Chairshot Wrestling News Shuffle: Loads Of AEW News, Asuka, Kairi Sane and More! (5/16/19)

News here! Loads Of AEW News, Asuka, Kairi Sane and More!

Cody Rhodes On AEW On TNT

Unless you have been living under a rock all day, you have heard the news that AEW will debut on TNT later this year. You can read Greg DeMarco’s thoughts on the news here. Cody and Brandi Rhodes commented today on the news while speaking with WrestlingNews.Co.

“This is serendipity how this is coming together. My family moved to Atlanta 20+ years ago because WCW was going to Turner. Here we are talking about All Elite Wrestling in 2019 going to Turner. It’s just wild how it works and the number 1 thing I discovered is we build the best team. That’s what led to all of this. All In happened, me, Matt and Nick, Kenny joining and then Tony Khan being the guy to say ‘hey, I believe in you guys. I’ll invest in you guys, I believe in wrestling outside of one company.’ That has put us here so I’m really excited.”

Jason’s Take

You probably heard about AEW on TNT from every angle and from every wrestling news site today. So, one more opinion isn’t going to hurt. Growing up, I always remember NWA and WCW on a Turner network, and cried the day WCW was sold in 2001 (My birthday none the less). It is a historical moment for not only AEW, but for professional wrestling in general. No offense to TNA/IMPACT, but this is the first legitimate competition WWE has had in almost 20 years. The Monday Night Wars brought out the best in WWE after they got their rear ends handed to them for almost 2 years. With ratings in WWE at all-time lows for weekly television, the time is right for another company on another network. Many are commenting on how this will hurt WWE, but the company it hurts more, in my opinion, is Impact. A company that has been around for so long, yet had to deal with being on POP TV, Destination America, and now the Pursuit Channel. And, essentially unproven AEW is set to debut on a large network. Don’t worry about WWE, their product will pick up.

The Young Bucks On AEW

WrestlingNews.Co also was able to speak with the Young Bucks today regarding AEW on TNT.

On if WWE wrestlers are looking to jump to AEW, Nick said, “I think so, we’ve heard the chatter a lot. We have a lot of friends that work there so we hear it from them too. I feel like we’ve changed the landscape of wrestling and it’s gonna give them some competition.”

On how AEW will be different: “It’s gotta look different, it’s gotta feel different,” Nick said. Matt said, “It’s got to be shot different. Whatever do they do, we have to do the opposite. If that means that they have a PG type of show, we should have a more edgy type of show. Our matches should look different and the things we do in the matches should be different. Our stories should be different, they should be more complex.”

Jason’s Take

Competition is good for any business. Back in the territory days, wrestlers would jump from territory to territory every 6 months in order to keep their characters fresh. While I don’t think you are going to see a large amount of WWE wrestlers jumping ship right away, wrestlers will now have other options to pursue outside of WWE if they choose to do so. Like Dean Ambrose, for example.

Is AEW Competition For WWE?

Since the initial rumblings of AEW began last October, official in WWE have been quiet on their thoughts of the company. Today, at the 47th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference, WWE Co-President George Barrios was asked of WWE considers AEW to be competition.

“The best comment I’ve ever heard was from Reed Hastings who said, ‘Sleep is competition.’ He nailed it. You are competing for people’s time. So, whether it’s Fortnite, the NBA, Kung Fu novels – we are fighting for people’s time. So, everyone is a competitor at everything. So yeah, AEW has announced and welcome to the game.”

Jason’s Take

Much like when WCW started becoming competition, WWE won’t come full out an acknowledge a competitor. And why would they? It doesn’t help them garner any additional ratings by doing so, and doesn’t affect their bottom line.

Asuka and Kairi Sane Given New Tag Team Name

SmackDown Live Tag Team Asuka and Kairi Sane were given a new team name at the latest SmackDown live tapings. The team will now be known as the The Kabuki Warriors.

Jason’s Take

Next week on SmackDown, they will be named something completely different.