But but but…they need to grow and build and audience!!
Nevermind the fact they apparently based on a YouTube series and a press conference, they managed to sell out a 13000 seat venue, sold conservatively over 100K of an “overpriced” PPV, and have a national US cable deal… They have done that much, with more or less, no real “mainstream” exposure. I for one eagerly look forward to where they can grow in a year from now. They’ll likely have a sellout in Chicago, and probably run and sell out MSG by the end of the year.
Will they get 3 million viewers a week on TNT, probably not. But if they can deliver 1M a week, they’ll be more than fine.
Why i’m i wrong on this, really dude. I’m not worried that aew won’t be able to grow as a company but i’m just stating a fact that they will need to grow they’re audience if they want to be look at as successful. You can’t be successful only by cathering to the hardcore wrestling fanbase. Right it’s all good because they are going to markets that are known to attract that fanbase but what will happen if they decide to go to a town not known for getting the hardcore to show up for to the shows. Then what. Do ypu really believe they can draw 13000 in memphis or dayton or even in any small town in the us? No not right now.
Like you mention the wrestling business isn’t broken but it’s a long way from what it once was. But your wrong about one thing, wwe isn’t broken either, it’s just changing into something the hardcore wrestling fanbase doesn’t like. They still make a ton of money around the world and sell a ton of tickets and merchandise so they are a long from being broken and like i mention before on this thread, they are some stuff that happened during DON that if they would have been done on the main rosters, you guys would have condemn them for doing those crappy things.
I don’t care really want happens to AEW, if they succeed and get to their goal of beung competitive with wwe, good for them i will enjoy watching the fight between the 2, but if they fail, that it doesn’t change a thing in my life either. I just thing that it’s time for some of you guys to get out of that fantasy aew bubble you’ve been living in for the past year and realize that they still have a lot of work to do if they want to be true competition for WWE but i feel that’s probably asking too much for some of you.
No one thinks they can sell out a 13,000 seat arena in Memphis. That’s why they’re running a small venue in Jacksonville. No one is saying AEW is on the same level as WWE of that they’re direct competition, it’s ridiculous to think that, just as it’s ridiculous to think AEW hasn’t been hitting it out of the park on basically every single thing they’ve done.
And I’d youre criticizing AEW for only running in markets where they know they’ll be successful, I urge you to never run your own business.
No on the contrary, i applaud them for running markets where they know they’ll be successful, It’s a smart move on there part but at the same time, if you read comment from AEW marks, they pretty much all say that AEW is competition for WWE, In fact, a lot of them were expecting WWE to responds to DON and the success it had. I agree with everybody that said that everything they did as of now, they knock out of the park, even if that’s not a lot, they still did more then any other start up promotion ever did since WCW and ECW die. All i’m saying is that they need to build on that momentum they started with DON and slowly but surely found different way to fix some of the mistake of the first show so that for the next big show, they can attract even more fans to watch on PPV. DON was a great first step in creating what they want to created, now let’s move on and try to make the promotion even better so that one day, they can go out of those confortable markets and attract 13,000 fans in memphis or another market that isn’t as safe as new york or chicago.
Just listened to Cornette’s podcast. Was pretty hilarious and spot on for the most part.
Will be interesting to see how AEW do their “sports centric” version of wrestling when The Young Bucks, Omega and Cody are wrestlers that have a natural tendency to be goofballs. Not that AEW fans won’t look past the hypocrisy… It’s like how some people need to pretend that indy wrestling is a much more serious place than WWE.
As per usual, I felt that Cornette had a lot of valid points, most of which have already been covered above and elsewhere. My biggest issue with Cornette on this particular review is that he’s determined to hate everything Kenny Omega does. And whether you like Kenny or hate him, you can’t possibly say he’s a bad wrestler.
But that’s Cornette’s gimmick. He loves what he loves and anybody who does something he doesn’t love deserves to die. Doesn’t make it right or excusable, but it’s a sunk cost when you listen to a Corny pod.
It’s like a stand-up comedian or other celebrity who wants to be political. They have no problem saying all of this politically-charged shit until they do something controversial, then they’re “just an entertainer and not a political pundit”.
AEW is doing both blatant and subtle things to position themselves as direct competition to WWE. Then when this strategy gets called into question, suddenly they’re “just doing their thing”.
That’s entire storyline was based on moving forward from the Attitude era. Dustin also said it was the best moment of his career. Pretty big difference.
WWE could have had this match years ago, but we got stardust instead…
Cody can’t use his last name because of WWE.
How WWE has treated Dustin
But, I guess only AEW is the only company to take shots at another promotion. I mean, it’s been more effective than the Billionaire Ted shit WWF used to pull
Why are people talking like anyone wanted that match while they were in WWE? They were both mediocre acts. The only reason this match worked at AEW was because they were one of the main focuses and there weren’t many bigger names on the show. Small fish in a puddle situation.
As far as them positioning themselves at going up against WWE, of course they’ve done that. Not just on the night but a lot of everything Cody has ever said since leaving WWE has been about WWE. Their whole campaign to drum up support has been about how they’re going to be better than, and extremely different to, the WWE. Constant references to them on social media, interviews and skits. Then you have Cody at the show, you have a Dustin & Jericho before and after the show as well obsessed with letting everyone know that they’re not working the indies, this is a proper promotion.
I’m not even saying that they don’t have the right to do that if they want (although it seems quite ridiculous to me, personally, to make a new promotion all about being anti-WWE) but let’s not pretend they’re not doing that.
As well, let’s not pretend that being anti-WWE is all that they’re doing. It’s a delicate balance that this new defacto #2 promotion in America must attempt to strike. You want to be an alternative product walking your own path, but there’s also nothing wrong with taking a jab here or there at the big Billy on the block (some would argue that’s a tact many in their audience would endorse).
I only think it’s a problem if the WWE shade permeates a majority of their programming. If it’s only 1 or 2 moments every now and then, I don’t think that’s a problem (especially when The Fed has engaged in taking shots at AEW).
So far I’d say they haven’t crossed the line of being obsessed with the WWE…But it’s certainly something that they should be mindful of.
