Category: Opinion

Understanding AEW and WWE: Streaming and Fan Perception

Clive BallsLeave a comment

When I was a kid, I preferred WWF to WCW. There are a number of factors that came into play. WWF was more abundant and accessible. I had satellite TV so caught all their shows and PPVs. As I recall, WCW was restricted to a highlights type show on ITV. That might not be correct, my younger self may have just lacked the smarts to find the rest of its output. 

Regardless, what I saw of them made me think WWF was the real thing and WCW was a cheap ripoff. This feeling of it being a supermarket own brand compared to the real thing came down to how it looked. That’s not to say I liked nothing about WCW and I certainly admired some of their wrestlers. If I’m honest, the main distinction came from a place of snobbery. WCW felt cheap. The Fed had better production values. 

Quite why or how this facet won me over is a mystery because Kendo Nagasaki was my favourite wrestler growing up and the final product on World of Sport was several notches below the American counterparts. 

Later on, Hulk Hogan switching companies had zero bearing. If anything, it underlined how WWF was the superior product. I had never cheered on Hogan and every PPV I silently wished Hulkamania would die before my eyes. The promise of it living forever irked me. The only time Hogan impressed me in the ring was when he played Thunderlips in Rocky III. 

Not that I was happy with how WCW was represented during the Invasion storyline. I understood the home team was always going to win but I wanted to see a fair fight. Just as if my favourite DC characters went to war with Marvel, I’d want to see Batman try and pin down Spider-Man, Superman respond to a Hulk smash. We didn’t get a true WCW face The Fed. The vortex it created highlights that even as number two, WCW had genuine value. 

Even with my biases and slanted perception, I felt bad for WCW. 

But Vince McMahon has a trait all the best salesmen in the world possess: don’t ask the consumer what they want, just convince them their product is what you need. 

The WWF (and of course, now WWE) has its own, very distinct and formulaic, style. For the majority of Vince’s rule, he stayed true to his vision and it undoubtedly worked — in a business sense. It isn’t a style that cares so much about the actual wrestling. At least not on a weekly basis. When I was younger, sometimes I did prefer the speaking segments and only really appreciated the in ring performances when it was PPV time. That was Vince working his magic on two fronts. He wasn’t giving away stellar matches for free. You needed to pay for the PPV to see genuine classics (which wasn’t a cost bearing exercise in the UK back then). The fact the weekly shows were a step below only elevated those PPV bouts even more. And it led to the second part of the method: the focus was primarily on the characters. 

There’s a reason that Shawn Michaels putting Marty Jannetty through the barbershop window was shocking then and still iconic today. 

The emergence of the nWo caused McMahon to fight fire with fire and deviate to a more adult orientated product. Once the war was over, he eventually returned to the safer PG lands, with cartoonish characters and bland weekly shows. 

And he made even more money.

At its very core, WWE is the home of unoriginal copy cat production. Its innate property is producing something that has already been tried and tested elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong, it often takes the original idea, and as The Rock would say, shines it up real nice. The majority of the time—especially in the modern era—it just creates a soulless copy. Even Cody Rhodes (who has been great since his return to the company) felt the need to steal a Christian Cage scene. 

We have all heard Oscar Wilde quoted as saying: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

Well, he did say that, but it’s an incomplete sentence. He actually said: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”

This is where WWE’s first real rival for decades comes in. AEW has rejuvenated the industry and has tried things outside of the WWE wheelhouse.

And measured side-by-side, the things that AEW does well are great compared to the knockoff Fed version. 

But presentation and perception go a long way. It makes me wonder: if I were a kid now, would WWE’s more polished production and ease of Netflix access win me over?

I think there’s a high chance it would. It took a long time for my despair with The Fed to set in. The younger a person is, the more malleable and open to suggestion they are. Being told WWE is the Grade A product, over and over again, is going to make people believe it without an objective inspection. 

Triple H—and TKO— can run the same template that Vince did before them and expect similar results in terms of return. And in terms of dwindling weekly wrestling performances. 

The Streaming Era isn’t a traditional model. So there are parts of the template that will come under challenge. The Netflix deal is great for WWE. The increased international exposure alone is something that will lead to a further expansion of income streams. Paul Heyman is right to say WWE is mainstream again. Having RAW on Netflix every Monday solidifies this. 

