Tribalism between AEW and WWE fans has been an unfortunate aspect of the pro wrestling landscape over the past several years. Ahead of their AEW World Championship match at All In this weekend, both MJF and Adam Cole tore down the very notion of their being a legitimate war between the two promotions in separate interviews. Friedman appeared on a Town Hall special edition of Busted Open Radio this week and dropped his usual heelish persona to point out that all of the wrestlers are rooting for each other to succeed and the idea that fans should root for one company to fail is simply “insane.”
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“There’s this weird thing going on now in professional wrestling where I’ll see fans online, the way they communicate with each other, it’s like all-out war,” Friedman said. “Just so you guys know, that’s not what’s going on with the wrestlers. We’re all rooting each other on because realistically, the better the two companies are doing, the more money we’re gonna make. So like, stop arguing. We’re all freaking having a blast.
“I’m watching LA Knight and Cody Rhodes every week, and I’m having a blast, just like I know everybody else is having a blast, just like I know that there are fans out there watching Better Than You Bay-Bay having a blast every single week,” he added. “There’s so much great professional wrestling going on, and there’s more than enough room for it, clearly. Because AEW is about to have the biggest crowd, this is not hyperbole… the biggest crowd ever in the history of the sport, and I’m headlining it. When I think about that, it’s so insane to me.”
AEW’s Adam Cole Says Wrestlers in Both Companies Root for Each Other
Cole echoed Friedman’s sentiments in a recent interview with Under The Ropes — “The more places that wrestlers themselves have as options to go work and make a living within the wrestling business is very important. There are thousands upon thousands of very talented wrestlers who do deserve the chance to be able to showcase their craft and show what they do and be able to express their love for pro wrestling and doing a great job at it. Having a company like AEW exist is so important.”
“Naturally, there’s that competitive (nature — and when I say this I mean it in a friendly manner because I have a lot of friends at WWE and I love when WWE does awesome. And I know there are people at WWE who love when AEW does awesome — but that friendly competitive nature within the wrestling industry is also very healthy because it keeps you on your toes. But the ultimate winners are the fans. There are so many different options of pro wrestling that you have the chance to watch now.
AEW All In 2023 Card (As of Now)
- AEW World Championship: MJF vs. Adam Cole
- AEW “Real” World Championship: CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe
- AEW World Tag Team Championships: FTR vs. The Young Bucks
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida vs. Toni Storm vs. Saraya vs. Dr. Britt Baker
- Will Ospreay vs. Chris Jericho
- Kenny Omega, Hangman Page & Kota Ibushi vs. Konosuke Takeshita, Jay White & Juice Robinson
- Darby Allin & Sting vs. Swerve Strickland & AR Fox (Coffin Match)
- Eddie Kingston, Orange Cassidy, Best Friends & Lucha Brothers vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) & TBA (Stadium Stampede Match)
- (Zero Hour) ROH World Tag Team Championships: Aussie Open vs. MJF & Adam Cole
