Really. He stuck NXT on wednesday as counter-programming to AEW. Its not the first attempt WWE made to snuff out the hype, they tried to sign The Elite before with lucrative deals. But that was the next step.
Its not working. First week they tried all the tricks, they created a Takeover quality show including great matches, they had no ad breaks in the first half of the show and NXT always has a runover time to try and get the ratings back after AEW's main event is finished. It didnt work.
2 weeks later and NXT is much more like normal NXT playing to its strengths. That didnt work for the ratings either
Vince McMahon is a control freak and thats one of the reasons WWE is where it is today - not even close to what it used to be. Because he's a 70 year old man who thinks he knows best and continues going back to the past for stars and hires, like signing up Flair and Hogan to get a one off rating, or hiring Bischoff to run Smackdown. Instead of making new stars and finding the people who know what works in the current day, he does what used to work 20 years ago. And things have changed a lot.
WWE started the Wednesday wars. AEW wanted to run on Tuesday or Wednesday (after Smackdown announced it was moving to Fridays). It was WWE that counter-programmed NXT against it on Wednesdays. From what you do know about Vince McMahon do you believe that he's going to be happy enough watching NXT lose in the ratings by a mile every week? For NXT to be at Full Sail University in front of 400 fans when AEW is in big arenas with over 15 times as many people? It makes NXT look small time in comparison to the average viewer. He's going to want change.
Now if NXT had the same ratings as AEW, Vince would call himself a genius again and not touch NXT. Counter programming worked, it didnt make him or the WWE look bad and he can concentrate on the XFL like he wants to. That just simply isnt the case.
Thats not to say everything AEW does is great either. Personally I've really enjoyed some of it and some other parts have been meh.
But its the ratings that the tv networks are looking at and so far, thats where AEW is doing great for a new promotion.
Its where things like 5 star Wrestling and World of Sport Wrestling failed and why they are no longer around. Its why Impact lost its good tv deals and didnt recover after the stupid idea to go head to head with Raw on Mondays before shortly turning tail and running. If a wrestling promotion isnt drawing it has a limited lifespan