AEW also has an ace in this regard. The MAX deal has been met with some derision on X. The AEW haters see it as an insignificant bonus to its output. Claiming if viewing figures were that good, Tony Khan would be mentioning them. There is probably some truth in that last point. The part they’re missing is AEW content on a prestigious streaming service is exposure money can’t buy. The thing is, they didn’t need to buy it: they were paid for the privilege. 

When MAX is integrated into Sky and Now TV in the UK next year, it appears AEW will follow. The current ITV deal expires as MAX arrives in Britain. Being on free-to-air offers more eyes, but ITV hasn’t been a good home for AEW. Most of the UK fans watch via Triller. Moving exclusively to Sky may place it behind a paywall but it should get a bigger push from the broadcaster. It was a home that did WWE no harm. The live viewing figures for RAW at 1am on Sky Sports exceeded free-to-air wrestling shows at times.  

Even with any potential boost, AEW seems to be on a hiding to nothing when it comes to wider appeal and objective approval. It may just be a matter of time. The Attitude Era found an audience because kids who’d enjoyed cartoon wrestling were older and fancied something edgier. The PG fans will become rebellious teenagers. There might be an audience in waiting. 

Perception also comes with taste. It’s like cola. CM Punk seemingly prefers Pepsi. I’m a Coca-Cola guy. One was the taste of a new generation. In wrestling terms, AEW is the Pepsi and will never win over Coke diehards. I didn’t write that analogy for the incoming pun, but Pepsi made headway with Pepsi Max. Now we have AEW on MAX. It’s the same flavour but its constitutional elements are different. 

Tony Khan has reinvigorated professional wrestling. The industry was drab—apocalyptic in feel—when it was just The Fed unchallenged. 

The appearance of AEW made WWE up its game. The problem is, WWE fans over-hype things in The Fed and have a different set of rules for what is a weak moment when it comes to AEW. 

AEW in turn doesn’t get the credit—or highlight enough—what it does better than WWE and it feels, because of the endless tirade of criticism, can be prone to pivot multiple times with stories to try and win plaudits. 

This method will never work. Tony Khan needs to have faith and stick to his guns. Hangman Adam Page’s journey to his first world title was over a long period. A time when the anti-AEW hate was barely registering. Imagine if that same set of circumstances was being played out in today’s environment. There’s no chance the story would have been given time to breathe and grow. 

WWE’s Bloodline saga has been a resounding success. It didn’t start so hot. But WWE has a history of being stubborn (often to a fault) and seeing the original plan to its conclusion. 

AEW started out as “the alternative”. It should become inward looking again. Ignore the noise. Ignore any free agents The Fed creates. Hard sell its multiple five star matches. 

For some, we’re past the point to be impartial and nothing the rival company does will get the appropriate level of appreciation from opposing fans. Hopefully for the rest, they can take a minute to realise wrestling is like music. Don’t get angry if the latest jazz album doesn’t play like Metallica. You don’t like jazz. You need to listen to heavy metal and rock albums. 

Don’t buy a dog and expect it to meow

Don’t watch entertainment and expect sports. 

Don’t watch WWE and expect AEW. 

Reports of AEW’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Clive BallsLeave a comment

One would think that a new TV deal worth around $150M a year, for a guaranteed three years, would be a cause of universal congratulations. But such is the toxicity in the Internet Wrestling Community, it only takes a slow ten-count before the naysayers are out picking holes in the terms. Because everyone on X has a law degree and a crystal ball into the future.

When it comes to AEW, those who prefer WWE, or have just taken a complete dislike to the wrestling upstart, spend hours looking into their crystal balls and manifesting its implosion. Much like the Millennium Bug, these predictions will invariably amount to nothing. Not that there aren’t any legitimate concerns about the health of the company or its creative direction at times, but they are nothing more than growing pains. Also, pro-wrestling doesn’t—despite what some will have you believe—follow a sure-fire formula for success. Much of the time, it’s hit and miss until you find something that works. Then the money maker is usually milked until it’s shrivelled beyond recognition (looking at you, nWo).

