by AEW made his inception in 2019. It has seen lots of success and controversies. AEW was seen as an alternate to WWE. AEW was able to build a strong audience base over the course of time.
AEW shows were usually jam-packed, but lately lots of empty seats can be seen in AEW shows. There is also a slight dip in tv ratings when compared to last year. Some AEW wrestlers have expressed their unhappiness with how they are booked.
Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio talks about negativity surrounding AEW. Meltzer says AEW is making lots of money now, but there is negativity in and around AEW
“They’re grossing a lot of money. It’s interesting because today I’ve gotten so much feedback from people in and around AEW, and it’s a lot of negativity right now.
“And I think some of that stems from the show Saturday night obviously was a very poor crowd. It’s interesting because there’s a lot of negativity while at the same time the company’s grossing more money by far than it ever has, the last couple of months. It’s been very, very successful in that sense. As far as turning profit, that’s a very different story. And as far as the value of the company… there’s economic aspects of the company that look really good, but there’s still this feeling (of negativity).
“Understandably in wrestling it’s always ‘who’s number one’, and they are far from number one right now. They were a lot more competitive in things like television ratings and attendance and things like that 18 months ago than they are now.
“So it’s kind of just a really interesting thing where you’ve got a negative perception. Which usually comes when the economics are bad, but the economics are not bad right now… but they’re still worrisome right now in the sense that when you look at the future and you look at the upcoming shows – you don’t see shows that look like you’re gonna be drawing big crowds in too many places.
“Economically they’re doing much better than they were at that time (when they were competitive with WWE in ratings/attendance). But, the perception is that they’re not because the live shows (attendance) feed a lot of the perception, and the ratings do, because they’re the two numbers that people look at.” (H/T: WrestleTalk)
