ESPN VP Addresses WWE vs. AEW Scheduling Conflict

ESPN’s Vice President of Programming and Acquisitions, Matt Kenny, told Sapp that it has nothing to do with certain wrestling companies and there is competition everywhere, especially with college football. So it doesn't seem like there was a huge plan for ESPN to destroy AEW. He said:

“We work collaboratively with WWE on schedule. In this particular case, many of their events had already been scheduled. Normally, in these types of arrangements — so my team and I work on the NBA. We also handle UFC. There’s really a lengthy process where you work with the partner to identify specific dates. You build out your schedule so you align in that regard, and so on. On some level, WWE is scheduled throughout the rest of the year. Throughout the rest of 2025, there had been a number of dates already on the calendar, and in this particular case, we were just laser-focused on launching WWE. We knew we wanted to have a marquee WWE event in September to support the launch of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer offering, as JT mentioned before, so it really had less to do with any particular wrestling competition." (H/T: Fightful)

Kenny added:

"In fact, we take a holistic view. We know there’s competition everywhere, and certainly in the fall on Saturdays, I don’t need to explain to this group, there’s no shortage of college football competition throughout the day, right? We’re in the teeth of the football season now, so we welcome competition. We really take a ‘Hey game on’ approach, and we’re focused on what we can do, in this particular case, to super-serve WWE and wrestling fans on our platforms.”

Wrestlepalooza Vs. All Out

Since the two events are still on the same day, let’s take a look at some of the matches between the two programs. Wrestlepalooza will see a soon-to-be-retired John Cena face Brock Lesnar, while Adam Copeland and Christian Cage are teaming up to go against FTR at All Out. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is set to defend his title against Drew McIntyre, while AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page is defending his title against Kyle Fletcher.

IYO SKY and Stephanie Vaquer are set to battle it out for the vacant Women’s World Championship. On AEW’s side, their Women’s Champion, Timeless Toni Storm, is set to defend her title against Thekla, Kris Statlander, and Jamie Hayter.

WWE also has AJ Lee’s first match in 10 years. She, along with her husband, CM Punk, will face WWE’s heel power couple, Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. Speaking of heels, one of the greatest in recent history, MJF, will be at AEW All Out. He’s still on his vendetta against Mark Briscoe. So that’s just some of the matches that are planned to happen. Really, each event has some fun matches, and it doesn't hurt to support each show on Saturday!