10 Ups & 10 Downs For AEW In 2019

Ups...

10. Re-Energizing American Audiences

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That mainstream weekly wrestling crowds are a fraction as loud and energetic as they were in the sport’s heyday was a common take prior to AEW’s formation; one that the company blew away by Dynamite’s fourth episode.

Every show prior to that point had played out before a cauldron of noise. Then, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - a town long chastised for its deader-than-dead audiences - Dynamite passed its biggest test with flying colours, nailing the atmosphere in a place typecast as a “bad” wrestling city years ago.

Dynamite’s attendances might be smaller than Raw or SmackDown’s, but the difference in engagement is night and day. It proves that the product is a bigger driver of volume than the town itself, making those old excuses about X or Y being poor markets when poor shows play out to library-like volumes exactly that: excuses.

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Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.