WWE never mentions AEW on its broadcasts. For the most part, AEW refrains from doing the same, but it has made references to the promotion from time to time, and CEO, GM and Head of Creative Tony Khan clearly isn’t above some playful jabs at the industry leader.
On Friday, Khan tweeted about an especially busy day on Thursday during AEW’s full week of events in Las Vegas, including a meeting in L.A. with Warner Bros. Discovery management, and dinner with his dad, AEW co-owner Shahid Khan, and UFC president Dana White. He noted that he got to tell White in person that Money in the Bank, WWE’s upcoming premium live event in Las Vegas, was changing venues to MGM Grand Garden Arena after originally selling tickets at the much larger Allegiant Stadium.
But Khan couldn’t resist a follow-up tweet as well.
Genius move trying to take on Dana and the UFC in Vegas during International Fight Week.
See you tonight on Friday Night #AEWRampage on @tntdrama at a special time tonight
6:30pm ET/5:30pm CT/4:30pm MT/3:30pm PT!— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) May 27, 2022
International Fight Week in Las Vegas is an important, well-established event on the UFC calendar that always includes the UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony and a full slate of programming for fans. It culminates in a UFC pay-per-view, which this year will be UFC 276 on July 2 — which just so happens to be the same night, in the same city, as Money in the Bank.
The insinuation is pretty clear: that WWE had trouble selling enough tickets to justify holding Money in the Bank in a stadium while UFC is holding a card at T-Mobile Arena on the same night. Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer has reported that WWE knew UFC was holding its event on July 2, but obviously felt the Allegiant Stadium gamble was one worth taking.
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The silver lining for WWE is that it should have a sold out MGM Grand Garden Arena for Money in the Bank despite the competition for attention in Vegas that night. Khan’s tweet was likely just a one-off dig (that White probably enjoyed as well), and while it kept to the usual rules of engagement by not naming WWE, it’ll be interesting to see if this becomes more commonplace going forward.