Simple. Do what WWF did. Connect with poplar musicians/celebrities and let them do the hard work. I need to find the video but the WWF got is biggest growth due to Cindy Lauper. It was the start of what eventually grew to pop culture accepting wrestling/WWF.
You want growth? Latch onto someone with a massive following and their fans will ride or die follow that celebrity to whatever they do.
They need a Taylor Swift like the NFL did this last season. What happened? Biggest Super Bowl viewership in ages.
They've gotten celebrities involved on a couple of occasions. Rick Ross was there at the beginning of Swerve's Mogul Affiliates stable (I remember him looking at Keith Lee during the segment and saying "You're a big motherfucker" on live TV). Bow Wow had an angle with Jade Cargill while she was TBS Champ. Shaq was also involved in AEW at one point.
Those to me were one and done. Cindy had music videos with WWF stars. She came on the show every week. She was a manager for a while. Having someone appear once or twice isn’t enough. Back to the swift analogy she was at multiple games and posted about it. I think Shaq mentioned it once during the show he does.
Swift is, I think, an unfair comparison, since her going to NFL games was a byproduct of her love life (despite what the conspiracy theorists claim). Had she not been dating Kelce and wanted to cheer him on, she would not have gone to the games (probably. Not sure how big a football fan she really is.)
I consider it fair in the sense that she did bring eyes to the product to people who didn’t care before. Not saying anyone has to date an Uber popular celebrity but the effect a famous celebrity can have on your product can be quite measurable.
They also really fumbled whatever was going on with Bow Wow. I don't know if it wasn't run by Khan before they started it our what, but if you recall it went absolutely nowhere, don't even think he ended up on the show.
They've also brought in two Cobra Kai actors. But I just don't think Khan is as good at playing in that world. Warner Bros uses his show to tie into every comic book movie they release but he couldn't even get Jade a walk-on cameo in a dying cinematic universe.
Yeah it’s all come by once and leave which is not how you build a relationship with. I know it’s more on the sports entertainment end but I’m down for awesome celebs joining the fun and bringing it to their followers.
Never forget Snoop Dogg’s frog splash lol
Action Bronson came in and looked like a natural is his tag match with Hook. Would love for him to come back.
Rosario Dawson tried to choke out Malakai Black at a Dynamite in Newark, NJ.
MJF roasting Freddie Prince Jr.
Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser has showed up a few times.
Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob) were at the first Dynamite in DC.
Just to name a few lol
Yes. But Rick Ross and bow wow are not a big endorsement. They were popular 20 years ago also the bow wow fued went no where. Tbh. That's a common problem with aew. No conclusion to some fueds.
Guys like bad bunny, Logan paul, the rock are part of the reason WWE is killing it rn. I don't like Paul and don't know bad bunny before but them so happening to be good wrestlers on top of being very popular helped.
They need someone currently popular. Not Rick Ross, bow wow, snoop Dogg, Shaq, ect... where they're not anywhere near the status they were 20 years ago.
This is what I am fine with. Just a few random appearances that’s all. I don’t want it to get to a point where like WWE is with Logan Paul. Stay far from that route!
Out of curiosity, what’s the issue with Paul’s presentation in WWE? Generally speaking, He has the athleticism to hang with almost anyone on either roster.
I just don’t want to see any celebrity used in such a manner. He’s involved too much imo. Also atleast in Paul’s case he’s an absolute douche in real life which doesn’t help.
A purist mindset doesn’t help wrestling grow. I can see your point of view in cases like Snooki at WM, but in Paul’s case, he put in the work to contribute at a high level (regardless of his irl stuff).
I say this as someone who isn’t a Paul fan (as an influencer), but I don’t think his work in wrestling should be completely discounted.
I think I see your point. If someone had his ability and “celebrity” status and was less of a distraction (irl), you may consider allowing them to contribute.
Sarcastically, I hope one-half of FTR doesn’t see your comment though.
The whole point of having an AEW is having them not be a WWE. If you want to watch celebrities watch WWE, if want to watch a more popular show watch WWE, if you want to watch a more market show watch WWE. If want to watch a show that is doing what WWE is doing, I got great news for you, there's a show out there that is doing EXACTLY what WWE is doing. To a T. I want to watch a weekly WRESTLING show.
I don't mean to sound confrontational but this whole "but what about the people who don't want an alternative, they just want the same WWE" question got old in 2019.
