Report: WWE Looking to Squash AEW's "False Reality" With NXT vs. Dynamite

All Elite Wrestling and WWE do not like each other. That has been made apparent from the jump, with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque calling the upstart promotion a "piss-ant company" months before AEW debuted its first pay-per-view. AEW fired plenty of shots back over the next four years, regularly alluding to their competition in promos and in-ring segments. Alternatively, WWE has neglected to even acknowledge AEW's existence. While stars like MJF and Adam Copeland have emphasized that both rosters are rooting for one another, its evident that the higher-ups in each company do not want each other to succeed.

WWE Looks to Send a Message to AEW

The one-off Tuesday Night War represents something bigger.

According to a report from Haus of Wrestling, Tuesday's edition of WWE NXT is being supersized to send "a very clear example of how and why WWE is WWE, and why AEW has a long way to go." This WWE source believes AEW has been living in a "false reality" of being an industry leader due to their ratings wins over NXT, which serves as WWE's developmental brand.

AEW President Tony Khan responded to this report on Twitter with an image of two doors spray-painted with the words "BALD A--HOLE."

I have a message for them:

See you TONIGHT at a special Tuesday Night #AEWDynamite:
Title Fight Tuesday
At 8pm ET/7pm CT on @TBSNetwork
At least the first 30 Minutes Are Commercial-Free, + a big overrun TONIGHT! https://t.co/ZKVQVnlMnf pic.twitter.com/ruuc2k49kD

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) October 10, 2023

Regarding this ratings war happening on Khan's birthday, the report added that their WWE source made it sound like "WWE NXT is fine spoiling his party."

Bad blood between WWE and AEW goes beyond petty shots at one another. It was reported in 2022 that WWE had made contact with a number of AEW stars regarding their contracts.

"I've had a lot of wrestlers come to me and allege that WWE reached out to them to tamper with their contracts and ask them to break their contracts. I can't confirm that specifically. I can only tell you what the wrestlers have come to me and said," Khan said earlier this year. "But I've had multiple wrestlers and staff report that to me. It was very disturbing. I've had to go out and try to put on good shows, despite this alleged tampering and stuff like that, but frankly, I don't think it's stopped us because the quality of the product and the quality of the shows is at an all-time high right now. It's a real war between AEW and WWE. It's a real war between AEW and WWE, and the fans are interested in it."

WWE NXT and AEW Dynamite air at 8 PM ET tonight on USA Network and TBS, respectively.