The Monday Night Wars Mentality Isn't Working Anymore

Throughout wrestling history, there may not be a period of time more heavily discussed than the Monday Night Wars.

It was one of the most important and defining eras for the WWE, with the company continually talking about it even years later (all the way to 2015), releasing a ridiculous number of documentaries (the WWE Network had a TWENTY EPISODE series) and talking about it non-stop over the years.

Why WWE Is Counter Programming AEW Again

IMG credit: WWE

Eventually WWE won out and it would be several years before they had any major competition (no, TNA does not count). That has finally chanted with AEW, which might not be nipping at WWE’s heels (or faces), but it is a major wrestling promotion that is offering something different. It’s clear that WWE has taken notice of AEW and that is going to be on display again next month.

On September 26, AEW is running its annual All Out pay per view near Chicago, Illinois. On the same day, WWE will be airing an event called Worlds Collide, featuring stars from Monday Night Raw, SmackDown, NXT and AAA, also near Chicago (both of the shows are taking place in different suburbs of the city). Worlds Collide will be airing as a free YouTube special, as it tends to be.

That’s over a month and a half away, but the end of this week’s Monday Night Raw saw AAA General Manager Rey Mysterio (in case you didn’t know Mysterio was the General Manager of AAA) talked to Roman Reigns, saying he had something to run by Reigns. Nothing else was explained, but it seems that there is at the very least an implication that Reigns is going to be doing something with AAA.

Now, to be clear, the following is based on a few assumptions that I don’t know to be true. Please keep that in mind. This is NOT announced, confirmed or anything else as of yet, so it might not wind up being the case.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that Mysterio’s idea is going to be to have Reigns show up a AAA event at some point in the near future. There is a very good chance that will wind up being Worlds Collide, as WWE is going to want to do as much as they can to stack the card (you can imagine how many other stars are going to be on the show, including but not limited to CM Punk, who has to be as close to a guarantee as you can get). It seems there is a very good chance that we are going to be seeing some announcements about who is showing up at the event sooner than later.

Now, I don’t know which show was booked or announced first (I’m assuming the latter was AEW), but it absolutely would not surprise me if WWE booked the location as a way to mess with AEW (even if it’s just a coincidence, you know WWE is happy to mess with AEW’s show at the same time). That’s something you have seen from wrestling promotions throughout the years and it isn’t shocking to see it happening again. The problem is that things have changed a bit and WWE doesn’t seem to understand that.

The WWE Vs. WCW Monday Night Wars Changed Wrestling

IMG credit: WWE

Going back to the Monday Night Wars, one of the things that you would see over the period was WWE and WCW trying to mess with the other. This could be anything from giving away the results of one show or trying to one up the other’s Monday night show.

This made sense as it was a long running battle for audience dominance and the two sides would get rather intense to beat the other. That appears to be the case again here... but things have changed a bit.

Why WWE Vs. AEW In 2026 Is Different

The biggest issue here is that we are over 25 years removed from the Monday Night Wars and stealing an audience from the other promotion is not exactly easy. While there is always the idea of stealing fans from one venue or the other, it’s not like there is some tiny number of prospective viewers to watch the show.

Keeping in mind that the two events are both taking place near Chicago, you have millions of people in just the city alone. All Out is being held at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, which holds about 10,000 fans, while the Allstate Arena in Rosemont holds about 17,000 (depending on the setup). Chicago alone has well over two million people and that’s not counting the surrounding areas or anywhere else in the country/world so the two of them being heavily attended shows is hardly a stretch. I’m not sure how many fans WWE is really going to be able to steal, but that’s a minor point by comparison.

The other, and much bigger, problem though is rather simple: it’s 2026 and technology has made it pretty easy to watch multiple shows at once. It’s not like you have go find a tape to record Monday Nitro or Monday Night Raw (ignoring that Nitro had its repeat airing after Monday Night Raw was over). No, instead you can pretty easily have both shows on at the same time on any number of screens. That’s not even considering that one of the shows is airing on YouTube, which is built entirely around the concept of YOU CAN WATCH IT WHENEVER YOU WANT!

I mean, what exactly is it going to matter if I can watch WWE’s free event at the same time that I am watching AEW’s pay per view? Between a phone, laptop and TV, it isn’t hard to have the two of them going at the same time while also watching Mama’s Family reruns. It’s not like having the two of them airing at the same time has been an issue in years but here we are anyway.

Can WWE Really Hurt AEW All Out?

Maybe the idea is that the WWE show will just take away interest from AEW but… really? This isn’t exactly some top level from WWE as it’s basically being treated as a AAA event with some guest stars showing up to turn it into something better. It’s not like WWE is running some major pay per view of its own or having some kind of major event. No, it’s just a AAA special airing near Chicago, which is hardly some game changing show being added to the calendar.

So this is where we are, as the time since the Monday Night Wars do not seem to have changed much of anything. It’s not like trying to steal an audience from a promotion is anything new, as wrestling companies have been running opposition and just being annoying for the better part of ever. That’s not going to change, but it feels like WWE doesn’t realize that anything has particularly changed.

I’m not sure how well things are going to go as WWE seems to be trying to mess with AEW (again, as AEW has done to WWE as well) but I’m just not sure how well it’s going to work. It feels like a tactic out of the past and doesn’t have the greatest chance of success. Hopefully both shows wind up being good, but turning everything into a battle all over again is more than a bit frustrating to see.