AEW vs. WWE NXT: The Wednesday Night War | War Stories

After the death of WCW in 2001, professional wrestling wouldn't be the same - no matter which promotion one backed, the thrill of those wars was gone, and a McMonopoly of mainstream American wrestling grew a little more tedious with each passing year. In 2018, however, there were rumblings of a new wrestling agency, one with strong financial backing, and a preliminary roster of flourishing cult favorites. And when AEW announced television clearance, the war-like WWE readied its counterpunch...
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Cultaholic provides video coverage of professional wrestling - including WWE (including WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown, NXT and 205 Live), AEW, IMPACT Wrestling (formerly TNA), NJPW, ROH, and more with daily news updates, reviews, lists, highlights, predictions, reactions, podcasts and much, much more.

[@Aidan_ODonnell]

Sam probably has my favorite voice overs for these mini-documentaries! He’s a triple threat; Editor, Presenter, and all around great guy. Love your work Sam!

[@maffer3164]

Haha 😄 sounds like a crush

[@Aidan_ODonnell]

@@maffer3164 I cant even say you’re wrong, Sam is a very handsome lad 😂

[@joeywrestling9536]

Absolutely!! I so love hearing his voice and that music together ♥️ Gives me a reason to smile! 😊

[@Niain1]

@@joeywrestling9536 SHREDDITOR

[@dylanpennington6105]

Sam & Simon are my 2 favorite

[@charliehurnmedia253]

"Ran blindly into a knife fight armed with a plastic spork" what a summary of impact 😂

[@woobgamer5210]

what i think happened at Impact when they made that decision 'Oh Hogan baby, let's move Impact to monday nights' 'Hell yeah brother, I agree with that decision Dixie, brother' ' Dixie and Hogan what the hell are you doing to my beloved TNA' 'Shut up Jeff Jarrett you mark brother, this is perfect brother, we will beat WWE brother'

[@ryanleikness3414]

And Vince goes "Welcome back Bret Hart! I'm sorry, let's have you amd Shawn make up in the Ring, and a program where you get vengeance on me. That'll sell seats!" Bret: thank you Vince. It's good to have better relations again Vince: absolutely. No more Montreal screwjob in the next five or six years (fingers crossed) WWE defeats Impact

[@AnthonyMackONE]

I think that one thing that deserves mentioning in the timeline prior to NXT’s 2014 -2015 boom is New Japan and the Bullet Club phenomenon. Prince Devitt’s gaijin group featuring the Young Bucks sparked an indie wrestling revival, especially with appearances in Ring of Honor and PWG. Devitt’s star-making turn was certainly enough to catch HHH’s eye, as he snapped him up for NXT. And the Young Bucks during this period collected tag titles from everywhere, taking cocky Bullet Club swagger wherever they went. It was this time period that drew in likeminded wrestlers that planted the seeds that would eventually become AEW.

[@govardhanposina17]

Bullet Club really was the "in" thing back then, you either knew them and were the cool, patrician wrestling fan or you didn't and were instantly deemed a simpelton

[@AnthonyMackONE]

@@govardhanposina17 yeah, I dipped my toe into NJPW on the strength of Tanahashi vs Suzuki from August 2012, but Bullet Club drew me in. That and the Okada saga had me hooked.

[@govardhanposina17]

@@AnthonyMackONE I fucking adored Bullet Club, I was aware of them when Prince Devitt was at the helm but it was AJ's coronation that truly made me a fan of them and by extension of NJPW

[@AnthonyMackONE]

@@FreshNews247 with AEW, only half the story is told on television. They say it’s not needed to appreciate Dynamite and Rampage, but watching “Being The Elite” does fill in a lot of the story beats. And having followed most of the core crew that were the first AEW signees s in places like TNA, Chikara, PWG and Dragon Gate since 2008, I don’t think they come off as being forced; there is a connection there between those wrestlers that makes magic. I think they took lessons from their times in those promotions to take the best practices of each to bring to AEW. They still have a ways to go, but they do score a point over NJPW by having a women’s division in the promotion instead of merely having a sister promotion like Stardom.

