WWE's Brutal 2025 Has Shifted the Perception War With AEW Once Again

WWE is flailing like a fish out of water right now, which doesn't make a lot of sense because it's akin to a whale in its particular body of water. 

And it's just enough of a brutal start to 2025 to leave the door open for All Elite Wrestling to capitalise. 

This isn't just about the WrestleMania 41 flop of a main event that helped fully derail John Cena's long-awaited heel turn by throwing musician Travis Scott in the mix. But it is about the biggest warning sign possible that things weren't going to get any better. 

Instead, they have managed to get worse. 

After awkwardly throwing R-Truth into Cena's title storyline, WWE released him. As if the jarring release of a beloved fan favorite wasn't bad enough, it was the corporate, don't-care-about-optics-because-we're-so-big timing of the move that really sent things over the top. 

Now, the rumblings make this next part obvious: Things are going to get even worse. 

According to PW Insider (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats), R-Truth himself was caught off-guard by the move and other Superstars are "rethinking" their contracts because things are suddenly "more unstable than they realized."

Talk about an understatement. 

This isn’t a writeup zooming in on the idea WWE is going to suddenly bleed talent that goes and lifts AEW to new heights. There could be some roster churn, perhaps even involving some big names, but nothing is swinging those scales in the other direction. The Monday Night Wars, this is not. 

WWE is bulletproof in a ratings sense, or any business-like sense that the company cares about, be it social media impressions, merchandise sales, international pushes and ticket sales, whatever. That toothpaste isn't going back in the tube.

AEW, meanwhile, has settled into a respectable niche with the expected ups and downs. 

But, WWE is in danger of losing its hardcore fans. It's in danger of burning those who support the product the most when those expected downswings happen.

It's the segment of fans who consistently prop up the weekly programming's viewership numbers during the quiet parts of the year, numbers that make the sport so appealing to cable and streaming platforms.

It's the fans who pack the shows and even smaller house shows, even during unstable economic times. Buys the merchandise. Tunes into the obviously mid-tier premium live events. Forgives the horrible entrance music and any amount of roster mismanagement. 

What stings most about the outlook is simple enough: This time was supposed to be different. Vince McMahon was gone and in stepped Triple H to trumpets and a new golden era that was a direct reaction and overall modernization to the pressure applied by AEW's successes. 

Since late last year, WWE has rewarded its most loyal, longstanding fans who flood the company with attention and dollars by spiraling into something more inorganic and corporate than ever for brief beyond-wrestling attention. 

The Rock was on live television breaking the fourth wall to ruin storylines, then not showing up at WrestleMania. Cool modernizations in presentation and even story developments away from broadcast cameras were offset by ads all over the place and endless celebrity plants in the front row and terrible backstage segments featuring comedian podcasters obviously at the behest of a streaming platform. A musician interfered in the main event of WrestleMania. Beloved stars are being left on the cutting room floor so the budget can go to, well, more profit. 

And the pettiness and too-big-to-fail is, frankly, a little insulting in 2025 when fans are more attuned to what's going on than ever before. While the celebrities take up airtime on too-long programs and AEW minds its own business, WWE's scheduling shows for the same weekends and timeslots as AEW pay-per-views. That, while yanking up ticket prices and reportedly pulling the WrestleMania location away from a city it had already announced in favor of, you guessed it, more dollars via a Las Vegas return. 

Make no mistake, AEW was in a rut for a long time. The silly stuff around CM Punk's exit and endless botched, never-finished storylines, plus repeated attempts at factions taking over the company…not great. The company, at least perception-wise, fumbled Punk and Cody Rhodes. 

But right now? Fans tuned in to both companies wouldn't have a problem saying Tony Khan is straight-up booking better shows than Triple H. This, despite the historical embarrassment of roster riches WWE enjoys hoarding. That's a real perception, and so is the perception or idea that, if nothing else, AEW overpays talent and provides a meaningful alternative that is, in most cases, loyal. 

Fans see these things and will catch the sentiment that something stinks. That the immensely talented roster, outside of those enjoying long runs at the top, deserves better. And when that ball gets rolling, it's going to be hard for WWE to stop it. 

Again, WWE isn't going to fail. AEW won't pass it in the metrics WWE cares about. But going corporately bland in 2025 is brutal. Trying to become viewed as more of a "real sport" in the eyes of casual audiences is a good idea, but not if it becomes UFC-lite and loses its soul in the process. 

Though it's not explicitly his fault, it's a little fitting that WWE is doing this on Cena's watch. There's a regression to past eras brewing, with AEW more than capable of stepping into the void and welcoming back fans with open arms. All it had to do was stay true to itself as a pro wrestling promotion more than anything else.