AEW was always going to have a period of readjustment. It burst onto the scene at a time when WWE was flat. A generation of fans had either left pro-wresting altogether or enjoyed less accessible shows and the indies. Mainstream wrestling was as good as dead to many. Which is weird to say because it remained a commercial success by most metrics. Vince McMahon had no real competition and was in coast mode. And the IWC complained. AEW was the cure to the illness.

In the first year—and through the pandemic—there was a genuine organic buzz. There is now an unfair lens where everything they do is subjected to a harsher critic. Maybe this is paying back the goodwill tax when its roster had less star names, that managed to put on enthralling shows, but were given more leeway.

It’s impossible to keep the original vibe while expanding and evolving. Sure, the roster is bloated and many brought in nudged out AEW originals then failed themselves. Like Miro. He came, was touted as a future world champion. But instead he sits at home because he has issues with creative. Just like he had issues with WWE creative.

He’s not the only star to bring Tony Khan a problem or two. The obvious one being CM Punk. Who, in a swift career move, proved he is a hypocrite and someone should tell him he’s told lies. But—he is symbolic of the problem some fans are suffering with AEW: they thought they wanted a WWE alternative when all they wanted was WWE to be better.

WWE has now improved (competition does that). And a reinvigorated WWE product has fans returning to The Fed, which leads them to complain about the things AEW do that is so un-WWE like. So AEW is damned if it does, damned if it doesn’t. It is the alternative and thus, can’t be a WWE with lower production values that has spots with blood. Which is handy, because WWE has decided it will now do blood again so those Fed fans that complain can secretly enjoy their fix.

We read about less backstage issues now Punk has left. I’m not saying he was a leak, or the cause of them all, it’s just an observation. The most telling recent leak revolved around Britt Baker. If there’s any truth that she bumps heads a lot, it’s a true test for Tony Khan and his powers of discipline.

This writer is a fan of Tony Khan. He has saved the pro-wresting business from succumbing to a WWE PG Era bland, cartoonish, parody. There’s no doubt he gets things wrong. He isn’t a natural in front of the camera. He has done things he said he wouldn’t do (like being on camera as a character). The most notable being keeping Rey Fénix under contract when he looked WWE-bound.

This was a smart business decision. Back when AEW was new, Tony offered overlooked wrestlers a chance to show their talents on an international stage, free from overbearing creative. He didn’t want it to be a prison, if people found they didn’t like it, they could leave. That was great when AEW was finding its feet, but like many things in life, the fun is always ruined by people who take the piss.

Those heady days have ended and will never return. Tony needs to become a stern leader. In the Mr. McMahon documentary, Tony Atlas explained how Shane McMahon was too nice to be the boss. Khan is finding out the hard way there isn’t a truer statement in pro-wrestling. The locker room will see a benevolent employer as a pushover. If he let the Lucha Brothers leave for WWE, there could be a significant number of other wrestlers pressing for their release.

Some may see this as an admission that there’s real trouble in AEW. Why would so many want to leave all of a sudden? Because people who had bad attitudes elsewhere have found out they can’t swing the lead in AEW. And those who feel underutilised want a chance in a different place. They should be reminded that hard work and the right character count for everything: just look at Swerve Strickland. There will be some who think AEW has a ceiling that hinders their prospects of transcending pro-wrestling.

The belief on that last point has evidence if you think TV ratings carry any weight. In reality, they do. If a million people are watching you perform every week, that increases your chances of being seen by the right movie director or becoming part of the Zeitgeist.

This is an area where both AEW and WWE fans have double standards. WWE fans for years of defending declining ratings. Then AEW supporters—led by an over-exuberant Tony Khan—spoke of a Wednesday Night War when week-after-week Dynamite out performed NXT in the rating. Hell, Chris Jericho even called himself the Demo God.

It seems in wrestling, the ratings only matter if your side is winning.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) doesn’t appear too concerned with the current ratings. As part of the new deal, Dynamite and Collision will also be streamed on Max. This gives greater exposure to AEW. It also should be noted AEW has been streamed for a long time on Triller TV. It would be naive to think fans in the USA don’t access it there with a VPN. If there was a worryingly decline in interest, AEW’s PPV model would collapse, they wouldn’t be able to fill major events.