[@KruelAidMan]

@@FreshNews247 your personal feelings are weird.

[@flintyp0P]

Gunn Club's insane crowd reactions was one of my favorite things about the early covid lockdowns. The wrestlers playing the fans was a fun idea

[@KruelAidMan]

Don't forget seeing MJF & Spears bet money on matches. And didn't THAT one end up as some foreshadowing?

[@kabztunes]

@@KruelAidMan i forgot all about that. they was so good

[@KruelAidMan]

@@jabba1984 _[incoherent jungling]_

[@thebrotherhood227]

The only time Shawn spears was interesting was his betting Wish they was his gimmick

[@richardjfromthebay9156]

TNA was a legit threat up until they hired bischoff and hogan.

[@optimus2008]

WWE: AEW isn't a rival. Also WWE: Screw you Triple H, your show lost to a rival.

[@attiepollard7847]

I would love to be a fly on that wall I bet you triple h told Vince dude NXT is a developmental brand and fans love aew and leave me alone.

[@vongola11thboss67]

Serious question: Why would WWE say to the public that AEW is a rival? They didn't with TNA where TNA's viewership was in the 2 million. Even with the Monday Night Wars, WWE didn't go out to explicitly say 'WCW is our rival'. So why is there suprise or condemnation when it comes to WWE and AEW?

[@ryanleikness3414]

Aew: we just want to show wrestling. Nothing more Wwe: Your WCW! Your evil! Aew: but we're only on TNT. It's not like Wwe: WCW must die! Triple H: 😑

[@MarvinT0606]

@@vongola11thboss67 AEW was the first rival WWE had in years, so they were just as surprised with how fast they sprung up. WCW and WWF on the other hand started with the real-life rivalry of Vince McMahon and Ted Turner as well as the other territories the WWF couldn't buy-out. WCW and WWF started the war as equals. There was no need for WWF to call WCW a 'rival' when they were mortal enemies.

[@YubelMalevolent]

"For the first time since Impact ran blindly into a knife fight armed with a plastic spork" I am deceased XD

[@Jake_Owens]

I was very excited about the Wednesday Night War initially. I was excited about the potential for competition to push the WWE to be better, it was going to be great for wrestling. Little did I know that it would be an annoyance and cause so much toxicity. In the end, I was happy that NXT moved to Tuesdays. But now sad for what it has ultimately become.

[@elephantman9140]

It was like Germany in WWII invading The Soviet Union. You know, it sounded like a good idea, but in actuality, was probably one of the worst decisions they ever could have made. Same with NXT vs. AEW.

[@shikikkaneddy]

@@dannyboii3093 Sadly , the effect is dripping down on all levels IMO Where TF is Roman the supposed "Locker Room leader" in all of this ? At least Taker cared for the guys in the roster

[@nathanielb4985]

Nxt is not an actual developmental now tbf

[@therainmakerinsider]

One year later. WWE’s Developmental Brand aka C Show beats AEW’s best show.

[@Mygameafun]

Look at it this way every day of the week has some kind of wrestling Mon raw Tues nxt Wed Dynamite Thurs :( Fri aew and wwe Sat aew I think still Plus that's wwes ppv nights as well So we need wwe to bring back Sunday night heat And a Thurs night wrestling show Oh fs1 used to Rerun smackdown from the week before

[@mikegeoffroy2176]

War Stories is back? What a treat! Keep these impressive stories coming Sam, much love!

[@attiepollard7847]

But can we really call this part of a war story? Because lesbians we didn't even know that aew was going up against NXT that much or we probably didn't care..

[@AzureRoxe]

Triple H is right, it wasn't a war. It was constantly a massacre, but rather than use this to improve the product, WWE is ignoring all the signs and continuing to screw up.

