10 Important Decisions AEW Have To Make
3. Identity
This is a tricky point to bring up. Some fans have felt alienated by the fact that AEW hasn’t picked one style and stuck with it yet. Instead, they’re showcasing a bit of everything. Representatives of high flying, hardcore, death matches, tag team, Joshi, traditional and more have been showcased so far just as prominently as anyone else. There is no “AEW guy” trope yet like there is with WWE. And that is perfectly on brand with what AEW is building. They want to be a home for pro wrestling in its many forms. A noble concept but it may not work in the long term.
Wrestling fans like consistency, not knowing what you will get on a given show can be a destructive problem especially in AEW’s infancy. If you became a fan off of the footage of Jon Moxley and Joey Janela for example, you may not be enthused by seeing a comedy hardcore match like Nakazawa and Jebailey.
Finding their niche is essential in finding their core customer. People won't tune in weekly if they get a product they like a fraction of the time. Another component of this goes back to the talent. The tone of what type of company people expect will come a lot from the names that join. And their identity will also be defined by how they handle those workers they hire. AEW is becoming known as the "babyface company" and they will want to maintain that persona. Which brings up...