10 Ways AEW Has Revolutionised Pro Wrestling
4. The Listening Company
WWE does not listen to its fans.
This a blanket criticism, one substantiated to the point of parody. The harsh reality however is that WWE does listen - Goldberg is far superior a ratings draw relative to The Fiend, which explains the booking of Super ShowDown - but nowhere near enough. Daniel Bryan's journey to superstardom made for a compelling narrative, but only in retrospect. Fans vocally rejected Roman Reigns, for years, the span of which saw WWE's viewership gradually erode by half. Vince McMahon continues to persist with the positioning of King Corbin, when all ratings data indicates he should not, because Vince McMahon likes him. Similar mistakes were made by a TNA rampant with nepotism when it once held a tentative footing in the market.
AEW listens. This is revolutionary for an industry monopolised by the unilateral whims of Vince McMahon.
The Nightmare Collective was a nepotistic, amateurish stable incongruous to AEW's presentation. The experiment on principle was not bad - it's necessary, in a controlled and staid wider landscape - but it failed, miserably, and so it was sh*t-canned.
Too many Dynamite matches went too long, exposing green talent, and to the detriment of promos, vignettes and world-building. AEW refined its TV formula to incorporate all of that, in 2020, resulting in the sensational top-to-bottom Revolution build.
They listened. They listened also to a decades-long plea of...