Its Wednesday night and AEW Dynamite is on the television. On the show there's Cody, Hangman Page, Jungle Boy, Kenny Omega and the Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions, The Good Brothers. In the next segment the NWA Women's Championship is being defended by Serena Deeb. All three companies are working in complete synergy, a National Wrestling Alliance.
In order to go further we need to go back and look at what the NWA actually is and no, its not just another wrestling company. Like any good journalist, I'm going to quote Wikipedia;
"Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions, the heads of which made up the Board of Directors. The group operated a territory system which sanctioned various championships, recognized one world champion, participated in talent exchanges, and collectively protected the territorial integrity of member promotions."
If that doesn't sound like what is happening right now with AEW, Impact Wrestling and NWA (the company) then you are not paying attention.
Let's have a look at how individually all three companies profit;
NWA
Billy Corgan's NWA had the momentum of a runaway locomotive heading into 2020. However, like so many other things, the pandemic derailed the NWA almost questioning if the promotion would fold. There wasn't much of a peep until it was announced there would be an NWA Women's title match on Dynamite. All of a sudden the NWA was resuscitated and a new breath was given.
How does AEW benefit from this relationship? They are the company that has international exposure, a deep roster pool and are backed by multi-millionaire Tony Khan. One thing they don't have is a foothold in the music industry, an extensive video library and a lineage, NWA has all that.
IMPACT Wrestling
Once a threat to World Wrestling Entertainment, Impact Wrestling has more resiliency than a skin-the-cat spot in a Royal Rumble match. Scott D'Amore, Don Callis and Ed Nordholm have turned what was once a laughing stock into a rising contender...but no one knows that because most have written the promotion off. Impact has tried everything from supernatural storylines to athletic wrestling matches, yet they are barely able to garner new fans. Associating with cool kid company AEW brings credibility back to Impact as well as exposes their current product to new or disheartened fans.
Many would consider Impact to be getting the most out of this relationship however that is not the case. Impact has a roster that boasts names such as The Good Brothers, Sami Callahan, Ace Austin and Rich Swan, all which would make great additions to AEW. The magic-in-the-sauce though is Impact Wrestling management's ability to consistently find new and young talent such as Josh Alexander and Blake Christian. Furthermore, Impact Wrestling boasts the most impressive video library outside of WWE. Lastly, Impact has the intellectual rights to the X-Division. A good portion of the AEW roster have grown up being inspired by AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Chris Sabin battle over the X-Division Title. Not to mention that Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, both under contract to AEW, are godfathers to the X-Division and could help usher in a new generation of X-Division wrestlers. AEW is also a company that would be brave enough to revive the Ultimate-X match.
Now that we have established this synergy of pro wrestling and how each company benefits, what does this all mean for the top dog on the block, WWE? That's easy;
CREDIBLE COMPETITON
Long gone are the days of wrestling companies looking to put each other out of business. AEW, who is the umbrella of this collective, wants to provide an alternative to the monotonous WWE. Fans have time and time again voiced their displeasuring of the stale Sports Entertainment product and AEW looks to woo those fans in order to grow their product. Its plain and simple, more fans equal more revenue. Already gaining an audience from NWA and Impact, AEW is trying to expend its horizons in order to knock WWE off its long held platform of being the go-to wrestling product/promotion.
In order to compete with the global monster, you have to become a global monster yourself.
WWE has developmental properties such as NXT and NXT UK as well as relationships with Progress and Insane Championship Wrestling.
AEW could have developmental companies such as OWE (China), NWA and Impact as well as colossal relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Imagine a card that has Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Sami Callahan, Jon Moxley, KENTA, Thunder Rosa, Tetsuya Naito, The Young Bucks, Chris Jericho and not to mention the OFFICIAL Bullet Club.
In Closing, the days of every company for itself is passé. However its important for history to not repeat itself and everybody play nice. If so, we will have a new era in professional wrestling. An era where companies and wrestling thrive but fans benefit the most.
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