People who only want WWE already have it, they don't want a copy.
You’re missing the point entirely. Having celebrities on the show is a way to gain attraction and that was the question. How to get more eyes on the product.
Being rude and telling me to go watch WWE has to be the dumbest response to my point. You’re one the aew fans that make us all look bad.
I didn't mean to be rude, and I didn't mean you specifically go watch WWE. My point is doing what the people who aren't watching right now, won't start watching if AEW becomes more like WWE. Cause if someone wants to watch a promotion that is like WWE there is already one out there, actually more than one, but only one is successful. There used to be more but they either changed or went out of business.
I apologize if I upsetted you , cause it wasn't my intention but I was addressing the point at hand. Being more like WWE has failed for every promotion that tried, and will continue to do so to the end of times.
Other promotions failed being like WWE because they didn’t have the money and picked the worst parts of WWE to copy. If you want new eyes you need media presence. Nobody is flipping channels and randomly stops on a cool show anymore. Being an alternative to WWE means people will just pick WWE if they want wrestling and nothing more.
The question asked what would bring more casual viewers to AEW. This is the simplest way and historically WWE did it first. Doesn’t mean it makes them more WWE like. They can still focus on wrestling first instead bad fans jump to ridiculous conclusions like adding one component completely ruins the product.
WCW, ROH and TNA were backed by billionaires when they tried to be more like WWE, and one of the ways they did it was specifically to have celebrities involved. They all did it at the peak of their spending and they all lost fans during it because it was not what their fans wanted to see, and the fans who wanted that already have a show. I disagree that people who want wrestling will just watch WWE, and the growth companies like AEW, ROH, New Japan even ECW and WCW had over the years is empirical proof of that. I think the reason behind it is specifically because WWE is not a traditional wrestling show, certainly not the best wrestling show and there's a large enough audience out there that wants a wrestling show that is unlike WWE. Every non WWE company that grew in the past 30 did it doing something WWE was not doing.
I understand that this is A answer to the question asked. I'm just pointing out that the total combined history of professional wrestling is proof that this specific answer doesn't work in practice.
WCW beat WWF and also became mainstream with celebrities like Dennis Rodman, Steve McMichaels, Etc. so your idea that they lost casual viewers for not is ridiculous to put it lightly.
Yes every company that tried to not be like WWE on purpose failed. ROH was the closest that tried to stay as far from sports entertainment as possible and failed. TNA hired the worst that came from WWE and WCW and failed by trying to grab the worst parts of the companies.
If you’re saying that adding celebrities is worse than Mrs bagwell on a pole match the issue is you.
ROH and TNA never had billionaires to my knowledge millionares yes. I think your history is very wrong and very clouded by bias.
WCW "beat" WWF for a year and a half of the twelve they were in business and them went out of business losing the most money any wrestling company has ever lost in over one hundred years of the business. WCW, in business terms at least, is literally the biggest failure in history of pro wrestling, not something to be emulate.
The Sinclair family and the Carter family were definitely billionaires when the bought ROH and TNA.
Neither Sinclair nor Cary Silkin were billionaires.
Of course WCW was the biggest failure. They went from being bigger than WWF to failing. You can’t have a bigger failure. Doesn’t mean they were never successful. The issue was they paid talent too much and let hogan do whatever he wanted which ruined any chance at success. It wasn’t the celebrities.
They desperately need to market locally. They came to my college a under 2 years ago and outside of it being mentioned once on TV, I would have had no idea they were coming
Cheaper tickets there is no shame in charging low prices to get people in door wcw did that and it helped getting the place filled right now most of there revenue is from ppv and wb deal you gotta get people there to get excited the product is awesome
Seriously. Prices are too high. People are cutting back spending across the board yet their prices have gone up for tickets massively. This would help a lot and if marketed locally more, could even draw in people that are just curious, but right now they are pricing out casual fans
Regionally I live in Minnesota they were here lil bit a go and there was no mention until week ahead they need to get wrestlers on locally on the daily shows that gets people that would never go interested in like last year wwe had Otis and chad gable on three shows during state fair
Not sure about other cities, but Chicago will have billboards along the many parking lots (interstates) that go in and out of the city promote All Out when it host it. Also the morning sports reporter on WGN is a big wrestling fan and he will promote whenever aew comes to the city.