[@attiepollard7847]

This is why I believe aw needs to take the fight to Vince McMahon's own backyard and put it on Monday nights. We ain't going to put WWE out of business but we will give him a run for his money

[@hoax845]

Record profits and average over 1.2m viewers a week.... Wwe dosent give a f what you or any other aew fanboy think. I hope you people know this...

[@scottmccurry3013]

@@attiepollard7847 they never will because the Khan family won’t compete against the NFL. Maybe a special or something but never during football season

[@attiepollard7847]

@@scottmccurry3013 how the hell is putting aew on is going to compete against the NFL? I'm quite sure that Khan is a smart man and he recognizes the fact that wrestling is more popular than the NFL. It ain't like he's going to lose any damn money out of it

[@scottmccurry3013]

@@attiepollard7847 I assume you’re joking. The nfl dwarfs wrestling and is a huge cash cow for the Khans. Why would they want to take a single eye off of that when they have the option to rule another night unopposed

[@Slick218]

The lesson here is the less Vince influence on a wrestling show the better.

[@royshaheer]

NXT 2.0 is a reminder for that!

[@woobgamer5210]

@@royshaheer And NXT the Game Show from 2010, pretty sure that concept was a Vince idea

[@divine1196]

WWF?

[@Slick218]

@@divine1196 I was referring to modern Vince. He’s losing whatever touch he had and it’s sad to see

[@Dibby0156]

24:58 Wednesday Night Wars summed up in a few words.

[@BitoyV3]

We need a part 2 to this, in light of Triple H taking over and the All Out media scrum.

[@JuanGomez-ke5py]

It's always the long-term game

[@El_MuertoLoco]

How about the Vinny Mac sexual assault charges?🤣💩

[@ronjos264]

After watching this I realized what the key difference was between AEW and NXT WWE treated NXT like the 3rd Brand/Developmental. AEW treated dynamite like their Monday Night Raw and were more willing to go all in.

[@vongola11thboss67]

AEW had no choice but to since Dynamite was their first show. No matter how much fans hyped up the Black & Gold NXT, it is in fact the 3rd brand of WWE.

[@MentalLiberation]

Woo hoo! War Stories is back! Great stuff, Sam. I'm still waiting for that TNA/WWE story from 2010. I know it's going to be as great as the others.

[@jpmcmahon8219]

Came across this videos by accident, I loved it. There are few KZbin videos I’ve watched more than once but this was one of them. I enjoyed it a lil more as I’m an AEW guy now. It didn’t take long for me to watched the rest of the series. Please keep them coming!!

[@dreadkalibur1613]

The alternate title of this could be 'The Death of NXT'..

[@JaimeD.]

*The Rise and Fall of NXT* 😞

[@KruelAidMan]

@@Fantastisch36 it's Rainbow _RAW_ using a bunch of greenhorn nobodies. The brand's gone full circle and now we're back to the talent reality show era of _NXT_

[@dreadkalibur1613]

@@JaimeD. That's good!

[@jamelaelexaaran7479]

@@dreadkalibur1613 yeah that's a good title for this video

[@kennythetrend3688]

I got to go to All In. And while I also got to see Jericho become the first World Champion and got to see CM Punk make his return, All In is still my favorite wrestling show EVER.

[@Trihahalos]

My two cents here. a.) It was obvious to even the most diehard WWE fans (I was one of them a decade ago. I kinda feel them) that AEW was going to be legit competition. It had great wrestlers, a lot of financial support, a stable tv deal and experienced bookers. b.) WWE miscalculated. Regardless of how well us marks liked NXT, it was still the third brand. And it was not in its heyday either when it went toe to toe against AEW. I might be wrong but I do consider sending your third best soldier to beat your enemy, a bit arrogant. c.) AEW is now drawing comparable numbers to WWE. It is not winning and WWE is at its lowest point ever but still... It is something. d.) Competition has not brought any improvement to WWE. Apart from Roman Reigns who is awesome and the dependable women's division (which was there before AEW), nothing really stands out and nothing has changed. WWE is the same if not worse than before. e.) Hot take here. NXT as a brand is done. It has now become 2021's HEAT/Velocity. It is a mostly redundant third show few people care about.

