One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every Year Of WWE History
5. 2020 - The Most Difficult Question Was Answered
How does a wrestling promotion get hot?
It’s evidently very difficult: look at that state of AEW in 2024. It doesn’t seem to matter how many world-class free agents Tony Khan signs, nor how many seminal matches those world-class signings deliver: the promotion cannot seem to shift tickets to a hot show with an incredible atmosphere.
The thing is - as wrestling fans were reminded in 2020 - the secret solution is not exactly well-hidden.
AEW Dynamite beat NXT in the Wednesday Night War primarily because it was the vastly more interesting show, but the scope of the arena undoubtedly helped; Full Sail looked small-fry in comparison. Dick Ebersol’s production know-how made WWE feel massive and glamorous in the mid-to-late 1980s. When the digital age erased the old boundaries, the more easily accessed NJPW became the #2 promotion in the US, in the mid-2010s, because it was incredible - but the large arenas made it feel so much bigger than Ring Of Honor and Impact Wrestling.
And, while the return of Roman Reigns was a key factor, WWE reversed dire, alarming ratings trends during the pandemic by building the ThunderDome facility. The numbers climbed when WWE spunked some money and ventured away from the Performance Center. An equally ugly but significantly brighter and more expensive residency was the answer to WWE’s sharp decline in viewership.
This isn’t quite a revelation, given the above examples, but it’s a lesson Tony Khan could do with learning.
Don’t sign the next available free agent, just blow the budget on pyro instead.