Wembley managed just shy of 50,000 this year (capacity reduced due to local constraints) and WrestleDream sold more tickets than last year’s edition.

The weekly shows are struggling to fill arenas. Welcome to austerity. Everyone has less disposable income. WWE has trimmed a notable amount of WWE Live dates. All companies have reduced footfall. AEW should acknowledge this and select more bespoke, smaller capacity venues.

Running weekly shows will always lead to fan fatigue. AEW has been judged harshly, not only with attendance, but with the notion it doesn’t tell stories. We always had weekly matches without build. Jim Powers would be rolled out on TV just to showcase WWE’s prime talent. Sure, the commentators would use that as an opportunity to discuss the superstar’s wider issues to progress a story, but the match itself was irrelevant and came from nowhere. At least now, we get competitive matches and—this may come as a shock to some people—the act of storytelling in pro-wrestling originally was told in the ring. The art of this sport we love is to tell a complete story with the ebb and flow, the subtle gestures and mannerisms, from bell to three-count.

And the loudest critics—who for some reason get Dax’s attention—prove how flawed their argument has become. Apparently there was no story going into WrestleDream but we have some coming out of the PPV. Or, here’s an idea: the foundations and nuances of multiple stories is being laid over a long period.

What people mean when they say WWE tells stories and AEW doesn’t is this: WWE dumbs everything down so simpletons can understand it; AEW doesn’t spell everything out for its wrestling fans.

If The Fed’s feud of the year needed a bracelet to help fans understand, they aren’t going to understand true long-term storytelling that Jon Moxley or Hangman Adam Page are serving.

AEW has the strongest array of talent ever seen within an organisation. The number of men who could make convincing world champions runs into double figures. The women’s division is also loaded with viable candidates. Maybe this plethora of talent is often overwhelming when it comes to balanced booking. Tony Khan should seek fewer acquisitions and solidify the names on his books. One reason we don’t need a month long build to a match is because Tony can put on a dream card every day of the week and avoid repeats.

But he can’t (and shouldn’t) do this. So far, AEW hasn’t put on a bad PPV. And it’s good we see important matches on TV. But less is sometimes more. Tony Khan—for business purposes alone—needs the casual fan. WBD wants the casual fan.

AEW can never be a true diametrically opposed alternative to WWE and attract the stars diehards want to see, or the ratings TV execs demand. There has to be a crossover, like a Venn diagram, for what a successful pro-wrestling company looks like. There’s the sickos and the mainstream kids. Any extremes die out or remain on the fringe.

AEW isn’t dying out. It’s working its way from alternative to a Max mainstay. And only a lunatic would do this with it on the fringe.

The new Moxley era is already very promising. It delivers the organic edgy feeling AEW started out with but is accessible enough for it to grow and be accepted by a prime time audience. People wishing AEW to fail, are praying for a return to a bland WWE. Are hoping thousands of people struggle for work. Are working against the industry as a whole.

Every single promotion should be able to face criticism. But AEW doesn’t deserve the Doomsday Clock countdown or unreasonable negative bias.

AEW: Where it’s best if they continue to wrestle.

What AEW Needs To Do Next

Clive BallsLeave a comment

This Saturday, AEW presents Full Gear, a PPV it hopes will help refocus the company after a turbulent few months. The infamous CM Punk media scrum, and the subsequent incident with The Elite, shed light on the company’s internal troubles. But the Punk moment was just the tip of the iceberg. Tony Khan did an excellent job—a service, in fact—providing professional wrestling fans with a real alternative.

While WWE unloaded, Tony Khan relentlessly recruited. Sometimes less, is more. In this case, it’s become the law of diminishing returns. The Punk episode was the epoch of the problem. Since then, weekly TV has become lacklustre. AEW always had a vibe, a feel—and even when it was finding its feet—a sense of direction. We were all pulling in the same direction. Now, it feels a little lost. 

AEW has always delivered when it comes to PPVs. These are the things that need to happen following Full Gear.

Get ROH Out of Here!

This writer was excited when Tony Khan announced he’d acquired Ring Of Honor. The pandemic made me venture to wrestling promotions (via streaming) I’d normally overlook. ROH being saved went well with that sentiment. It was good that their video library would be added to AEW’s (and not form part of the WWE Network).