[@mrvincentjackson]

It was like sending your third-string squad to play in the state championship game. Not going to turn out very well.

[@HM4Hill]

I genuinely think if NXT had just become WWE's third brand but based itself solely around the indie Superstars it was bringing in and build off the ones that they had like Adam Cole, johnny gargano or Keith Lee then they could have become become some sort of competition for aew but Vince didn't allow that

[@mrvincentjackson]

@@HM4Hill Shane AND HHH wanted that. Vince, of course, said no.

[@mrvincentjackson]

@Dave White That's not the main reason. They don't insult their fans' intelligence and build logical, long-term stories. This is not an in-ring difference it's a logic, writing and thinking difference.

[@Ashannon888]

@Dave White Except you have people like Omega, Bucks, Kingston, Jungle Boy, Lucha Bros, Santana/Ortiz, Orange, MJF, Darby, Britt Baker... none of them were WWE stars.

[@dannyinoakpark9095]

That ending piano music when talking about the real NXT is just so heartbreaking The fact that WWE just couldn't stay in their own lane is what makes it heartbreaking They could have just minded their business Stayed one hour on The Network and we would have most likely watched anyways just in an on demand format But WWE just isn't that smart and that's what's heartbreaking the most

[@KruelAidMan]

NXT's best days critically were, unfortunately, long behind them well before they went to USA. The main event went from long-form stories like Zayn & Neville to "hey, look what free agent we just signed!" while the previous acts you loved went up to _RAW_ & _Smackdown_ to get wrecked. And it's a damn shame, but you can see it now with how many former champs of the Full Sail Era have long since departed the company.

[@jamgooandyou]

@@dannyboii3093 They list to AEW? AEW was forcing itself n trying to gets its Anti WWE fans whipped into a frenzy n whispering WCW vs WWE..... Problem is AEW competed against a developmental arm of WWE.... The handful of weeks, the odd month when AEW had higher ratings, its blinded, deluded fans thought the small indie, homegrown talented promotion beat the juggernaut of WWE lol

[@shikikkaneddy]

@@jamgooandyou I mean , one ended up moving their broadcast day and eventually getting an overhaul after systematically trimming down most of the roster involved . And it certainly wasn't AEW , which now has some of their biggest (NXT wise) stars under their belt

[@shikikkaneddy]

@@jamgooandyou Insecure as in , they basically halted the development of a healthy roster in favor to sticking to their favored workers over and over again . Seen the recent reports about the locker room morale being an all-time low ? You don't see that in the side that essentially won this battle .

[@JaimeD.]

AEW stood tall in the end while WWE suffered a huge amount of budget cuts by the VKM brigade releasing around 100+ employees before 2021 ends. Most are in AEW, New Japan, IMPACT or done with pro-wrestling all together. P.S: Get ready for a possible budge cut in 2022 when April comes around.

[@attiepollard7847]

Exactly what more cuts do WWE needs to make?

[@JaimeD.]

@@attiepollard7847 Who knows man. Maybe until Vincent K. McMahon feels "satisfied." That place is a wasteland.

[@attiepollard7847]

@@JaimeD. This would be a good time for AEW to strike at Vince and bring aew to Monday nights. Over this move will give Vince McMahon more gray hairs and bringing triple h as lead program guy

[@KruelAidMan]

Budge? What does Adam Cole have to do with this one?

[@KruelAidMan]

@@attiepollard7847 HHH is done.

[@VincentFajal]

NXT suffered from WWE stinch and bad PR (which WWE deserve), and AEW benefited from novelty effect and not being run by Vince McMahon. In my opinion, wrestling-wise, NXT black and gold was superior to AEW.

