, but there was still plenty of fight

06:31 left in NXT at this point. Although it would only be a few more months before NXT was moved

06:35 to Tuesdays, officially ending the Wednesday Night War and leading to the beginning of

06:39 NXT 2.0, which is, well, you know.

06:45 Eddie Kingston is about as outspoken as they come in wrestling. He is also about as good

06:49 of a talker as they come in wrestling. Put those two together, and you have the recipe

06:52 for some very spicy post-show comments, which is exactly what we got following Saturday

06:56 Night Dynamite on June 26th.

06:59 Following the main event, Kingston stood in the ring with Jungle Boy, Christian Cage and

07:03 Penta El Zero Miedo. What started as a fairly by-the-numbers, send-the-crowd-home-happy

07:07 promo turned into a rallying cry for the AEW fans, as Kingston said "the competition

07:12 sometimes doesn't want to hear their fans". He said AEW listens to their fans, and everyone

07:17 in the locker room isn't doing this for a paycheck, they're doing it for the people

07:21 and to bust their asses for the love of pro wrestling. He said you won't see matches

07:25 like Jungle Boy vs Kenny Omega, Legends Who Are Respected and the heart of the AEW locker

07:29 room on the other channel. You can choose to like this style of promo or not, but there

07:34 is no doubt that it was effective as the entire crowd at Daley's Place stood on their feet

07:38 and chanted "AEW" before going home happy. You're gonna play to your audience, and

07:42 this is what that audience pays to see.

07:46 We had an entry on this list already for stars that WWE released who showed up in AEW. There

07:51 is no doubt how valuable they all are in their current roles. However, it speaks volumes

07:56 when two of the absolute top performers in the wrestling business are desired by both

08:00 WWE and AEW, and they choose to leave the land of sports entertainment. This is exactly

08:06 what happened with Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole. Danielson walked away from WWE after

08:10 over ten years with the company, and has said many times that he loved working for the company.

08:15 But still, he wanted to go to AEW because it was where wrestling was at its best. With

08:19 Adam Cole, WWE somehow let his contract expire by accident, and after NXT TakeOver 36, Cole

08:25 had decided that he was going to walk away after four years with the promotion in favour

08:29 of rejoining his friends in AEW. The craziest thing? Both of these debuts happened on the

08:34 same night! In case you need a reminder, here is Oli's reaction.

08:43 It is one thing to be cut and find success elsewhere, but it is something else entirely

08:47 to be the place top talent are walking away from WWE for.

08:54 Poor Miz, catching stray bullets from promos on a completely different show. This probably

08:58 could have been included in the entry about all the other jabs both AEW and WWE have taken

09:02 at each other, but oh this is just so saucy it deserves its own spot. You won't find

09:06 two wrestlers with acid tongues more than CM Punk and MJF, and when you point them at

09:10 each other with microphones in their hands, you better believe they are going to spit

09:13 some venom. In their recent promo duel on Dynamite, both men took shots at each other

09:17 using WWE as the bullets. MJF threw countless insults at his adversary, calling him PG Punk

09:23 and saying he was second best to the "You Can't See Me" man and the King of Kings.

09:27 However, the biggest moment of the promo came early on, with Punk saying MJF wasn't revolutionary,

09:32 he is just a less famous Miz. He can't say that! Can he say that?

09:36 The line even broke the threshold of WWE, with Edge making light of it on Raw, saying

09:40 people on the "other show" are using Miz's name to get a cheap reaction. Some shots are

09:45 unnecessary, but this is good ol' fashioned pro wrestling, with the shots on both shows

09:50 fuelling the respective stories they are involved in. But goodness, what did Miz do?

09:58 Following the end of the Wednesday Night War, it seemed like it would be a considerable

10:01 amount of time before WWE and AEW went head to head again. Tony Khan has been adamant

10:06 that he won't compete with Raw, because he won't run against the NFL on Mondays.

10:10 But what about Fridays? Well, with AEW Rampage making its debut in August, SmackDown was

10:15 merely sitting at the next lunch table over in the cafeteria, and it would only take one

10:19 of them to bump the other's tray to start a fight. On October 15th, WWE aired Super

10:24 SmackDown, featuring an extra half hour of TV, which eats into Rampage.

10:29 Meanwhile, AEW pulled out all the stops, putting on a Rampage buy-in lasting an extra hour,

10:34 and featuring Tempest Wet Dream with Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki, which was awesome.

10:40 This was the biggest head-to-head wrestling event in years. Even if SmackDown and Rampage

10:44 were only competing on TV for a half hour, Tony Khan threw down the gauntlet for the

10:48 night, and while Rampage did not come close to beating SmackDown in overall viewership,

10:52 they were able to win the night in the key demos.

10:54 Make what you will of the ratings and the viewership, but this was the biggest example

10:57 to date of WWE and AEW going to war with one another, and it certainly doesn't feel like

11:02 the last time either.

11:21 (gentle music)

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