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AEW is officially getting its third program, the upcoming Collision show, and the premiere will feature the return of CM Punk. However, Vince Russo believes that no television network would award AEW with another show after their dwindling ratings.
Many of the promotion's detractors have pointed out how badly both Dynamite and especially Rampage's ratings have fallen since being launched. Due to this, some have even found it alarming that the promotion has somehow bagged another major Saturday show.
During this week's appearance on Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws, Vince Russo recalled his recent experience with the USA Network and how Khan's deal doesn't make sense.
"I talk about these things because I worked with television executives. I was working with freaking USA Network a year ago, a year ago! I was having conversations with those running USA Network. You’re not going to reward a franchise when you have a history of ratings that continue to go down!" (03:30 onward).
Check out the full episode below:
Russo then continued, noting that no network orders spin-offs from failing shows.
"If there was any television show on television, and the ratings are consistently going down, is the network gonna say: ‘Oh, let’s have a spin-off of that show!’" (04:00 onward).
Missed out on last week's AEW Dynamite or Rampage? Catch up with the results right here.
Vince Russo believes that Tony Khan's goal with AEW is solely to compete with WWE
WWE's last notable competition was WCW in the 1990s, which All Elite Wrestling is often compared to. However, unfortunately for the promotion and its fans, WWE would eventually go on o purchase WCW after it failed, resulting in Vince McMahon establishing a monopoly on the pro wrestling industry.
Earlier in the same episode, Vince Russo recalled reading a headline that he used to legitimize his claim.
"Here was the headline: Tony Khan never imagined that another wrestling company could challenge the WWE. What wrestling company is that? Bro, that’s his whole thing. That’s his whole thing! He’s buying these hours of television time, actually believing that he can overtake the WWE! This isn’t about making money, the dude’s a billionaire!" (02:42 onward).
Notably, few veterans believe that AEW will ultimately overrun WWE or even match their viewership records, and unfortunately, fans will simply have to wait and see.
If you use any quotes from the first half of this article, please embed the YouTube video and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling.