Tony was obviously happy with his new toy and wanted to show it to his TV execs. That’s cool. Let’s help ROH get a TV deal. But that effort has become all consuming. Constant ROH plugging has suffocated everything that made AEW stand out. At one point, I’d have happily paid extra for a ROH Fite TV subscription. Now, I’m not sure I’d dive straight into a YouTube ROH stream. He’s over saturated his own product with another of his products.

If Ring of Honor had been the answer AEW fans were looking for, Tony would never have needed to create AEW.

Following this Saturday’s PPV, ROH needs to be quietly shuffled to one side and away from Dynamite and Rampage. Perhaps this means Chris Jericho should drop the title. He’s too big of a name to be pushing a promotion that doesn’t have a TV deal.

Make Dark and Elevation Relevant

Elevation isn’t the show we’d been sold. That’s long in the memory now, but the description from day one should have been: a slightly bigger version of Dark. The problem for casual fans is the Dark shows are primarily used to boost wrestler rankings (we’ll get to those in a minute) and help green performers get used to the industry. 

There’s nothing wrong with either of those pursuits.

But there needs to be separation and purpose added. Dark should be the pure training show. Where new talents expect a squash but are given time to breathe, learn, perform in front of an audience (the studio is especially good for newcomers), and get used to the feel of a big promotion.

Elevation should be the place the performers go to compete for—don’t groan—the Dark titles. Men, Women’s, and Tag Team belts exclusive to the Dark brands. I know, I know, people think there are too many belts in AEW already. There isn’t: they’re just mismanaged. And if we get rid of ROH gold on AEW TV, the number of AEW titles is okay.

We all begged for Trios Titles and the All-Atlantic has the potential to become something more than a simple secondary title.

Dark needs titles to give matches more meaning. And the rule can be added that once a wrestler has appeared on Dynamite or Rampage a certain amount of times within the last six months, they are ineligible to participate for the Dark belts.

Bring Back The Rankings

A simple one: just bring back the rankings. It was a unique feature that made every match mean something. Let’s not have eliminator matches or convoluted round-robin tournaments. Let’s just use the rankings ladder. (And start a separate rankings and match record for ROH so they can’t appear on AEW shows.)

Bring Back The MIA Talent

At the end of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is told: “Everything you were looking for was right there with you all along.”

Tony, everything you needed was with you all along. You didn’t need to sign every former WWE free agent (to be fair, he passed on a few), you didn’t need to buy another company [enough on the ROH digs —Danny], there were enough AEW originals that were ready to flourish. Some of them were, only to be pushed aside or allowed to stagnate. When Orange Cassidy beat Jericho, it should have made him headline a PPV by now. Hopefully, holding gold now is the start of that journey.

There could have been more Britt Bakers, MJFs, and The Acclaimed type natural breakouts.

The talent that saw AEW as the light and made the switch haven’t been rewarded. Miro and Malakai Black being the obvious examples. It’s time to get back to focusing on what made AEW great for the majority of its three+ years.

We want to see the AEW faces that have been sidelined because of over-acquisitions and meandering storylines. With the pool of talent at Tony’s fingertips, we shouldn’t have so many repeat matches. And we should never see Jeff Jarrett in front of the camera or Jay Lethal (who is a top talent) wrestle on what feels like every show, every week.

Spread the airtime, build new stories.

AEW will be fine.

There have been many positives, even in the turmoil. Jon Moxley has matured into the focal point and person capable of lifting a company onto his shoulders and running with it. He’s had help from Jericho and Bryan Danielson. William Regal (who will probably betray him this weekend 😂) has been stellar. Proving, some signings really have worked out. The women’s division keeps getting stronger and has a depth of talent now unrivalled anywhere.

Following Full Gear, AEW needs to get back to doing what it does best: simply being AEW.

Why I’ll Watch WrestleMania (by an AEW fanboy)

Clive BallsLeave a comment

I haven’t watched a full WWE PPV since Evolution. I totally believe in the positive strides taken to recognise women in Sports Entertainment, and in that particular point in time, they deserved all the attention not because of the “Women’s Revolution” but down to the fact they were markedly better than the male counterparts.