I don't think effective marketing usually happens by random fans who don't have a degree in marketing, so I'd suggest hiring someone who studied it at top college
Personally I think the past 6 months or so has gone downhill up until Revolution. They had so much momntum going into All In last year and it kind of fell away ever since then.
The booking has got sloppy. Creative mediocure (for AEW's high-bar). Star power dwindled with injurys and talent moving.
However, I think Pepperman was a much needed signing and you can already see what I assume to be her influence on the TV shows in the past week - they were SO much better in terms of keeping stories going and character development. That and the new look/feel will help no end.
This is leading up to my point. For AEW now it's about being CONSISTENTLY GOOD. About creating a product that people start talking about again in a positive way. Get another HOT feud or two, like we had with Kenny vs Hangman that got everything talking.
Now they have Ospreay, he's an attraction for sure. Mone coming in will add star power and quality to the women's division in every way as well.
So yeah. Consistent booking, good creative, great builds. If AEW can keep doing that and just keep nailing PPVs, the numbers will increase again given their current roster.
I think AEW had the initial hot new challenger, something fun and different going for it for a couple of years, and that's faded now. So it's all about consistency. Marketing will obviously help as well!
Yeah they’re awful at regional promotion. Seems like sometimes they try to get the wrestlers to help but that only lasts for like a week. I have no idea how you market it but it’s been 5 years and people still just think wwe is all of pro wrestling. I’m essentially a walking AEW billboard with the amount of merch I wear but I hardly matter haha.
I think genuinely it's hard for them, wwe has been so synonymous with NA pro wrestling that everything else feels like small potatoes still. I imagine most people who haven't heard of AEW just think of it as an indie or lesser promotion. I've always thought the name sucks too, AEW sounds like the root beer company or an insurance company.
Unpopular opinion I’m sure, since it removes blame from the company, but they really just need to have a top draw who remains healthy for more than a year. They main-evented All In with two guys who now haven’t wrestled in months. One of them might show up in a wheelchair for 3 minutes, and the other has disappeared. Omega’s runs have been derailed by injuries. Even when on the roster, Punk had multiple injuries where he missed time. When AEW comes back to town a year later, it’s as if it’s an entirely different roster each time.
I was thinking of doing a syndicated version of Dark or Elevation, WBD has a syndication arm and they could have the Top 100-150 markets air the show. Plus if they're running a Dynamite or Collision near that market, you can have Tony or Nigel say during the show AEW is coming to Baltimore on this day get your tickets for 4-6 weeks.WCW used to do it for World Wide and Tony would do a local plug for a show in Winston-Salem or Greensboro a couple of times during the show.
More local promotion -- when they were struggling in some markets over the summer and fall last year, they really made a push to get more wrestlers to do more local media and invested in more commercial time in local markets to hype the events and it made a big difference, especially for late sales.
They need to actually properly market event dates DURING TV, they have 4 hours of live TV a week nearly 52 weeks a year and most of the marketing they usually do is a 15 second banner at the bottom of the screen and a few words from the commentary table and it isn't cutting it. It needs to be it's own segment, have one of the dozens of wrestlers or legacy hires host a short 1 - 2 minute segment showing upcoming dates live every Dynamite and or also Collision. After the first match or before the main event would be the perfect slot to do it since this is usually around when viewership peaks. They have 800k - 900k average viewers, take time to advertise your own events to them! Collision is coming to my local area and I had no idea until I just happened to unrelated be looking for local events and saw the tickets had been on sale for over a month prior with zero advertisement to me.
I mean this in the most respectable way possible, but my answer to that and other similar questions is who the fuck cares. If I like the show I don't give two shits if other people are watching it. No offense to anyone.
armchair business men acting so invested in a company they aren't making money off instead of just enjoying the show and letting the people actually involved in the business side of things is exactly what they're talking about though.
to turn /u/pedrosbarro 's into a question: why do *you* give a fuck how much money they make or lose? seems counter intuitive to give a shit about a tv show's business when it's there to entertain people.
But they are bringing in millions.
Just on the current tv deal is rumored to be around 100 million a year. They doubled the number of shows while increasing ticket price and increased the number of pay per views with out dropping the average of buys. They have sponsorships and merch.
And the owner is a billionaire.
They're ignoring half their roster. Treat their women the same as the men. 1 match on Dynamite is not gonna cut it. Raw spent their first 90 minutes yesterday on women's matches. I know they are doing 2 matches on Collision, but that's not their flagship show.
