Views From The Turnbuckle: Competition Won't Solve WWE's Creative Problems

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"AEW exists because wrestling fans need an alternative."

That sentiment, or other statements like it, has been said countless times over the last few weeks. As entertaining as Double or Nothing was, for many wrestling fans the really tantalizing aspect of All Elite Wrestling was that it could provide an alternative for WWE.

I don't like that phrasing; plenty of wrestling fans over the last 18 years have found an alternative to WWE, whether that was through TNA/Impact, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, or other groups, there were plenty of options available to fans seeking wrestling outside of WWE, and with the explosion of the internet, live streaming services and social media, that alternative programming was easier to access than ever before.

Fans are not enthusiastic about a simple alternative to WWE; fans are enthusiastic about AEW providing true competition to WWE. AEW, with its star power, strong financial backing and cable television support, is in a better position to provide competition than any other wrestling company since WCW. As good as other non-WWE promotions have been since 2001, the fact is none of them have really provided true competition for WWE the way AEW potentially could.

Wrestling fans have had a lot of changing opinions about the product since WCW closed, but one belief that has been consistent is that the wrestling industry would be better off if there were two large companies instead of just one. The logic is simple; by providing a strong alternative to the dominant brand (WWE), AEW will compel WWE to perform at a higher level, because otherwise fans will leave WWE and begin watching the new brand.

The problem with that line of thinking is that it assumes that when WWE begins losing viewers to AEW, it will force WWE to create a better product and the wrestling fan will be better served because of it. In reality, WWE doesn't need AEW to exist for it to lose weekly viewership; it is doing an awesome job doing that all by itself. In 2014, RAW averaged 4.143 million viewers per episode; so far in 2019, RAW is averaging 2.5 million viewers per episode. So in the last five years, WWE has managed to lose approximately 1.5 million weekly viewers, and that is without any substantial wrestling competition.

The notion that WWE's viewership has been doing great without any wrestling competition is nonsensical. WWE has been bleeding viewers, especially in recent years having lost approximately 500,000 weekly viewers in the last two years alone. Obviously this is concerning to WWE, but despite losing those viewers, the company has arguably only managed to produce a worse product over that time period.

So if AEW comes along and kicks WWE right in the ass; I'm not sure WWE is capable of responding in a way that will bring fans back to the product. WWE isn't happy about losing all those viewers over the last five years, and they've been trying to get them back; but we've seen the result of what "trying" looks like for Vince McMahon and Co.

When WCW was beating the WWF in the ratings, it is well-known that McMahon made some crucial adjustments in the WWF's approach to the product, pushed new stars and ended up changing the tide of the war and pushing the WWF to glory. That was a long time ago, in a completely different world; McMahon has been on top for so long and is now so damn old, it's hard to believe that he can adjust in a way that will connect with today's audience.

Wrestling journalist David Bixenspan asked a simple question on Twitter last week: Who was the best pro wrestling booker at the most advanced age? The question was aimed at finding out if there have been any great wrestling bookers who have been as old as Vince McMahon currently is, 73. The answer was really nobody, no wrestling booker has managed to be greatly successful into their mid-70s, coming up with fresh and engaging ideas. Eventually the business passes everyone by.

Take Verne Gagne as an example. For decades Verne was a great, wildly successful booker running the American Wrestling Association throughout the Midwest. However, by the mid-1980s, Gagne had lost touch with the modern fan and his promotion died. Today, a lot of people remember Gagne for being an old curmudgeon who couldn't adapt with the times, and not as one of the successful promoters in wrestling history, even though both descriptions are accurate. The same could ultimately be said about what the public thinks about Vince McMahon once it's all said and done.

In WWE's defense, no promoter has ever had the resources that McMahon currently has at his disposal, and he can spend more money and hire more talent than any other promoter who was seeing their business slide. So far that hasn't helped that much; but Vince still has way more safety nets than any other promotion gunning for his crown.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter posted some interesting data taken from a recent NJPW fan survey. Like WWE today, NJPW saw its business decline following a boom period, eventually bottoming out in 2011. Since then, the company has seen consistent year-over-year growth, and is currently enjoying another huge boom period. The data showed that 56 percent of current fans had started watching NJPW in the last three years; and that only four percent of viewers were "lapsed fans" or fans that had previously watched the product, stopped during the declining period, and came back to the product once it became better/more popular.

That data suggests that the way for AEW to succeed is not to recruit lapsed fans, AKA the 1.5 million people who used to watch RAW but no longer do so, but to create new fans entirely. The growth for AEW won't be stealing WWE's fans, forcing them to get better, but it will be creating new wrestling fans from scratch.

That kind of growth was reflected in the Monday Night Wars, the viewership for RAW and Nitro respectively was not comprised of all lifelong wrestling fans; when both shows were at their respective peaks, most viewers were new to wrestling. There were not 10 million people watching WCW and WWF programming in 1994 to recruit to watch wrestling in 1998; but both companies grew new fanbases to get to that number.

I think about new forms of entertainment and how they have grown over the years. E-Sports has become a huge industry in recent years; but the games that seem to be the most popular are not legacy games that already had large followings, such as Halo or World of Warcraft. Instead the most popular games are more recent developments, League of Legends, Overwatch or Fortnite. Those newer, innovative games are what fueled a huge surge in gaming and left those old legacy brands in the dust.

Could the same be said about pro wrestling? If AEW is going to grow, it is probably going to be through creating new fans. If AEW can offer a different product that appeals to new fans of pro wrestling, the company can create a surge in popularity that has nothing to do with WWE. I don't think AEW will become more popular than WWE by creating millions of new fans, but I do think that AEW can become very successful without necessarily poaching fans from WWE; it is all about presenting the right product at the right time, to the right audience.

In the end, WWE's problems come down to Vince McMahon and his understanding of what the current wrestling audience wants to see. If McMahon is eventually willing to pass his decision making and creative control onto a younger executive (Triple H) WWE likely has a better chance at retaining its fanbase, or even growing it. Everything we know about McMahon though, suggests he will never cease that authority as long as he is alive and able to sit in the chair.

TakeOver XXV Ratings

Roderick Strong vs Matt Riddle: ****

The Street Profits vs The Forgotten Sons vs Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish: ***3/4

Velveteen Dream vs Tyler Breeze: ***1/2

Shayna Baszler vs Io Shirai: ***1/2

Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano: ***

The last rating deserves an explanation, because I know a lot of fans absolutely loved that match and probably disagree with my rating. To me, the Gargano vs Cole matches have just been too much. There is a way to have a match that incorporates a modern, fast-paced style and still utilize consistent selling and logical storytelling. To me, this isn't that; it was just a bunch of moves thrown together and both guys kicking out of everything. To me, it destroys any psychology the match is trying to have. When Cole hit the Panama Sunrise on the outside; my first thought was not "Oh no, Gargano is going to lose!" it was "He's going to roll him back into the ring and Gargano is going to kick-out." That is a huge problem, because it numbs the impact that a devastating move should have on the viewer, because the viewer has been conditioned to expect constant kick-outs.

Anyway, I just thought I would explain that rating before everyone yells at me in the comment section.

Must Watch Matches

El Phantasmo vs Rocky Romero: ****1/2 – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXVI Tag 9

Shingo Takagi vs Taiji Ishimori: **** – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXVI Tag 13

Juice Robinson vs Jon Moxley: **** – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Final

Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi: ****3/4 – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Final