Lars Frederiksen On Where WWE May Have The Edge Over AEW

The leadership change at WWE will put extra pressure on AEW head honcho Tony Khan, according to Lars Frederiksen, guitarist and vocalist for Rancid and one of the music industry's most vocal wrestling fans.

"I think it's going to get tougher for Tony," Frederiksen said in an interview with "The Sessions with Renée Paquette," opining that WWE's content has become "watchable" now that Vince McMahon is out of the WWE C-suite. But Frederiksen also believed Khan will be up for the challenge.

"What Tony's done is remarkable," he continued. "I think it's incredible that he's been able to give a product the way that he has with the talent that he has. I mean, I used to see a lot of those guys on the indies."

Frederiksen referenced Paquette's husband, Jon Moxley, as an example of the type of wrestler who went through the WWE "just knowing that was never going to be right for him" but later finding his full potential in Khan's AEW. He also credited Khan with "saving some guys' careers or helping them shape their careers" outside WWE.

On the flip side, Frederiksen said that Khan and his AEW team need to create the proper environment to ensure continued progress.

"It can't be an oppressive container where there's a sort of a dictator," he said. "You have to have a good infrastructure, and that's the one thing that the WWE might have the edge on AEW ... I've been in both back stages in different periods of time with different wrestlers, and I will say that in an AEW locker room, it's got a lot more spirit and a little bit more carefree. It's going to be interesting to see how things are — a lot of things have happened — and how that's going to unfold."