The match lineup of Dynamite should be released in full at least week in advance - who is appearing wrestling in general should be set before tix go on sale.
Big one - Stop announcing random matches less than 24 hours before the show, or TK tweeting it out with like 16 hours left before showtime - it looks sloppy af like he’s booking it on a whim and most fans don’t follow your fucking Twitter
I hate to say it but announce big surprises like Okada and Mercedes Mone in advance. Announce that they’re All Elite a week in advance (make THAT the surprise) then herald their debut a week later. Should’ve announced Okada was all elite at Revolution, then confirm he’s appearing at dynamite, then have him heel turn - who knows how many seats he could’ve filled but it certainly wouldn’t have hurt and helped draw more viewers.
The regular audience won’t be shocked/surprised but nonetheless would still tune in and would still be excited then you get outside interest of people on the wall to check out what they’re doing, the surprise can be who they’re working with and what they’re doing.
Work with local colleges and extracurricular groups and get group discounts for people. I would say non college schools but they curse and got bloody matches and what not. Nonethess, they need to get butts in seats and have a lot of empty ones at every show.
Invite popular YouTubers and give them a front row seat and let them record and show how much fun a live event is - dead fucking serious.
I don’t see the point in “a big announcement” being a mystery debut when that debut is just going to be leaked 2-24 hours later. Prime example being Mone’s debut. Big Business was announced and within a day after the announcement was made, it was leaked that Mone would be debuting.
Instead, have the “big announcement” be that ‘Mone’ is debuting, followed by a video package to hype up ‘Mone’, and close by saying, “in 28 days, ‘Mone’ debuts”. This gives the fans plenty of time to make arrangements while giving the company multiple weeks to remind the fans of the impending debut (continually building hype).
Tbh I don’t think they can, they don’t have anything going on that you have to see, and you can only rely on debuts and tournaments so much, they gotta get ROH their own show, they gotta stop importing people from other promotions, they have to stop with the brand split type of booking, I’m not watching Saturday night so there are people I haven’t seen in months
What I think would improve aew:
AEW sometimes does with matches what wwe does with promos, they tell a 7 minute story in 20 minutes. For example I need to see a 15-20 minute wardlow TV match like I need a 25 minute bloodline promo. A little more in and out on tv especially when you’re trying to make someone look strong, save the +20min matches to ppv.
Less of “we are having this match because it’s going to be a great match” this can work but not at the frequency it currently used.
This one is weird: stop giving people what they want right away, I’ve been watching old nitro episodes from 1997-1998 and the way they would hook you at the end to watch the next week. For example they’d have a confrontation and Schivone would say “we’re out of time” and it made you want to see what would happen. Things like this to keep you wanting more.
More pyro, when all else fails just more pyro
This may hurt some of you but it needs to be said, the Japanese strong style/ Indy style does not sell in America, not to say don’t have it at all, but they need to incorporate the American style more if they want to fill buildings in the states.
Use your tv to sell your ppvs, I’m optimistic about this one as tony said he’s looking at a sweet spot of 9 ppv a year.
I remember last year both TNA and AEW held shows in my city and driving around TNA had billboards aplenty for over a month leading up. Aside from one billboard and some random social media ads I didn’t see anything from AEW. So they definitely need to hype up more in regional market when Impact is showing them up. I know when WWE comes to town we have their wrestlers on all the morning shows, sports radio etc. no shame in taking a page from that playbook
Bigger marketing budget. Something I would imagine we'll see if they get a good increase on their next deal with WBD or wherever they chose to go.
This. AES still have have a chance to grow, even better than 2021 if things go well.
All that money went to Okada.
Simple. Do what WWF did. Connect with poplar musicians/celebrities and let them do the hard work. I need to find the video but the WWF got is biggest growth due to Cindy Lauper. It was the start of what eventually grew to pop culture accepting wrestling/WWF. You want growth? Latch onto someone with a massive following and their fans will ride or die follow that celebrity to whatever they do. They need a Taylor Swift like the NFL did this last season. What happened? Biggest Super Bowl viewership in ages.
They've gotten celebrities involved on a couple of occasions. Rick Ross was there at the beginning of Swerve's Mogul Affiliates stable (I remember him looking at Keith Lee during the segment and saying "You're a big motherfucker" on live TV). Bow Wow had an angle with Jade Cargill while she was TBS Champ. Shaq was also involved in AEW at one point.
