Why AEW Has Just Pulled Off The Mother Of All Game-Changers

Darby Allin Coffin
AEW (@AEW, Twitter)

Punk and Bryan will, at a minimum, pop a monster number on their first Dynamite appearances. This is guaranteed, and here's the interesting part: as reflected in the strong average numbers pulled since the return to Wednesdays, and an almost unanimous critical reception, AEW is killing it. Those additional, curious viewers are likely to stick with the product on recent form. Dynamite has ruled since resuming live touring.

AEW used to divide critical opinion, contrary to gotten-to claims that the wrestling media is in Tony Khan's pocket. AEW did tremendously well to excel during a pandemic era that somehow wasn't good if bittersweet. It was simply very, very good, mostly, but not unanimously so. It took forever to get Miro right, and most people hated it. FTR's Tag Team Title run while excellent chafed against the idea that AEW rotated its cast effectively. All Out 2020 invited a creeping criticism that things got too whacky in a Stadium Stampede dragon-chase by maxing out the appetite for stipulation matches.

Post-Revolution 2021, beyond a middling, phoned-in run on Fridays, AEW has been on fire. AEW has established an identity, after so much tiresome discourse about what it actually was; in 2021, it is simply the very good promotion that has mastered every awesome quality required from episodic wrestling TV to be awesome: excellent in-ring, quality unscripted promos, wild, electrifying angles. AEW is undeniable, to use its own copy. Surely, two major bridge figures will spike numbers to a level that will make Vince McMahon take a sh*t with his trousers on. CM Punk's return in particular is an enormous prospect. He's been gone seven years, during which time his iconoclastic legend has only deepened - particularly since WWE has declined so spectacularly that he is almost a soothsayer. The Backstage thing was daft, but nobody will give a f*ck about that or his UFC run when he cuts his first incendiary promo.

The question then extends to what Punk and Bryan can do to maintain viewership.

CONT'D...(5 of 6)

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!