An article written by: Lee Sonogan
It is an exciting time to be a wrestling fan. All Elite Wrestling is an upcoming and new professional wrestling promotion that is launching in 2019. For months there have been rumours The Elite, my favourite professional wrestling stable was in the process of making their own show. On the 8th of January, 2019, it became official in a press conference they held. Announcing and promising a lot in this press conference, it has gotten a lot of people excited and has got WWE shook.
For a very long time, my favourite professional wrestler was The Undertaker. Taker not as fast and strong as he used to be, my new favourite wrestlers are all from The Elite. Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Marty Scuril and Adam Page are all very talented in the ring and out of it. Having all my current favourite wrestlers making their own wrestling company is a dream come true. Unlike WWE’s family-friendly shows, this new show intends to be for adults and for the longtime fans such as myself.
Already creating a successful show last year called All In, the first AEW show, Double or Nothing will be in Las Vegas in May this year. The announcements so far have been great so far. All the members from The Elite except Kenny Omega. Omega’s current contract with NJPW ends in April and is most likely to end up in AEW, not the WWE Royal Rumble in a week. Many of the most popular independent wrestlers that you may not have heard of. And two former WWE wrestlers, Pac, formerly known as Neville and the one and only Chris Jericho.
All Elite Wrestling has all the potential to succeed. Just like WCW back in the day, it will have two billionaire investors. Shahid Khan is the lead investor of the promotion and his son Tony Khan will be head of day-to-day operations and will be the company’s president. With the money coming in, the company is able to offer wrestlers less of risk while also giving them more rewards. Chris Jericho has stated that AEW has given him the biggest offer he has had in his wrestling career. And that he only signed because they already have good tv show deals for the new wrestling promotion.
All of this could lead to a large exit of top talent from the WWE. In WrestleMania season at the moment, the WWE has been pushing talent that was rumoured and real-life friends of The Elite, to persuade them to stay. I will be interested in the next few months to see what happens next. With The Elite turning down WWE’s very generous offer, anything could happen from now until Double or Nothing. I hope this alternative to the WWE version of wrestling can survive as the WWE is starting to make new changes themselves. In wrestling, quality competition can only make everything better.