It seems like All Elite Wrestling might be a bigger threat to WWE than some people are willing to admit, with WWE already showing signs of frustration.
The AEW rally was taking place just a walk away from the current location of WWE SmackDown Live, which led to a lot of fans turning up to SmackDown following the AEW rally in AEW merchandise.
This led to many reports of WWE security actually turning away fans for wearing the AEW merchandise, with people not being allowed into the arena, or being forced to buy WWE clothes to cover that up, especially if they were positioned on the hard camera.
Fans Wearing All Elite Wrestling Merch Allegedly Turned Away From #SDLive Taping: https://t.co/i6KL4sH5h4 pic.twitter.com/4A4e8sJjmH
— Pro Wrestling Sheet (@WrestlingSheet) January 8, 2019
A WWE rep has given a comment on the situation, stating that the company hasn’t told security to ban anybody, regardless of if they were wearing AEW merchandise, but there have been countless reports showing people being rejected entry.
WWE PR issued me a comment saying “Fans wearing AEW merchandise are not banned from the arena tonight.” Nothing about what happened prior, which is what I’d asked about, but they’re allowed in now. They’re being given WWE shirts to wear over AEW branded gear on the cam side
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) January 9, 2019