Jim Ross Hopes NXT Moving To USA Will Motivate The AEW Roster To Compete

Jim Ross talks NXT going head-to-head with AEW.

With NXT officially moving to USA Network beginning on Sept. 18, the Wednesday Night Wars are upon us as AEW will premiere on TNT on Oct. 2. On the latest episode of Grilling JR, longtime announcer and current AEW advisor Jim Ross gave his thoughts on the head-to-head battle.

“I’m not surprised, knowing Vince as well as I do and working with him so closely. Being laid back and letting AEW grow freely and independently was never going to happen,” said Ross. “He feels threatened, for some crazy reason. That’s interesting to me. I saw on Twitter, ‘AEW started this because Cody busted up a throne.’ I can see where the point is made. But I don’t know there was ever any gunshots at each other. But it didn’t surprise me. Competition is good. We’ll be very happy to compete. We knew it was going to be a competition all long and that it wasn’t going to be an easy road. At no time in my short experience with Tony Khan have I heard one person ever say, ‘We’re gonna get WWE on this one.’ It’s brought up online and in the wrestling media.”

Ross continued, “When Vince moved NXT off his own Network, it tells us all we need to know. Is WWE aware and cautious about the development of AEW? The answer is obviously ‘Yes.’ Should they be? I don’t really know. No one is going to supplant WWE as the number one sports entertainment company in the world. The goal of AEW is to provide a great product to lapsed fans and others with an athletically based, old-school oriented product. And to make a profit for the Khan family. It’s all about us. Not about them. It should motivate all of our guys. They should see this as a competitive challenge. All I give a damn about is how well our show is going to be at All Out. Bring it on. Let’s compete. Hopefully, we won’t break down into some Mickey Mouse, infantile bullshit on either side.”

AEW Co-Executive Vice President Nick Jackson tweeted “we aren’t scared” about NXT going head-to-head with AEW while Chris Jericho believes there is no war and WWE is simply diluting their product.

With NXT moving to USA Network, many fans believe that Vince McMahon will be more involved with the brand. Jim Ross gave his thoughts on the topic, which you can read by clicking here.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Fightful.