[@circa-iv4st]

you guys should do a video on the philly indy wars, cmll exodus by antonio peña and the ajpw exodus by mitsuharu misawa

[@ThatDamnPotato]

Can’t wait for the E Drones to cry that Cultaholic are biased against WWE

[@Tchnfrq]

„armed with a plastic spork“ 😂😂

[@SylverstoneKhandr]

It's a shame that the Black & Gold Era for NXT ended the way it did. I went to 3 of the 5 Takeovers they did in Brooklyn, and was a bonafide fan. But as I learned more about the other promotions like NJPW and groups like Bullet Club/The Elite due to seeing so many stars come into NXT, my focus was beginning to shift as I became interested in seeing where they came from. That and I had resentment seeing NXT callups being wasted on the main roster - being booked like geeks and losing that character appeal that made me fans of them to begin with.

[@attiepollard7847]

At least you want to take over event WWE takeover never came to Detroit which is disappointing.

[@InfectedChris]

It's sad to see a once-amazing NXT fall so far from its peak.

[@bryancollum8197]

Cheers boys for all the content you put out, especially during Christmas and Mania season, hectic im sure...Always a highlight of the day to see a video come up on the feed....Happy New year folks

[@Djiehh]

My only gripe with this would be that you could have mentioned the boost that AEW (or more precisely All In) received from Kenny Omega's stellar main event run in NJPW. It even enabled New Japan to hold some impressive dates in the US themselves.

[@skeven0]

that first Omega/Okada match at WrestleKingdom really started the shift tbh

[@melissaroszkowski8911]

Yay Sam! Feel like we never get as many videos of you hosting. Cheers!

[@jrodsep]

Now I want a XWF retrospective

[@Krisbcream1]

@TheWWEGuy who asked the question to Dave is the real hero

[@nicholashurst780]

It's interesting to hear why AEW went on Wednesday. Because I previously thought that they had intentionally picked the day that NXT was streaming (but not on tv at the time) so are you still argue that aew actually made the first attack of counter-programming before WWE put NXT on actual TV which is still technically true but ya know, context is king

[@codyweaver7546]

WCW didn't die. It became TNA.

[@jamelaelexaaran7479]

and ECW became ROH

[@TheLarryburns84]

*loudly celebrates the return of this series*

[@thejongshow8821]

NXT was not on the air for “decades” when they first went head to head

[@TankHardcheese]

TL;DW AEW absolutely won decisively, NXT (and by association, the very future of WWE as we know it) still remains in the mire today.

[@infinityed123]

I agree but tbh Vince just put nxt further in the ground with nxt 2.0 but yeah aew destroyed nxt

[@scootinand]

The death of NXT at the hands of Vince and his yes-men by moving it when it didn't need to be moved, and then blaming Triple H for just trying to put on the best show he could under the circumstances is just disappointing. Hunter reinvigorated WWE in a way that didn't seem possible given the state their product was in in the late 2000s. Sometimes I have to wonder if it was someone's plan all along to go head to head with AEW and just reap the rewards either way: -if it won the war, then that would be a feather in the cap of whoever came up with the idea and they would get some rub within the company -and if it backfired, then they could just blame Hunter for not putting on a good enough show to compete with some upstart company, weakening his chances at becoming Vince's ultimate successor (That's all entirely speculation on my part based on Nick Khan's rise within WWE) And if NXT died because of the internal politics of WWE, then that's just an absolute shame.

[@mrvincentjackson]

HHH had a plan to build NXT as its own brand but, shocker, Vince couldn't stand that it got big because it wasn't his and THEN when AEW was getting big he threw his own son-in-law under the bus because he [Vince] could never allow his ego put Raw in AEW's way. NXT failed because of Vince's pettiness and lack of vision and it IS a shame. WWE DOES have a chance to do something after last night with a potential world title unification with Roman and Brock at WM but knowing them, they don't have the guts to pull the trigger.

[@KruelAidMan]

@@mrvincentjackson 2020s WWE has no potential.

[@benespinosa6725]

NXT 2.0 shouldn't have Happened if the Wednesday night wars never Happened NXT 2.0 is terrible Glad I stopped watching NXT Before the Relaunch.

[@giantpaddy]

Lovely voice over and great editing, keep going with these.

