How WWE Can Win The New Wrestling War

Per Dave Meltzer in a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, experts within the television industry predict AEW's TNT debut to average somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 viewers. An unimpressive number at first glance, perhaps, and one that AEW will need to improve on for long-term sustainability.

This week saw Meltzer write that leading pro-wrestling oddsmakers Kambi have higher expectations for NXT for several reasons:-

1. Modern fans are more familiar with USA than TNT.

2. WWE remains the most popular promotion in the game.

3. WWE's tenure and name value.

4. NXT will be heavily promoted on Raw every week.

5. Star power.

For comparison's sake, the last episode of NXT to air on USA drew 841,000 viewers in December 2017, which was less than a third of that week's Raw number (2.481 million). It's therefore easy to predict WWE's black and gold brand bettering AEW's first few weeks.

But even if AEW does end up overtaking NXT on Wednesdays, winning this war means more than triumphing in those Wednesday night battles. Vince McMahon's product is far bigger than his upgraded developmental territory. If he's to truly triumph over All Elite on a creative level and stop his main roster shows' chronically declining viewership, he must unleash his product at its most bombastic...

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