10 Ways AEW Has Listened To Its Audience

5. Giving Warhorse A Shot

Kenny Omega Don Callis Impact
AEW

While AEW listened to its audience when it came to Thunder Rosa, the promotion similarly listened to the outcry of those who wanted to see Warhorse answer Cody Rhodes' TNT Championship open challenge.

At that point in time, Marq Quen, Jungle Boy, Sonny Kiss, Jake Hager, Ricky Starks, and Eddie Kingston had all put Cody and his title in their crosshairs and failed, and so Warhorse became the seventh person to take his shot at the American Nightmare. Like those other names, though, Warhorse similarly came up short in his quest to dethrone Cody.

Given how Ricky Starks was reportedly offered an AEW contract the moment he stepped backstage after his match against Cody, and how Eddie Kingston was offered a permanent gig not long after his Cody contest, some hoped that the same would happen with Warhorse.

Unlike Absolute and the Mad King, however, Warhorse's appearance has thus far just been a one-off. Whether AEW offers the Ruler of Ass a more regular spot at some point in the future, we'll have to wait and see - but regardless, just that one appearance alone brought a whole lot of new eyes to Warhorse, which can only have helped his stock on the independent scene.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.