While John Cena has moved on to the glamorous world of Hollywood, but he still tries to attend a WWE event whenever he has time. “The Doctor of Thuganomics” may not take the time to watch AEW but he does realize it’s an important aspect of the competition.
Recently, Cena made an appearance on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast. There he revealed he hasn’t been watching AEW TV and expounded on why AEW’s existence is a good thing for WWE or any other promotion. He said,
“Competition brings out the best in us. For all time, going out there as a performer, I wanted to do the best I could possibly do and set the tone for wanting to be the best show between Raw and SmackDown and certainly have eyes on the segments I was on. I was fueled by a sense of internal competition. Not knowing what it’s like now to be in a market with a lot of different options, there are a lot of places to watch sports entertainment. That would only, for me, fuel me even more to be the best I can be.”
There was a time when WWE had its NXT brand go head-to-head with AEW Dynamite. AEW consistently got better ratings compared to NXT, so WWE moved NXT to a different night and abandoned HHH’s vision of the brand.
WWE has been around for decades, establishing itself as a big figure in the industry. It is still successful today. The company rakes in huge amounts of money thanks to deals with FOX, USA Network and Saudi Arabia.
However, it’s good for wrestlers in the United States to know that WWE isn’t the only company. AEW’s existence also benefits the top wrestlers who want to test free agency. Now that the some of the popular stars are nearing the end of their contracts in either promotion, it can potentially start a bidding war.
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