10 Things AEW MUST Achieve Over The Next Five Years
1. The One Big HOOK WWE Doesn't Have
At this point, it's difficult to determine what else AEW needs to do to grow past that elusive million mark and, more importantly, perform as consistently on Wednesdays as WWE does on Mondays and Fridays to emerge as viable competition in the same way WCW did in 1996 and 1997.
The product is excellent. Those who like it love it; AEW has established a fervent base in thrall to the long-term storytelling, decisive match results, unregulated match quality and the soul that manifests across Tony Schiavone's enthusiasm, Jon Moxley's authenticity and Orange Cassidy's very presence.
AEW has over-performed by business metrics, drawn consistent, near-stratospheric acclaim, and has built an audience of incredibly dedicated diehards. They've attracted a young audience. They've drawn lapsed fans. They have even, gauging by those viewers per home numbers, bonded people together by the experience of taking Dynamite in.
Is it a format thing? Is wrestling stigmatised as culturally irrelevant? Is it too match-heavy? Is AEW fated to just pull in the people it does?
If it can grow, AEW perhaps needs that one big narrative flashpoint to double as a marketing strategy. Wrestling is rarely bigger than when it collides with itself. The NJPW/UWF-i series was one of the biggest money angles ever, and it shaped the future of the western product forever.
And that big moment, the one thing AEW must do that WWE won't, to realise the final stage of its alternative strategy, is to open the Forbidden Door. The mere hint of an NJPW show featuring the Elite sold out Madison Square Garden.
The potential for a crossover is vast.