All Elite Wrestling held a live event at Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium in New York on Wednesday night to a reported sell-out of over 20,000 fans. The popularity of AEW is undeniable and reminds many of those around of the ‘Monday Night Wars’ with the WWE in the mid-1990s.
The top match of the night was Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega battling to a 30-minute draw. For many pro wrestling fans, this was a dream matchup that came to fruition. It was a little surprising that the former Daniel Bryan’s first match would be against Omega on a cable TV and not on PPV, but the draw seemed to create a build toward a PPV event later this year.
With the big event, AEW did media to promote it which included two AEW wrestlers appearing on the MLB Network. Anthony Bowens, who was a former employee of the network and college baseball player and Orange Cassidy. Bowens, who is openly gay, talked about the inclusivity of the organization. Cassidy, in full gimmick, claimed he did not know where he was.
Sportico (subscription required) highlighted founder Tony Khan’s gamble into pro wrestling. AEW signed a four-year renewal with TNT worth upwards of $175 million which runs through December 2023. The deal includes the possibility of tacking on another hour of programming. Also highlighted was the positive ratings it receives from its anchor show Wednesday night. Although not confirmed by WWE, AEW’s ratings likely moved NXT to Tuesday nights. The ratings have been key at a time when the company was not touring. Now, with live-event ticketing revenue, one can imagine the company doing much better in the future.
The article notes that the company’s quick ascendancy to compete with WWE for the younger demo and overall viewers is somewhat surprising giving the size and resources that Vince McMahon’s company has in its possession. But, the popularity of AEW may be due to its edgier content, dedication to wrestling and a desire by fans for an alternative to WWE. Granted, a lot of the top stars in AEW have wrestled in WWE, they had been castoff or pushed down the roster so as not to allow them to show their talents. With AEW, there seems to be more control over gimmick and storyline. The company caters mainly to the younger male demo based on ratings. Also of note is its conversion from cable watcher to PPV buyer. Based on figures from PPV buys, they are up year-to-year with the most recent (and probably best out of the bunch), All Out, scored a company-high 205,000 buys.
The company is on a high right now and we shall see how much it can/will compete with WWE and what the response be from Stamford.
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