AEWs missed chance

By Scott Keith on 17 April 2024

Good morning Mr. Keith. As someone whos not followed WWE since mid 2000's, and who was absolutely huge into the formation of AEW and a lot of what it has produced since inception, I find myself very little by little paying more attention to the highlights of wwe, and getting already tired of the sidesteps and tribulations AEW can't seem to pull them selves out of. And I'm begging that they correct what needs to be corrected so everyone wins in the end.

Now with that being said, and through no control of what was going on with Vince, do you think that AEW may have actually missed their biggest chance to grow their audience immensely ? For me, I had absolutely no interest in wwe in 2019(also the decade prior) It was stale, the same, ole same old. Vince was being Vince still. The production was getting way over the top and the camera work was unwatchable. Then the pandemic hit, and AEW even in empty arenas full of talent worked better for me than the Thunderdome. Then the crowds came back and AEW seems more lively and wwe just returned to what they were always doing. Then the allegations came in and kept coming in. And while good will was leaving wwe, AEW's was at least keeping theirs. And then the changing of the guard in WWE. And from the time Vince was ousted to the time he actually was officially gone, wwe very slowly started to make the changes necessary, both backstage on visually on screen. And while that is going on, Tony Khan slowly started unravelling at everything. From Brawl Out and On, his twitter, his interviews. He was going in the opposite direction in so many ways. The good will of being the new company with the best in the world was drifting away.
Now I'm not saying AEW can't get back to where they were, say 2021-2022ish, and more. I really hope and want them too. But there was that chance, from 2019 till last year, where they could have grabbed as many new viewers and wwe loyalists as possible. And with how WWE is going now, I think there is actually a ceiling. They could still be VERY successful when they reach that ceiling, but i don't see it being raised for a very long time.

AEW got hot early in their existence because there was a large contingent of fans who said they wanted an alternative, but they didn't. What they really wanted was WWE to get better, and once Vince left, that's exactly what happened. So now those fans don't need AEW any longer and have gone back to WWE again. So now AEW has to figure out their “real” fanbase and what they want out of the promotion other than “not WWE”.