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Tony Khan Verbally Attacks Shawn Michaels for Bringing John Cena, The Undertaker & Cody Rhodes on NXT During Their Tuesday Night War

Published 10/12/2023, 12:00 PM EDT

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After a long time, WWE and AEW faced off against each other. Both the promotions aired their shows on the same day and at the same time. AEW Dynamite, which usually airs on Wednesdays, was shifted to Tuesdays just for this week and was aired alongside NXT on TBS. This created a lot of curiosity amongst the fans as to which promotion would come on top.

However, things did not go in Tony Khan’s favor and he was seen showing his frustration on the internet.

Tony Khan takes a shot at Shawn Michaels

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Apart from WWE and AEW, the war also pitted Shawn Michael against Tony Khan. They both were engaged in a race to be the best bookers in pro wrestling. A booker is someone who recruits stars and is responsible for setting up matches and writing angles. When a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted an AI-generated photo of Shawn Micheals holding a made-up title of Booker of the Year, Khan said that The Heart Break Kid might have lost any chances for it thanks to last night.

This week’s edition of NXT was star-studded. Fans got to see Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio, Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Paul Heyman, and the surprise return of The Undertaker. The Bloodline storyline poured onto the shores of NXT too as Cena endorsed Carmello Hayes in his bid to overcome Bron Breakker who worked under the guidance of Heyman. LA Knight too assumed a unique role as the special referee for the bout. Hayes emerged as the clear victor of the match and the night as The Undertaker donned the American Badass moniker to lend a hand after the match. The American NXT star was on cloud nine on a special night, wherein he had two wrestling icons in his corner.

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On the other hand, Dynamite also put on a dynamic show with the star attraction being the showcase of the debut match of Adam ‘Edge’ Copeland against Luchasauras. Edge’s feud against close friend Christian Cage in his first feud in AEW also captivated the wrestling faithful. Apart from that, a buy-in match between Ring of Honor and NJPW’s strong open-weight title holder Eddie Kingston went off against Minoru Suzuki defending the title. Orange Cassidy also made history as he became the first two-time AEW International champion by beating Rey Fenis. The buy-in was streamed on various platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, and Discord, for free.

Just like WWE, AEW also went break-free for the first 30 minutes. Despite Tony Khan’s proclamation regarding Michaels, the results showed that WWE was the clear winner when it came to the numbers. 

WWE wins the numbers game

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The so-called Tuesday Night War was won by WWE NXT. It was proved by Nielson’s overnight ratings. According to the ratings, NXT managed to pull 921,000 viewers out of which 396,000 were in the key age group of 18-49 years. On the other hand, AEW had 609,000 viewers. Out of these, 346,000 viewers were in the key demographic. Usually, Dynamite airs on Wednesdays but as TBS was broadcasting MLB playoffs in that slot, they shifted to Tuesdays. 

Both the promotions tried their best to draw in as many viewers as possible. As Tony Khan ran a huge campaign on his social media to engage the audience, John Cena decided to subtly promote NXT while taking a jab at Khan. Perhaps there is truth to the notion that AEW can claim the moral victory as they forced WWE’s hand in bringing out a plethora of A-stars to beat out the competition. A competitive feud between the two prestige promotions can only satiate the desire of wrestling fans for a superior product.

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Needless to say, Khan’s aggressive marketing tactics might have not worked in his favor this time. What do you think will be the next strategy of the president of AEW? What did you make of his dig against Shawn Michaels? Let us know in the comments section below.

Watch This Story- The Act of Ultimate “Savageness” By NXT Star Towards Rhea Ripley & Dominik Mysterio Makes Fans Lose Their Mind – “10 Second Dom”

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Written by:

Shaikh Aerajuddin

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Shaikh Aerajuddin is a WWE writer at EssentiallySports. With a Masters degree in Sports Science, Aeraj always carries a keen eye for detail and understands the various nuances of pro wrestling beyond the ring. Being a pro wrestling fan from his childhood, Aeraj now uses his analytical mind to tell a story in his articles for ES.
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Edited by:

Donna Eva