Paul Heyman Reveals Why He's Glad AEW Exists

Ahead of Forbidden Door this weekend, a top influential name in WWE explains why they love that AEW exists.

All Elite Wrestling emerged in 2019 as a company that had the financial backing to compete with WWE. With top former WWE Superstars like Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley mixed in with The Elite from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Tony Khan created an alternative style of professional wrestling to compete against the juggernaut that is WWE.

While many new wrestling companies tend to crash and burn as quickly as they arrive, AEW has now been going strong for seven years, giving both performers and fans a choice when it comes to what type of product they want to associate themselves with.

Paul Heyman loves the fact that AEW exists as an alternative to WWE

WWE's Paul Heyman was a recent guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet. When asked if he believes the wrestling industry is in a better place right now because AEW exists, Heyman said he's glad it does and loves the fact that there's an alternative for the wrestling audience to enjoy.

"Am I glad that they're there? Absolutely. I love the fact that there is an alternative for an audience," Paul Heyman said. "Love the fact that there's something else out there. Love the fact that there's something that captures the imagination of the pro wrestling slash sports entertainment, if we still use that phrase today, audience.

"I'm glad, I wish there were more promotions out there right now. It's just going to make us work harder to be better than all of them. We certainly have the advantage in terms of distribution in terms of lineage of this industry."

Paul Heyman compares AEW to Rob Van Dam

Tony Khan has told the story several times of going with his father to the ECW Arena in Philadelphia to experience the product live for the first time. At those shows, Khan would see people he works with today, like Chris Jericho, Jerry Lynn, and Taz, helping to create a vision for what AEW could be.

Another name Khan saw at that show was former ECW and WWE World Champion Rob Van Dam, a performer whom Paul Heyman believes his 1999 rivalry with Lynn influenced the company's in-ring product today.

"I look at AEW, and I realize the influence that ECW had on that product," Paul Heyman said. "For example, like [Jon] Moxley is a total ECW Sandman, New Jack style performer. You look at the AEW style, it's Rob Van Dam versus Jerry Lynn from 1999. AEW is RVD, and if you were a fan of what RVD and Jerry Lynn were doing in 1999, a lot of what AEW presents today is derived and is influenced by what RVD and Jerry Lynn were doing back then."

RVD Rob Van Dam AEW — Rob Van Dam | AEW - AllEliteWrestling.com

Despite being under a WWE Legends deal, Rob Van Dam has performed for AEW six times between 2023 and 2024. Competing against top names like Jack Perry, Swerve Strickland, and Samoa Joe.

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