AEW boss responds to Triple H’s ‘secondary promotion’ jibe

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque had recently taken a dig at All Elite Wrestling (AEW) without taking its name. Triple H’s remarks did not go down well with AEW president Tony Khan. While responding to Triple H’s comments, Khan even claimed that “WWE has been secondary” in various markets.

Talking to Jay Reddick of the Orlando Sentinel, the AEW boss said, “We certainly won’t be the secondary promotion at All In. We’re No. 1 in the UK, on TV and with a record gate. I have a lot of respect for Cody. I know these weren’t his words, to be fair, but we’re not secondary in a lot of markets — for the first time in a long time, WWE has been secondary in a lot of markets. … I’m proud of where we’re at and we’re not taking a back seat to anybody.”

Previously, Triple H had caused a massive outrage by indirectly referring AEW as a “secondary promotion”. Speaking on Cody Rhodes’ return to WWE in Peacock’s American Nightmare documentary, the former WWE champion had said, “To then take that gamble again and say, ‘This is not what I wanted to be. I didn’t want to grow up dreaming to be the champion or the face of a secondary promotion. I wanted to be the WWE Champion.'” The two-hour-long documentary focuses on Rhodes’ journey as a wrestler.

Triple H was talking about Cody Rhodes’ move to return to WWE after his AEW contract had expired at the end of last year. Rhodes, on the other hand, did not spill the beans on his decision but the American Nightmare reportedly revealed in the documentary that due to some personal reasons he had to leave the franchise.

AEW is now all set to come up with its next pay-per-view (PPV) event at London’s Wembley Stadium on August 27. It has been learnt that more than 70,000 tickets have been sold so far for the show. AEW managed to achieve this without even announcing a match. This month’s PPV will also mark AEW’s very first event outside North America.

Meanwhile, WWE is all set to host this year’s SummerSlam on August 6 at the Ford Field in Detroit. The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will defend his title against Jey Uso at SummerSlam 2023. In the women’s segment, Asuka will look to defend her Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair. Drew McIntyre will be vying for the Intercontinental Champion at the SummerSlam 2023.