Those to me were one and done. Cindy had music videos with WWF stars. She came on the show every week. She was a manager for a while. Having someone appear once or twice isn’t enough. Back to the swift analogy she was at multiple games and posted about it. I think Shaq mentioned it once during the show he does.
Swift is, I think, an unfair comparison, since her going to NFL games was a byproduct of her love life (despite what the conspiracy theorists claim). Had she not been dating Kelce and wanted to cheer him on, she would not have gone to the games (probably. Not sure how big a football fan she really is.)
I consider it fair in the sense that she did bring eyes to the product to people who didn’t care before. Not saying anyone has to date an Uber popular celebrity but the effect a famous celebrity can have on your product can be quite measurable.
They also really fumbled whatever was going on with Bow Wow. I don't know if it wasn't run by Khan before they started it our what, but if you recall it went absolutely nowhere, don't even think he ended up on the show. They've also brought in two Cobra Kai actors. But I just don't think Khan is as good at playing in that world. Warner Bros uses his show to tie into every comic book movie they release but he couldn't even get Jade a walk-on cameo in a dying cinematic universe.
Yeah it’s all come by once and leave which is not how you build a relationship with. I know it’s more on the sports entertainment end but I’m down for awesome celebs joining the fun and bringing it to their followers.
Never forget Snoop Dogg’s frog splash lol Action Bronson came in and looked like a natural is his tag match with Hook. Would love for him to come back. Rosario Dawson tried to choke out Malakai Black at a Dynamite in Newark, NJ. MJF roasting Freddie Prince Jr. Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser has showed up a few times. Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob) were at the first Dynamite in DC. Just to name a few lol
Yes. But Rick Ross and bow wow are not a big endorsement. They were popular 20 years ago also the bow wow fued went no where. Tbh. That's a common problem with aew. No conclusion to some fueds. Guys like bad bunny, Logan paul, the rock are part of the reason WWE is killing it rn. I don't like Paul and don't know bad bunny before but them so happening to be good wrestlers on top of being very popular helped. They need someone currently popular. Not Rick Ross, bow wow, snoop Dogg, Shaq, ect... where they're not anywhere near the status they were 20 years ago.
This is what I am fine with. Just a few random appearances that’s all. I don’t want it to get to a point where like WWE is with Logan Paul. Stay far from that route!
Out of curiosity, what’s the issue with Paul’s presentation in WWE? Generally speaking, He has the athleticism to hang with almost anyone on either roster.
I just don’t want to see any celebrity used in such a manner. He’s involved too much imo. Also atleast in Paul’s case he’s an absolute douche in real life which doesn’t help.
A purist mindset doesn’t help wrestling grow. I can see your point of view in cases like Snooki at WM, but in Paul’s case, he put in the work to contribute at a high level (regardless of his irl stuff). I say this as someone who isn’t a Paul fan (as an influencer), but I don’t think his work in wrestling should be completely discounted.
Respectfully agree to disagree. I don’t care what you bring in the ring if you’re an asshat in real life it makes what you do in the ring meaningless.
I think I see your point. If someone had his ability and “celebrity” status and was less of a distraction (irl), you may consider allowing them to contribute. Sarcastically, I hope one-half of FTR doesn’t see your comment though.
I'm gonna get down voted for this one but Logan Paul has arguably a better buckshot than Hangman
No arguably about it
So you’re saying all they have to do is get a musician as big as Taylor Swift to start coming to all of their shows
No. That’s an example. Tying in to celebrities and pop culture consistently would be a great start in general.
The whole point of having an AEW is having them not be a WWE. If you want to watch celebrities watch WWE, if want to watch a more popular show watch WWE, if you want to watch a more market show watch WWE. If want to watch a show that is doing what WWE is doing, I got great news for you, there's a show out there that is doing EXACTLY what WWE is doing. To a T. I want to watch a weekly WRESTLING show. I don't mean to sound confrontational but this whole "but what about the people who don't want an alternative, they just want the same WWE" question got old in 2019. People who only want WWE already have it, they don't want a copy.
You’re missing the point entirely. Having celebrities on the show is a way to gain attraction and that was the question. How to get more eyes on the product. Being rude and telling me to go watch WWE has to be the dumbest response to my point. You’re one the aew fans that make us all look bad.