[@period8705]

Rest in peace Scott Hall.

[@Chigen_Atomic]

Second Monday Night War: Nonexistent. lol. I say this as a fan of TNA's, they bit off way more than they could chew. That spork to a knife fight analogy is very apt. It's sad what NXT has become since ceding to AEW. There's some bright spots but all in all, it suffers the main roster issues. Same could be said of AEW, who have been plodding along as of late, but that could be simply due to them holding off until TBS.

[@Muhammadwasapedo]

Just had to shoehorn in a way to talk about politics. Thus will be the second wrestling channel I drop if this pattern continues.

[@Silverpr]

I imagine the non rational WWE fans going angry at the keyboards to facts and realities thrown at them 🤣

[@attiepollard7847]

I'm going to have to agree with that non-rational WWE fan for a time being because I really can't call this war because who the hell really cared about NXT up against aew for Wednesday nights? If aew really wants to go up against McMahon and I think they got the cash to then they need to go up against him on Monday nights. They're not going to be able to put him on the business but they will give him a run for his money where he's going to have to bring in triple h and ask him how to win this thing

[@andyb9675]

@0:23 - I legit got feels at this shot... 😭😭😭

[@nathanguffey4204]

I love that when he described TNA in the early to mid 2000, that you can sub in AEW now. I’ve said it from the beginning and it really hasn’t changed!

[@Roux_504]

Crazy that people don't see history repeating

[@nathanguffey4204]

@@Roux_504 ya. Well 2022 is a new thing and new beginners. Let’s see if history repeats more??

[@KruelAidMan]

@@Roux_504 AEW has already made itself a far bigger deal. TNA was never drawing tickets or buys like AEW.

[@nathanguffey4204]

@@KruelAidMan ya TNA stayed in Florida and sold out for years in one place. AEW tickets are 10$ they stay in the southeastern US mostly. Only real difference. Oh and they have Tony and not Russo booking them to death. Forgot that!

[@KruelAidMan]

@@nathanguffey4204 AEW broke every tickets & PPV record TNA ever had with their very first show. Russo streams from his in-laws' basement while begging anyone for a job.

[@MrRatedRBeast]

Hopefully this series sticks around its phenomenal

[@mrmagpiepromotions]

Honestly I knew WWE would shaft HHH and NXT as a whole when HHH spent 2 years making The Ascension look like the new Road Warriors in NXT...and then they got called up to the main roster.....

[@mrmagpiepromotions]

I will never forgive WWE for what they did to the Ascension

[@monstermikeheinrichs]

NXT Ascension is one of my favorite tag teams. WWE Ascension were a fricken joke that nobody laughed at.

[@garretindall2820]

Just got here, and already a classic 👌🏽

[@Mygameafun]

I think for 2 months aew should battle wwe on Monday nights maybe even impact too see who who who is realy bad on raw wwe brings both brands to that show major title matches weekly and more bring the 24/7 belt back

[@MrBracey1970]

Brilliantly put!

[@JTeam45]

2019 was one of the greatest years of wrestling in the 21st century.

[@realCyng]

This is so funny to me. I knew from the moment dynamite was announced for wednesdays that the smarks would suddenly immediately turn on NXT. Glad the new version brought back the fun, the focus on homegrown talent over indie darlings, and real characters besides "silent badass who is good at wrestling" and "funny cocky heel who is also good at wrestling". Appealing to r/sc is never gonna work out.

[@tim-obeartheclawmachineguy9616]

Two things nobody talks about 1. NXT won the last day of the "war" 2. AEW is a main roster show while NXT is developmental. So why even call it a war

[@christophermarriott1681]

NXT lost the last day. The key demographic is all that networks look at. AEW won. Even if NXT won the last day, it means nothing. AEW still lives on and NXT was killed off. Nobody will remember the last day of a Wednesday Night War that NXT had already lost in blowout fashion. And you're right. It wasn't a war. It was a massacre in AEW's favor.

