More on WWE’s counterprogramming tactics against AEW.
Earlier this year, fans started noticing a pattern of WWE regularly counterprogramming All Elite Wrestling events. With All In Texas colliding against Evolution 2025 and Saturday Night’s Main Event, followed by Forbidden Door against NXT Heatwave, and also the upcoming All Out 2025 against WrestlePalooza.
While no one from the WWE management has officially commented on it, the pattern is often clearly visible. However, according to a recent update from JoeyVotes of WrestleVotes, it was noted that WWE and AEW won’t be running against each other again for the rest of 2025.
According to reports, AEW’s remaining PPVs on October 18, November 22, and December 27 will not have any direct competition from WWE. It was also pointed out that on October 18th, while Tony Khan’s promotion has WrestleDream, WWE has a Japan supershow scheduled.
Presently, WWE has no events scheduled for November 22nd, the same date as AEW’s Full Gear. Survivor Series will be taking place the following weekend. On December 27th, AEW will host World’s End, while WWE will be running two live non-televised holiday tour events, one in Tampa and one in Pittsburgh.
However, despite nothing clashing against each other currently, the Stamford-based promotion has a long history of shifting event dates, lineups, and locations. With still some time left for the upcoming shows, fans need to wait and see how things unfold.
Bryan Danielson Addresses WWE’s Counterprogramming Tactics Against AEW
“It’s interesting because we’re, we’re not at the point of being a threat. It’s one of the things that people who really crave power and a lot of money play these weird games that I don’t understand,” he said. “I don’t understand, it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna run all the competitors that might be competitive with us out of this business.’
Why? It’s good. It’s good for the wrestlers. It’s good for the wrestlers, both in AEW and in WWE, it’s good for them. If AEW wouldn’t have started, would Cody Rhodes be where he is right now? No, they have a megastar because AEW exists. Would CM Punk ever have come back? Probably not.
“I would be really interested, and I’m not saying this in the sense of like, ‘Oh, those evil people. Because when you think of corporations, they are not people, right? In the United States, I don’t know if it’s like this in Australia, but corporations have been, have been determined as, like, legally, as people, they have the same rights as people. It’s just like, wait, what? But they’re not people, right?
So that these corporations make these decisions, but the people in WWE, a lot of people I know, are great people, right? So it’s like, I’d be interested to know, okay, what’s the decision-making process in this?”
In other news: Tony Khan wants Chris Jericho back in AEW.