AEW is primed to take advantage of WWE’s missteps
It’s understandable if you are exhausted from the last 10 days of professional wrestling. It was an effort to keep up with every wrestling show. From the dozen hours of WWE product, to the debut AEW show, and the debut of NWA on Fite TV.
This is a golden era of professional wrestling. The causal wrestling fan can learn about professional wrestling companies across the globe just by signing into Twitter. Prior to all this access being available at our fingertips, WWE has enjoyed being at the top of the food chain for the last 20 years. Impact Wrestling’s attempt to gain mainstream relevance came and went faster than a Brock Lesnar match. When WCW began their nosedive in 1998, fans had no idea it would take 20 years for North American professional wrestling to have a viable alternative.
WWE has lived off the fat of the wrestling land for two decades. They have been rarely pushed by any other alternative option in North America. AEW has now shown themselves to be competition.
It was a vicious cycle of fans groaning for a change in WWE Creative and threatening to stop watching the program. As they would complain, the $9.99 monthly charge for the WWE Network would debit their account.
In order to keep up with the revolutionary concepts of WCW and ECW in the 1990s, WWE HAD to change their production. Once those companies went out of business, WWE morphed into a corporate entertainment conglomerate and would distance their brand from being a pro wrestling company.
Until now, WWE had 99% of the North American pro wrestling landscape covered.
The ending of the debut episode of SmackDown on Fox was rejected by the fans that tired of Brock Lesnar being champion. Fans had invested in Kofi Kingston, only to see him defeated in record time by Lesnar.
The Fiend Bray Wyatt had accomplished the impossible task in 2019 of successfully reinventing the entire direction of his character into something that fans were captivated with. Fans wanted Wyatt to win the WWE Universal Championship at Hell in a Cell. Hell in a Cell has been known for its physicality and memorable moments. Seth Rollins vs The Fiend Bray Wyatt produced a memorable moment for all the wrong reasons.
Fans vocally dismissed the finish of Hell in a Cell due to the match ended in a disqualification which allowed Rollins to remain champion. Fans wanted to give WWE the benefit of the doubt. They wanted to believe that WWE would fix their missteps the next night on Monday Night RAW. They would then their intelligence insulted with a storyline that portrayed with Bobby Lashley and Lana in a relationship with Rusev made to look like a fool.
In the past 20 years, WWE could afford these booking missteps due to them being the only relevant professional wrestling option on North American television.
AEW has been able to grow their buzz week over week. Jon Moxley released a promo through the AEW Twitter page that showed the intensity that frustrated WWE fans for years. The promo felt real and it felt authentic. Fans originally fell in love with Moxley (then Dean Ambrose) due to their desire to have the next Brian Pillman or Terry Funk character command the screen, but those moments in WWE came few and far between. The promo today showed us all why we believed in Jon Moxley.
The second episode of AEW: Dynamite was equally as important to the growth of AEW. AEW has succeeded in getting fans to watch their show. With the strength of the character development mixed with edgy content. They have now succeeded with keeping eyes on their show.
Chris Jericho cut a promo on the latest AEW: Dynamite show that gave fans their fix of “this could be a shoot” promo they desire. Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley had an interaction that added layers to their feud. MJF and Cody Rhodes’ interaction felt like a moment in wrestling that will have fans reading the tea leaves for their inevitable explosion and great match. The emergence of Darby Allin feels like fans are on the verge of the next breakout star in professional wrestling.
AEW left the fans excited for next week’s programming. There were dozens of possible matches that spawned from the latest edition of AEW: Dynamite. This is a feeling that WWE has struggled to provide fans with on a consistent basis.
From television ratings standpoint, WWE television has only had to compete with itself. It would be impossible to ignore the negative reaction WWE received from their paying customers at the end of SmackDown on FOX and at the end of Monday Night RAW.
WWE can’t afford to cut the legs out from the Bray Wyatt character anymore. They have to provide steady character development in order to produce a television show that fans want to watch. Asking fans to commit to six hours of WWE television can produce WWE fatigue.
When fans become tired of WWE’s overproduced and directionless TV, they would tune back in the week after because WWE was the only major game in town. AEW has been able to successfully capitalize on the fans angst with WWE for years.
While WWE boasts to listen to the fans, AEW has clearly been able to take advantage of wrestling fans desire for a wrestling show that excites them.
For the first time in 20 years, WWE isn’t controlling the landscape of North American professional wrestling. AEW has shown that they are here to stay and succeed. As a fan, there isn’t much more to ask for in professional wrestling.