Will AEW succeed?
When Vince McMahon bought out WCW in 2001, it ended the threat of any real competition for WWE.
Sure, TNA/Impact has hung around for almost 20 years and Ring of Honor is growing, but neither have ever been considered a viable threat to McMahon鈥檚 empire due to a lack of funding.
On Tuesday, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held its 鈥淒ouble or Nothing鈥� rally in Jacksonville to formally introduce itself to the world.
The company is owned by Shadid 鈥淪had鈥� Khan, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and soccer鈥檚 Fulham F.C. of the English Premier League.
Tony Khan, Shadid鈥檚 son, is a co-owner of the Jags and Fulham and is also considered an owner of AEW.
One reason that TNA/Impact failed and what has held Ring of Honor back is money.
This will not be a problem for AEW as the Khan鈥檚 are reportedly worth over $7 billion.
Word is that the Khan鈥檚 are putting $100 million into AEW and this is a sign that they are fully on board to see this project through.
AEW will lose money early, but will it be able to build up a brand that makes money?
The biggest drawback for TNA/Impact and Ring of Honor has been a major TV deal, but at the rally on Tuesday, it was announced the AEW is negotiating with two potential channels.
AEW will run its first official show, titled 鈥淒ouble or Nothing,鈥� on Saturday, May 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
As reported in this column, several of the names involved are Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, and Adam Page with Rhodes and the Bucks having five-year deals.
Other notable names are Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Pac.
Perhaps the biggest name on board so far, and he was introduced at the rally as being a part of AEW, is Chris Jericho.
The next name said to be signing on is Kenny Omega, but WWE is also said to be after him.
Will AEW succeed? Will fans have the patience to give it a try?
Time will tell, but pro wrestling fans that have been clamoring for a national alternative to WWE have finally gotten their wish.
2018 awards next week
Originally, we were going to look at the 2018 awards for the wrestling world in this column, but with AEW officially opening for business, we will look at the awards next week.
On This Day鈥�
In 2001, The original ECW ran its last show in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and the last match in the promotion鈥檚 history was a hardcore match that saw The Sandman defeat Justin Credible.
In 2003, WWE ran the 10th anniversary show of Monday Night Raw.
This week鈥檚 question: How did WWE build a Performance Center in the United Kingdom so fast without it being such big news? Timmy, Uniontown.
Opening a training center in the U.K. has been a plan of WWE鈥檚 going back many years.
In fact, I can share from personal experience that Dean Malenko asked me, during a WWE tryout in December 2005 if I would have a problem moving overseas if a new facility was built.
That was more than 13 years ago, and if Malenko, an agent, knew about the idea and was comfortable enough to bring it up to me, then the idea had to be in the works for quite a while.
On Friday, WWE announced the opening of the 鈥淯K Performance Center鈥� and it is seen as a significant step in localizing content from around the world.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III.