[@JustFrame]

Sam is so damn good at this, so enjoyable to listen to. Hats off to the editing team too 👏🏾 fantastic video

[@jamieweyer2268]

The War Stories are possibly the best thing that Cultaholic create!!

[@fthomason93]

It's such a shame wwe basically nuked nxt as a result of this "war". AEW was a brand spanking new wrestling show on the turner network, that's a big deal for people who've been watching wrestling for a long time. Turner has been the only actual challenge to vinces supremacy throughout the years and now they're back to reignite that rivalry. AEW has a long way to go before they're true competition for wwes numbers, wwe is a media juggernaut at this point who have the production end of things down to a t after all.

[@oldskool5559]

Sounds like a Justin Henry script? Great story with a great voice! Great job Justin and Sam

[@thejokerl1ves]

Great video, I hadn't seen a lot of those numbers. I don't interact with a lot of videos, but I appreciate the "insurrection" comment. Calling a spade a spade.

[@spundred]

We'll told. It would have added a lot to mention what was on the cards on key nights, to compare the differences in the content each show was offering. The numbers aren't that interesting by themselves, but with the context of the cards it means a lot.

[@MSUHitman]

So at least in the US, you didn’t have to subscribe to the WWE Network to watch NXT; you could watch it a day later on Hulu. That applied even to the Takeover’s, although it got to the point where WWE wouldn’t let Hulu post them until after Raw aired on Monday nights. This was a way I could watch NXT w/o giving the McMahon’s money. When Brock vs. Kofi happened, I decided to quit WWE outside of their YT channel in all ways, including canceling Hulu. I have seen 1 episode of WWE since, & that was at my parents house the night Xavier beat Reigns via DQ waiting for Rampage to start. My parents live in a rural area w/o broadband.

[@thatguyfromak5190]

This single-handedly ruined wrestling by making the Twitter generation of wrestling fans tribalistic and toxic. Now no one wants to admit when something is good, just shit all over a product and those who dare to like it. It’s shameful.

[@Mr_Oggie]

I don't watch AEW, but its good to see they made it through the pandemic. At the time the empty arena or WWE's Thunderdome was OK and you had to make due with what you could get... but last week I went back and watched some stuff from that time and its REALLY hard to get in to it versus now when crowds are back. For the "Wednesday Night Wars" the one thing I think we will take away from it is "demographics" - nobody really talked about demographics outside of advertisers and true TV nerds... until AEW needed something they could rally behind. Now its something in the wrestling sphere that we're pretty much stuck with, and not just for AEW but it gets brought up when KZbin pundits talk about Raw and Smackdown as well.

[@KruelAidMan]

Nobody talked about the demo until it was relevant you mean.

[@DeckyStrikesBack]

This is a seriously well put together video.

[@themaskedmark92]

Historically speakin wrestling in America Is a lot more "war focused" than other countries,u can Always find three majors compeating: the mainstream,the alternative and the underground with buzz.

[@frankrizzo9521]

I miss old NXT so much

[@shmoozledorf]

Sam does such a good job with these documentaries. Killing it guys 💪

[@sandyakabatteriehuhn]

Yes, War Stories with Sam are back ❤️

[@elplebeuchiha1996]

NXT lost to AEW because they were reacting to AEW while AEW was sticking no to their long story booking. [+]

[@stephanklasnich]

Content has been absolutely great recently

[@Green_Ranger05]

A-E-DUB

[@backnine39]

Yess !!! it's BACK !!! More War Stories please !!!!!

[@frankrizzo9521]

Wwe fumbled NXT so hard when they took control from HHH

[@Vesperitis]

A question I've always been curious about: Was NXT profitable before being made to compete against AEW? I've always heard it was a money sink but never could really confirm that.

[@KruelAidMan]

Nope. But R&D isn't meant to be.

