Pulling the crowd has always been a gray area of AEW. Tony Khan garnered huge criticism for inflating the attendance numbers in major shows more often than not. Back in March, a viral photo from a Dynamite episode took the internet to storm as the hard side of the camera exposed a poorly filled arena in Quebec, Canada. The ever-familiar WWE-AEW comparison followed suit.

Fans theorized that WWE’s high-flying roster containing The Rock and CM Punk made the competition harder for Khan. The digs and counter-digs between the two rival companies and their fans continue to dominate pro wrestling. Now, capitalizing on the same trend, fans on Twitter spotted Triple H’s inclination towards the recent empty arena promos on the red brand and said these were nothing but a slam to the AEW head-honcho.

Last week on Raw, Gunther cut a seating promo against the World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest, calling him an emotional wannabe who manipulated the business to get rid of his own issues.

He also took sharp shots at Finn Balor before dismantling him in a match later in the night. But the most intriguing thing about the whole segment was that the Ring General did it from an empty arena.

WWE fans laud Triple H’s subtle jibes at AEW during Raw promo

But this is not the first time WWE featured the former Intercontinental Champion. A few months back, when Gunther faced Jey Uso for the semi-finals of the King and Queen of the Ring tournament, he cut a similar promo from an empty arena.

That time, too, fans brought up the WWE/AEW contention, noting Gunther accidentally reached AEW and somehow ended up opening the Forbidden door (The PLE that scored a massive dip in the attendance number). Now, after the Gunther promo, they chuckled hard, smelling Triple H’s mischievous agenda behind it.

The tiff between the Hunter and Tony Khan is well-documented. Khan left himself in deep water throwing shades at the WWE Boss several times in the past and vice versa. HHH also returned the favor by criticizing Khan’s booking decisions, AEW’s standing in the marketplace, and much more. Triple H even called AEW a secondary promotion when referring to Cody Rhodes’ decision to resume his WWE run back in 2022. Now, as per fans’ theory, he’s purposefully making a monkey out of Khan by allowing some crazy empty arena promos in WWE.

2024 has been sluggish in terms of ticket sales for Khan. Despite having Kenny Omega, MJF, and Mercedes Mone making an extravagant debut at Big Business, Khan’s choices have left AEW wanting. They started the year with disgraceful under 2000 sales for the flagship show, Dynamite, and kept on declining. Fans took a direct shot at that, saying only a Gunther is enough to beat their all-month attendance.

The trolling spree continues.

What’s your take on fans sensing Triple H’s AEW shots through an empty arena promo on Raw? Let us know in the comments.