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Both AEW and WWE are doing something right, before looking at why the idea that these two companies feuding is ridiculous and counter-productive towards professional wrestling as an entity it is important to state that fact. While WWE is creatively patchy at the best of times and AEW has hardly been professional wrestling's shot back into the mainstream, neither company is without merit. WWE has given fans one of the strongest character arcs in professional wrestling history with Roman Reign's Tribal Chief performance to the extent that they may have genuinely created a full-time draw for the first time since John Cena. AEW has also demonstrated a real propensity for good quality wrestling TV in the past few months and finally has enough genuinely top draw wrestlers to have a convincing main-event scene to allow some of the younger talent time to develop and get over.
The idea that these two companies are even competing against one another is ludicrous - they are not even in the same business as one another, and when the companies do make snide comments about the supposed competitor it comes off as bitter at best and utterly embarrassing at worst.
AEW Vs. WWE Is A Feud Perpetuated By Fans Who Watch Both Products
The AEW vs WWE feud feels like it has been started by fans' complete dissatisfaction with the WWE product and that the jump to AEW was going to force a huge gambit for WWE to improve or continuously lose viewers to this new, upstart promotion. The WWE did not improve in the wake of AEW nor did AEW grab a substantial portion of WWE's viewers, at the very best they managed to take a percentage of viewers who were unhappy with WWE but still invested enough in wrestling to watch AEW and WWE programming. AEW's viewing figures have steadied out at just below the one million mark after NXT moved and while it may occasionally jump above this point it has never really threatened WWE's hegemony over the Sports Entertainment/Professional Wrestling landscape.
In actuality, it is WWE fans who are more likely to exclusively watch their favorite brand, it is quite possible that a section of the WWE Universe knows nothing or very little about AEW and these fans would surely be completely unaware of any rivalry between the two. There is a small section of WWE fans however who seem intent on trying to trigger AEW fans with botch posts or some of the silliness which happens within Tony Khan's world of wrestling, here is where the feud goes beyond lame into downright hypocritical. Yes, AEW has produced some cringe-inducing segments, but to point this out as a WWE fan is simply absurd with all of the nonsense that goes on the WWE weekly shows.
AEW Still Has a Lot of Catching Up to Do
AEW beating NXT in the 'Wednesday Night War' was a great achievement for a new company that was blown way out of proportion by the fanbase. Beating the WWE C-Show is genuinely impressive, but for AEW to have had any chance of succeeding it needed to defeat NXT comprehensively, and it did. When it comes to competing with the real top dog of Sports Entertainment AEW is still a long way off unless something catastrophic happens to the WWE. AEW fans want the show they love to be competing with the WWE and it is a good thing to want to reach the heights of the standard-bearer for the last 20 years, but they are still a company in its infancy, Tony Khan needs more time to build streams of sponsorship and revenue that Vince McMahon has cultivated since the 1980s. WWE is a global brand to the point of being synonymous with wrestling, any attempt that the WWE makes to belittle or criticize AEW just comes off looking petty and the best strategy is to focus on their own shows and simply ignore the number two promotion.
Is there a feud between AEW and WWE? Certain hardcore sections of the wrestling world would tell you there is, but in all honesty, it always comes off as forced and incredibly counterproductive. The more exposure professional wrestling obtains, the better both companies will do. Competition has always been healthy in business as it often brings out the best in both competitors, but this competition should be firmly acknowledged within trying to outperform the other company, not by spitefully jabbing at one another hoping to point out flaws.