Just when we start to expect the Wednesday Night War to be a marathon as Vince McMahon would like us to believe, they seem to escalate things.
According to fans’ reports, they’re being forced to remove their AEW merchandise or be removed from WWE venues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxLZDlz4ASM
This has been reported since the Royal Rumble (Where the video was taken), but the fact it’s still ongoing remains news as it shows how little Vince McMahon cares what fans think.
Despite this, this makes sense as many usually wouldn’t want to promote their chief rival inside their own place of business. Especially when it’s basically giving them free promotion.
On the other hand…
Is giving them free promotion really important when the promotion’s top champion works to push fans away by making minor league or compare bank account comments?
Actions like this show fear, and fans pick up on it.
If Vince McMahon and his people are showing this much concern over the AEW, fans will want to check it out and see why. Some will see and understand, others won’t.
In many ways — and this is for the Greek mythology fans out there — it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy like Oedipus. The more Vince McMahon tries to prevent his opposition from gaining, then more he’s helping them.
Going against business practice
For those that have seen the Monday Night War dvd, Vince McMahon said he’s always believed in a company putting its bets product forward and allowing the fans to choose instead of taking cheap shots.
The question here is, why is he taking so many cheap shots? From putting NXT across from AEW to divide the audience and hurt their ratings, to going over into the next hour, to forcing fans to remove their AEW merchandise, Vince McMahon has shown those same lofty morals he quoted in victory mean nothing when he’s feeling the pressure.
It’s understandable, especially when his product has been below standards for years. Despite his many tricks, fans aren’t buying into his golden boy (Seth Rollins) or his quirky ideas of ending certain matches early.
But could it all be a ploy? A way to weaken or slow AEW until he figures out how best to get his product back on track? Possible. I’d even say probably. Vince McMahon is many things, but first and foremost he’s a genius.
He may be afraid of losing a war he started, but he’s probably also trusting enough loyal fans will remain until he figures out how to listen to us instead of telling us what we life.
Many things have changed, but he hasn’t as yet. But he may be in the process of doing so.
