Monday Night RAW commentator Jimmy Smith knows exactly why WWE would never cross-promote with All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Smith took to the subject on a recent episode of his podcast, “Unlocking the Cage.” He was very adamant that WWE would never do any sort of cross-promotion with AEW, mostly because they stand to gain nothing from such a partnership.
WWE is undoubtedly the bigger company, so any sort of cross-promotion between the pair would only greatly benefit the smaller promotion.
“Here is the rule of thumb. The smaller promotion doesn’t hesitate to cross promote because they have less to lose. If Kayla Harrison loses to Cyborg, okay, fine, Cyborg is the bigger name anyway.
“If Cyborg loses to Kayla Harrison, there is the implication that, ‘Hey, maybe PFL is just better than Bellator.’ It’s always better to shoot up and miss then shoot down and hit. If you’re the UFC and WWE, you’re the top dogs.
“You have no reason to bring up another product and make them look like they are on your product’s level.”
“If so and so from AEW, and I don’t know because I don’t have time to watch AEW, but if somebody came up from AEW and it was WWE vs AEW, what you’re implying is they are on the same level.
“This champion from AEW, whoever it is, I know CM Punk is the champion right now so lets say CM Punk gets in there against Roman Reigns, what you’re saying is this guy is on Roman Reigns’ level, and the WWE will never, ever do that, and why should they?
“UFC is never going to do that with anybody at any other level. Will we see more of it? Yes. Is WWE and UFC worried about it? No, they are not.”
Jimmy Smith certainly makes a good point. WWE rarely, if not ever, mentions AEW on their programming. However, AEW has poked fun and name-dropped WWE and its stars on numerous occasions.
AEW president Tony Khan has been doing his best to break down “The Forbidden Door,” working with other promotions such as IMPACT Wrestling and Ring Of Honor (ROH), before eventually purchasing the latter.
Quotes via WrestlingNews.co