[@lordcanti4567]

Kenny omega is hot AF

[@pun33thifi3d6]

You're goddamn right

[@jordigan6060]

this is low key the best content you guys do

[@suneater98]

Heartbreaking hearing HHH's NXT died 😢 and I'm a njpw fan

[@nicholashurst780]

WWA had no excuse for how shit it's PPVs were. They had a roster that could have warred with WWE and instead they put together those shows

[@peterikenye2159]

AEW is just NXT with sensible business practices and lots of indie wrestlers.

[@SheriffOutlaw]

Yes!!!! Happy Friggin New Year and like always... WARRRR STORIES!!!!!

[@eddielippert45]

Friday night war someday??? 👀

[@dazda123]

Nice professional video, highly appreciated!

[@AllanAdamson]

Revolutionary War hero General Adamson Tannehill died just before Christmas and was survived by his ward.. named...... The Mountain

[@GriffinNoel1]

There is a great irony in WWE looking at NXT's failure vs. NXT against AEW as an excuse to go back the out of date big man style. While not getting AEW beat NXT because it did everything NXT was doing only better

[@grimreaper1542]

Wwe are getting ready for war... by releasing half their talent

[@garrett1433]

Ik alot of aew fans want wwe to burn down....but honestly I really don't want wwe to go away, I have many fond memories cause of it :(

[@monstermikeheinrichs]

I don't want them to go away. I just want them to get better.

[@PhantomFTW.]

LOL at the E-Drones raging in the comments 😂

[@1986jon19]

When the demo is mentioned my thought is who cares? The demo doesn't even have cable I certainly don't. I watched NXT on the network and now peacock so I'm not sure NXT really lost.

[@AirForce318]

The irony in this is that NXT was considered the development show competing with AEW’s main show. That’s crazy that they blame HHH for that.

[@woobgamer5210]

Lets be honest, the war was Vince's idea. and now Vince takes control of a dying show to cancel it just like he did the ECW.

[@AirForce318]

@@woobgamer5210 💀💀 tragedy

[@johnathanrush4666]

Excellent video with one extremely minor quibble: I can't speak to Fulham, but I believe Shad Khan owns the Jaguars, not Tony

[@carloscolon3331]

The war is what killed nxt for me

[@FloridaGuy53]

Damn, can't believe that Vince got salty over NXT dominating both RAW and SmackDown at Survivor Series.

[@duckhuntdog8034]

Such a good way to spend a morning, well done Sam and the team

[@raGEEE1986]

AEW's product has me interested in wrestling again on a weekly basis, not really bothered with wwe since punk went. only bothered with the odd wm ppv

[@royastro2513]

Sometimes I wonder what it’s like to not be a wrestling fan and thus have no familiarity with the word “DEMO” in the context of television ratings. A man can dream.

[@KruelAidMan]

It's not a term used exclusively in wrestling.

[@punklover99]

It's funny to look back at those who waved aew off as "just a t-shirt company"

[@ek1046]

I always thought that for Vince the ultimate goal was more money but with the success of NXT that clearly isnt the case or he would have adapted that, at least to an extent to the main shows and they haven't done that at all. He'll take some of the top NXT performers and then completely ruined what was working. He's a power-hungry maniac even as an old man. Honestly the world is lucky he had wrestling because if he was in politics or really any form of sales he would have been a freaking shark from hell

[@elplebeuchiha1996]

Never thought about it that way. Thank God Vinny JR had wrestling to monopolize because imagine what he would’ve done to somewhere else [+]

[@jamelaelexaaran7479]

@@elplebeuchiha1996 ask Football in 2001

[@CrispySunset]

This is basically the tragic tale of NXT

[@justjustreid1527]

Great work man thoes rivalry stories are great it would be so cool if you would do the All star Vs grand prix in Québec from the 1960s or cmll Vs lucha libre aaa or All Japan Vs njpw or the way in British wrestling in the 1970s it would be great no one as ever do it on KZbin At your leval

[@mackenziereeves8494]

I wonder who the first young talent from AEW (if any) will try and jump to wwe eventually??

[@XXXJohnnySmith69]

History repeat itself I love Ted turner I love tony khan