At this point I’d argue wrestling’s audience is more or less capped, especially for people who are going to carve out time to watch it live. WWE is having a creative resurgence and, to hear them tell it, Roman Reigns is the most important wrestler in history, and his impact on business is...minimal at best? Service the audience you have with a clear vision and you might see some incremental growth on the margins, but the pop culture landscape is so fractured cultural monoliths are nearly impossible to pull off unless you have some legacy way to pull people in.
My read (such as it is based on noxious internet vibes) is that WWE fans aren’t so much fans of pro wrestling as they are of WWE, which is why a significant amount of WWE’s audience doesn’t seem to engage with AEW in any real way. If AEW goes the route of making their show MORE sports entertain-y, there might be a higher likelihood of driving away their core fanbase that is there for work rate then there is for bringing WWE’s audience in, especially since when AEW’s product presents as “more adult” so getting the family audiences coming in is a harder sell just off the blood and more colorful language
I am excited for Omega vs Vikingo because, despite having never seen a Vikingo match in my life, I know Tony Khan is not a moron at making good matches between his biggest star and outsiders.
I've been tuned out on AEW for much of the last year, but if I'm promised a banger Omega match, I'm gonna watch. I don't need to know any more than that.
The bad-faith AEW takes (some of which are Astro-turfed by the company that wants to monopolize the industry) are nauseating, to the point they made me quit social media, which is actually a good thing.
At this point I’d argue wrestling’s audience is more or less capped, especially for people who are going to carve out time to watch it live. WWE is having a creative resurgence and, to hear them tell it, Roman Reigns is the most important wrestler in history, and his impact on business is...minimal at best? Service the audience you have with a clear vision and you might see some incremental growth on the margins, but the pop culture landscape is so fractured cultural monoliths are nearly impossible to pull off unless you have some legacy way to pull people in.
I suppose you could argue that means AEW has the potential to reach peak WWE numbers. So there is room for improvement.
My read (such as it is based on noxious internet vibes) is that WWE fans aren’t so much fans of pro wrestling as they are of WWE, which is why a significant amount of WWE’s audience doesn’t seem to engage with AEW in any real way. If AEW goes the route of making their show MORE sports entertain-y, there might be a higher likelihood of driving away their core fanbase that is there for work rate then there is for bringing WWE’s audience in, especially since when AEW’s product presents as “more adult” so getting the family audiences coming in is a harder sell just off the blood and more colorful language
I am excited for Omega vs Vikingo because, despite having never seen a Vikingo match in my life, I know Tony Khan is not a moron at making good matches between his biggest star and outsiders.
I've been tuned out on AEW for much of the last year, but if I'm promised a banger Omega match, I'm gonna watch. I don't need to know any more than that.
I think they've earned that trust.
The bad-faith AEW takes (some of which are Astro-turfed by the company that wants to monopolize the industry) are nauseating, to the point they made me quit social media, which is actually a good thing.
Some of the negativity does feel like the stuff that used to pollute MMA forums that was later revealed to be UFC astro-turfing.
Some of it is just people looking for attention.