I stopped watching WWE because of Bad Creative and the Saudi situation. Any company that can ignore murdered journalists and still collect a pay cheque is morally bankrupt. Evolution came at an unfortunate time for me to make that ethical choice. Once the PPV was over, the Network was cancelled.

On Saturday, I will again decide to become an active subscriber. (This will be on the back of one of my many personas who have yet to take a free trial.) Much has changed in the intervening period. I’ve become AEW – I’m All In. WWE has further morphed into the modernised version of eighties WWE that was trounced by an emergent WCW. If you can’t learn from history, you are destined to fail. Vincent K. McMahon doesn’t view history – he has a clearly defined end version he’s been trying to paint for years.

Starting Saturday, even Vince will be forced into parts unknown. Everyone around him advised it was best to have a WrestleMania delay. Vince refused. It could be he’s so stubborn, he needs to see WrestleMania chalked off his calendar on exactly the correct date.

It could also be that the most successful and influential wrestling promotor of all time knows how to make prosperity out of chaos.

WWE will always be able to say WrestleMania proceeded unabated. The pre-filmed nature means they can aim for a cinematic feel. Vince is on record saying he makes movies. This is his chance to make The WrestleMania Movie. The two-night affair is also a handy trial. The event has become too long. Now they have a chance to see if two nights, two main events, is palatable.

I’ll be watching WrestleMania this year because it’s a once in a lifetime experiment. If they get it right, it’ll be like nothing we’ve seen before – or will again. AEW has done a far better job with its crowd-less shows so far. It could be WWE has deliberately downplayed the Performance Centre so what we see this weekend blows us away.

The Showcase of Immortals has never been so intriguing.

Now, as long as The Fiend wins, Goldberg is exiled, The Man finishes looking strong, Charlotte Flair loses, Drew looks strong, The Undertaker comes as the American Bad Ass and Edge is retired with an RKO, WrestleMania will be a great success.

Why Chris Evans Had to Leave Top Gear

Daniel SimmsLeave a comment

After weeks of online criticism and falling ratings, Chris Evans has stepped down as Top Gear host. Short of a biblical turnaround, the future looked bleak for his continuing presence on the motoring show. But it isn’t just viewing figures that led to his demise.

There are several factors that have come into play. All of these have created the perfect storm, for an imperfect revival of a major BBC asset. The most obvious is the declining viewing figures. Evans himself never helped his own corner here.

The first show drew 4.7m on the night (0.3m below the prelaunch target Evans had set). On the face of it, this was acceptable. But the ginger one took to Twitter to defend the numbers. Hammering home “facts”. A 23% audience share, 12% higher than launch of the previous series.

When the figures continued to drop, he added that TV viewing habits had changed. That people consumed on the iPlayer. Again, not entirely untrue but it fails to acknowledge that a successful, well received broadcast, maintains a relatively unchanged viewership. Last night’s show brought home 1.9m.

Add all the iPlayer views you want, that isn’t acceptable.

In many ways Chris Evans is the David Moyes to Jeremy Clarkson’s Sir Alex Ferguson. It was always going to be a tough job to fill. Couple this with another disadvantage he had in comparison to his predecessor – chemistry with is co-hosts – and he was always doomed.

Rumours circulated that Matt Le Blanc threatened to walk if Evans remained. In the face of so many personal attacks, the BBC had to lean on Evans to leave.
That leaning would have intensified in the wake of sexual abuse claims; which Evans seriously denies. The allegations refer back to a time in the 90s, and could be heard within the next few weeks.

After Operation Yewtree, and the way the corporation hounded, a later to be cleared, Sir Cliff Richard, they couldn’t take the risk that a failing show was about to face scandal. His radio show is an easier plug to pull if required further down the line.

Ratings, ruptures and red top headlines. He had to go.

What is most baffling is how one of British television’s greatest pioneers became so entrenched in a nostalgia trip. His version of Top Gear should have been about reinvention. The nods to the past subtle or sublime. Instead he was living in a nightmarish version of Quantum Leap, where everybody found him too loud, the show too dull.

Chris Evans can bounce back from this but it will require a project that enables him to tread new ground. Not the safe path he was so eager to stay on.