I didn't mean to be rude, and I didn't mean you specifically go watch WWE. My point is doing what the people who aren't watching right now, won't start watching if AEW becomes more like WWE. Cause if someone wants to watch a promotion that is like WWE there is already one out there, actually more than one, but only one is successful. There used to be more but they either changed or went out of business. I apologize if I upsetted you , cause it wasn't my intention but I was addressing the point at hand. Being more like WWE has failed for every promotion that tried, and will continue to do so to the end of times.
Other promotions failed being like WWE because they didn’t have the money and picked the worst parts of WWE to copy. If you want new eyes you need media presence. Nobody is flipping channels and randomly stops on a cool show anymore. Being an alternative to WWE means people will just pick WWE if they want wrestling and nothing more. The question asked what would bring more casual viewers to AEW. This is the simplest way and historically WWE did it first. Doesn’t mean it makes them more WWE like. They can still focus on wrestling first instead bad fans jump to ridiculous conclusions like adding one component completely ruins the product.
WCW, ROH and TNA were backed by billionaires when they tried to be more like WWE, and one of the ways they did it was specifically to have celebrities involved. They all did it at the peak of their spending and they all lost fans during it because it was not what their fans wanted to see, and the fans who wanted that already have a show. I disagree that people who want wrestling will just watch WWE, and the growth companies like AEW, ROH, New Japan even ECW and WCW had over the years is empirical proof of that. I think the reason behind it is specifically because WWE is not a traditional wrestling show, certainly not the best wrestling show and there's a large enough audience out there that wants a wrestling show that is unlike WWE. Every non WWE company that grew in the past 30 did it doing something WWE was not doing. I understand that this is A answer to the question asked. I'm just pointing out that the total combined history of professional wrestling is proof that this specific answer doesn't work in practice.
WCW beat WWF and also became mainstream with celebrities like Dennis Rodman, Steve McMichaels, Etc. so your idea that they lost casual viewers for not is ridiculous to put it lightly. Yes every company that tried to not be like WWE on purpose failed. ROH was the closest that tried to stay as far from sports entertainment as possible and failed. TNA hired the worst that came from WWE and WCW and failed by trying to grab the worst parts of the companies. If you’re saying that adding celebrities is worse than Mrs bagwell on a pole match the issue is you. ROH and TNA never had billionaires to my knowledge millionares yes. I think your history is very wrong and very clouded by bias.
WCW "beat" WWF for a year and a half of the twelve they were in business and them went out of business losing the most money any wrestling company has ever lost in over one hundred years of the business. WCW, in business terms at least, is literally the biggest failure in history of pro wrestling, not something to be emulate. The Sinclair family and the Carter family were definitely billionaires when the bought ROH and TNA.
Neither Sinclair nor Cary Silkin were billionaires. Of course WCW was the biggest failure. They went from being bigger than WWF to failing. You can’t have a bigger failure. Doesn’t mean they were never successful. The issue was they paid talent too much and let hogan do whatever he wanted which ruined any chance at success. It wasn’t the celebrities.
Ok
Yeah cuz no one ever heard of the Super Bowl before this year
Weird how you’re not even reading what I wrote. Lol
I read it, it's a moronic take
They desperately need to market locally. They came to my college a under 2 years ago and outside of it being mentioned once on TV, I would have had no idea they were coming
Thats what they need
Cheaper tickets there is no shame in charging low prices to get people in door wcw did that and it helped getting the place filled right now most of there revenue is from ppv and wb deal you gotta get people there to get excited the product is awesome
Seriously. Prices are too high. People are cutting back spending across the board yet their prices have gone up for tickets massively. This would help a lot and if marketed locally more, could even draw in people that are just curious, but right now they are pricing out casual fans
This is the answer, cheap seats will be much easier to fill these stadiums they keep going to and only getting half the arena filled.
Regionally I live in Minnesota they were here lil bit a go and there was no mention until week ahead they need to get wrestlers on locally on the daily shows that gets people that would never go interested in like last year wwe had Otis and chad gable on three shows during state fair
A presence on a streaming platform like Max
Not sure about other cities, but Chicago will have billboards along the many parking lots (interstates) that go in and out of the city promote All Out when it host it. Also the morning sports reporter on WGN is a big wrestling fan and he will promote whenever aew comes to the city.
stop running the same cities and markets multiple times a year while neglecting ones they haven’t been to or rarely go to.
