The Tuesday Night War from last week continues to make headlines, with WWE achieving far more success than AEW. Tony Khan’s attempts to defend AEW against WWE’s criticism fell flat. Even a week later, there is ongoing debate among celebrities about how the results might have been different.
One of AEW’s own suggested the idea of bringing in famous figures like Shaquille O’Neal, Mike Tyson, and Snoop Dogg to Tony Khan. Despite Chris Jericho’s initial claim that the outcomes of the Tuesday Night War didn’t concern him, he had much to say. He believed it would be beneficial for AEW if the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ made an appearance on the show.
Jericho reveals ditched plan to bring Shaq, Mike Tyson
During the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990s, WCW experimented with this formula, bringing in celebrities like Mr. T, Dennis Rodman, and Shaquille O’Neal. Chris Jericho, the first-ever AEW World Champion, has been with the company since its inception in 2019 and may consider AEW his final destination in professional wrestling. Despite Jericho and Tony Khan having a strong working relationship, recent social media activity by the latter has apparently upset Jericho.
To compete with AEW Dynamite, NXT included huge stars like John Cena, The Undertaker, and Cody Rhodes in their most recent program. Chris Jericho wasn’t too worried about it, so he proposed that Tony Khan should respond by inviting Snoop Dogg and other celebrities. Khan, however, had faith in his own stars and shot down Jericho’s proposal.
Former WWE star sends message to WWE
The head-to-head war involved WWE superstars including John Cena, Cody Rhodes, LA Knight, Paul Heyman, and The Undertaker. With 991,000 viewers, NXT easily defeated Dynamite’s 731,000. Despite the appearance of an easy victory for NXT, according to Jericho.
In the interview with The Messenger, Jericho defended Tony Khan’s usage of social media, despite Khan’s insults at WWE before and after their match. Jericho is correct in his belief that AEW shouldn’t be overly concerned about the drop in ratings, as it was a one-time event due to exceptional circumstances. It’s not surprising that WWE has incorporated part-time talents like John Cena and The Undertaker, and AEW might have taken a similar approach.
In the interview, he said, “You can only bring in Cena and Undertaker and Cody and everybody else so much because nobody wants to work on their secondary show all the time. And it was a fun little, ‘Hey, F-you AEW.’ I didn’t even really worry about it.”
The war argumentation from Tuesday night has not yet been put to bed. If history is any indication, the next war between AEW and WWE will be just as exciting. How important do you feel this debate to be? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.
