|
Here are some contributing factors to AEW’s slipping ratings:
* Taking one of the most beloved stars in wrestling and turning him heel for no good reason. People who follow him over because they like him get to see him act like a dick and be a bully. Validates any kayfabe talk he couldn’t cut it in WWE anymore. Bad booking.
* Having your top stars wrestle complete absolute losers competitively, and advertise this as a story. Last week MJF even pointed out Punk struggles with the easiest meals. These are not effective squashes. These are predictable and overexposing matches. You’re basically advertising the lettuce on the burger with this stuff. It’s also helped kill Rampage off. Bad booking.
* Having good stuff on your show can often highlight how utterly crap everything else is. People don’t want to wade through crap. They followed up CM Punk’s debut with Matt Hardy vs. Orange Cassidy. Bad booking.
* The new car smell continues to wear off. AEW made big promises and has barely made a splash. You can only ride being new and not being the dominant product for so long.
They don’t get it. They have never gotten it. They likely never will. This product is not for wrestling fans. Not really. It’s for a certain type of nerd who has such a sadomasochistic relationship with wrestling that they consider someone spitting in a cup providing them a drink. This shit does not functionally work for most people who have either tuned out wrestling for being terrible in the past or just want sincere pro-wrestling.
As I predicted, they got a little bit of a bump from their PPV, but have been riding interest down, down, down week after week by advertising shit people aren’t interested in.
|