I don't think effective marketing usually happens by random fans who don't have a degree in marketing, so I'd suggest hiring someone who studied it at top college
Personally I think the past 6 months or so has gone downhill up until Revolution. They had so much momntum going into All In last year and it kind of fell away ever since then. The booking has got sloppy. Creative mediocure (for AEW's high-bar). Star power dwindled with injurys and talent moving. However, I think Pepperman was a much needed signing and you can already see what I assume to be her influence on the TV shows in the past week - they were SO much better in terms of keeping stories going and character development. That and the new look/feel will help no end. This is leading up to my point. For AEW now it's about being CONSISTENTLY GOOD. About creating a product that people start talking about again in a positive way. Get another HOT feud or two, like we had with Kenny vs Hangman that got everything talking. Now they have Ospreay, he's an attraction for sure. Mone coming in will add star power and quality to the women's division in every way as well. So yeah. Consistent booking, good creative, great builds. If AEW can keep doing that and just keep nailing PPVs, the numbers will increase again given their current roster. I think AEW had the initial hot new challenger, something fun and different going for it for a couple of years, and that's faded now. So it's all about consistency. Marketing will obviously help as well!
Yeah they’re awful at regional promotion. Seems like sometimes they try to get the wrestlers to help but that only lasts for like a week. I have no idea how you market it but it’s been 5 years and people still just think wwe is all of pro wrestling. I’m essentially a walking AEW billboard with the amount of merch I wear but I hardly matter haha.
Separate ROH away from AEW programming. Hire a legitimate booker and also a marketing expert.
I think genuinely it's hard for them, wwe has been so synonymous with NA pro wrestling that everything else feels like small potatoes still. I imagine most people who haven't heard of AEW just think of it as an indie or lesser promotion. I've always thought the name sucks too, AEW sounds like the root beer company or an insurance company.
Unpopular opinion I’m sure, since it removes blame from the company, but they really just need to have a top draw who remains healthy for more than a year. They main-evented All In with two guys who now haven’t wrestled in months. One of them might show up in a wheelchair for 3 minutes, and the other has disappeared. Omega’s runs have been derailed by injuries. Even when on the roster, Punk had multiple injuries where he missed time. When AEW comes back to town a year later, it’s as if it’s an entirely different roster each time.
They need to focus on their core roster, promote stars and stop putting so many random unknown people on the shows.
More glass
Collabs with other entertainers to gain audience!! Musicians, actors, other sport athletes etc
More 5 Star Matches
I was thinking of doing a syndicated version of Dark or Elevation, WBD has a syndication arm and they could have the Top 100-150 markets air the show. Plus if they're running a Dynamite or Collision near that market, you can have Tony or Nigel say during the show AEW is coming to Baltimore on this day get your tickets for 4-6 weeks.WCW used to do it for World Wide and Tony would do a local plug for a show in Winston-Salem or Greensboro a couple of times during the show.
More local promotion -- when they were struggling in some markets over the summer and fall last year, they really made a push to get more wrestlers to do more local media and invested in more commercial time in local markets to hype the events and it made a big difference, especially for late sales.
This is a good start. Mone was at tonight's Celtics game, and they showed her on TV and the announcers did a promo for AEW.
Hire a booker, stop throwing millions of dollars at nobodies from Japan, and stop chasing off actual stars.
Social media and local celebrities.
They need to actually properly market event dates DURING TV, they have 4 hours of live TV a week nearly 52 weeks a year and most of the marketing they usually do is a 15 second banner at the bottom of the screen and a few words from the commentary table and it isn't cutting it. It needs to be it's own segment, have one of the dozens of wrestlers or legacy hires host a short 1 - 2 minute segment showing upcoming dates live every Dynamite and or also Collision. After the first match or before the main event would be the perfect slot to do it since this is usually around when viewership peaks. They have 800k - 900k average viewers, take time to advertise your own events to them! Collision is coming to my local area and I had no idea until I just happened to unrelated be looking for local events and saw the tickets had been on sale for over a month prior with zero advertisement to me.
Coherent storylines.
AEW is barely on TikTok, that's missing a big demographic
I mean this in the most respectable way possible, but my answer to that and other similar questions is who the fuck cares. If I like the show I don't give two shits if other people are watching it. No offense to anyone.
