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In general, the whole thing just felt strange, especially when you factor in WWE’s past attempts to brand AEW (and previously WCW) as excessively violent, their long history of of planting stories, and the like. On Friday, Dave Meltzer strongly implied in the newest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscribers-only link) that WWE had planted the story, with Rich Kraetsch and Joe Lanza’s Voices of Wrestling Twitter account outright saying that WWE had tried to do so. (A spokesperson for WarnerMedia, asked Friday afternoon about the larger controversy and simmering rumors about WWE involvement, respectfully declined comment.)
There does appear to be something to this: According to a screenshot shared with Babyface v. Heel, a reporter from a mainstream publication, in reaching out about the story, explicitly said that WWE had contacted them about writing a article on the Domino’s/AEW situation. (As a condition of being able to get the screenshot in the first place, I did agree to withhold identifying information about the reporter who sent the message, who does not specialize in professional wrestling coverage.) This comes in spite of the usual insistence on Thursday’s WWE investor call that AEW is not their competition, using the company’s default line that everything is their competition.
https://babyfacevheel.substack.com/p/mainstream-reporter-privately-claims
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Interesting. WWE tried to put out anti-AEW Propaganda. Damn, business is shrewd and brutal.
There does appear to be something to this: According to a screenshot shared with Babyface v. Heel, a reporter from a mainstream publication, in reaching out about the story, explicitly said that WWE had contacted them about writing a article on the Domino’s/AEW situation. (As a condition of being able to get the screenshot in the first place, I did agree to withhold identifying information about the reporter who sent the message, who does not specialize in professional wrestling coverage.) This comes in spite of the usual insistence on Thursday’s WWE investor call that AEW is not their competition, using the company’s default line that everything is their competition.
https://babyfacevheel.substack.com/p/mainstream-reporter-privately-claims
------------------
Interesting. WWE tried to put out anti-AEW Propaganda. Damn, business is shrewd and brutal.