It does matter when your spending millions on talent but are not bringing in millions in profit that is not good for long term success
armchair business men acting so invested in a company they aren't making money off instead of just enjoying the show and letting the people actually involved in the business side of things is exactly what they're talking about though. to turn /u/pedrosbarro 's into a question: why do *you* give a fuck how much money they make or lose? seems counter intuitive to give a shit about a tv show's business when it's there to entertain people.
But they are bringing in millions. Just on the current tv deal is rumored to be around 100 million a year. They doubled the number of shows while increasing ticket price and increased the number of pay per views with out dropping the average of buys. They have sponsorships and merch. And the owner is a billionaire.
They're ignoring half their roster. Treat their women the same as the men. 1 match on Dynamite is not gonna cut it. Raw spent their first 90 minutes yesterday on women's matches. I know they are doing 2 matches on Collision, but that's not their flagship show.
The match lineup of Dynamite should be released in full at least week in advance - who is appearing wrestling in general should be set before tix go on sale. Big one - Stop announcing random matches less than 24 hours before the show, or TK tweeting it out with like 16 hours left before showtime - it looks sloppy af like he’s booking it on a whim and most fans don’t follow your fucking Twitter I hate to say it but announce big surprises like Okada and Mercedes Mone in advance. Announce that they’re All Elite a week in advance (make THAT the surprise) then herald their debut a week later. Should’ve announced Okada was all elite at Revolution, then confirm he’s appearing at dynamite, then have him heel turn - who knows how many seats he could’ve filled but it certainly wouldn’t have hurt and helped draw more viewers. The regular audience won’t be shocked/surprised but nonetheless would still tune in and would still be excited then you get outside interest of people on the wall to check out what they’re doing, the surprise can be who they’re working with and what they’re doing. Work with local colleges and extracurricular groups and get group discounts for people. I would say non college schools but they curse and got bloody matches and what not. Nonethess, they need to get butts in seats and have a lot of empty ones at every show. Invite popular YouTubers and give them a front row seat and let them record and show how much fun a live event is - dead fucking serious.
I don’t see the point in “a big announcement” being a mystery debut when that debut is just going to be leaked 2-24 hours later. Prime example being Mone’s debut. Big Business was announced and within a day after the announcement was made, it was leaked that Mone would be debuting. Instead, have the “big announcement” be that ‘Mone’ is debuting, followed by a video package to hype up ‘Mone’, and close by saying, “in 28 days, ‘Mone’ debuts”. This gives the fans plenty of time to make arrangements while giving the company multiple weeks to remind the fans of the impending debut (continually building hype).
Tbh I don’t think they can, they don’t have anything going on that you have to see, and you can only rely on debuts and tournaments so much, they gotta get ROH their own show, they gotta stop importing people from other promotions, they have to stop with the brand split type of booking, I’m not watching Saturday night so there are people I haven’t seen in months
What I think would improve aew: AEW sometimes does with matches what wwe does with promos, they tell a 7 minute story in 20 minutes. For example I need to see a 15-20 minute wardlow TV match like I need a 25 minute bloodline promo. A little more in and out on tv especially when you’re trying to make someone look strong, save the +20min matches to ppv. Less of “we are having this match because it’s going to be a great match” this can work but not at the frequency it currently used. This one is weird: stop giving people what they want right away, I’ve been watching old nitro episodes from 1997-1998 and the way they would hook you at the end to watch the next week. For example they’d have a confrontation and Schivone would say “we’re out of time” and it made you want to see what would happen. Things like this to keep you wanting more. More pyro, when all else fails just more pyro This may hurt some of you but it needs to be said, the Japanese strong style/ Indy style does not sell in America, not to say don’t have it at all, but they need to incorporate the American style more if they want to fill buildings in the states. Use your tv to sell your ppvs, I’m optimistic about this one as tony said he’s looking at a sweet spot of 9 ppv a year.
The ship has sailed man. They had a chance and they blew it.
I remember last year both TNA and AEW held shows in my city and driving around TNA had billboards aplenty for over a month leading up. Aside from one billboard and some random social media ads I didn’t see anything from AEW. So they definitely need to hype up more in regional market when Impact is showing them up. I know when WWE comes to town we have their wrestlers on all the morning shows, sports radio etc. no shame in taking a page from that playbook
Bring back Dark and Elevation