Mercedes Moné made her grand debut for All Elite Wrestling on its flagship present, Dynamite, final Wednesday. Nonetheless, Massive Enterprise, the present’s theme, did not ship large numbers and is taken into account a rankings disappointment regardless of Moné being the most recent big-name free agent signed by firm boss Tony Khan.
However in charge Moné is to make her the scapegoat for what continues to be AEW’s largest drawback: Tony Khan.
Forward of Moné’s debut, rankings have been far worse for the March 6 episode of AEW Dynamite, which noticed Will Ospreay featured in the principle occasion and the arrival of New Japan Professional Wrestling’s longtime star Kazuchika Okada. However even earlier than that, rankings for Dynamite had steadily been lowering for a number of months, and it’s been greater than a 12 months because the present netted one million viewers or extra. Ticket gross sales, apart from a handful of exhibits and pay-per-view specials, have been abysmal. And the notion of the corporate has arguably by no means been poorer.
For anybody to suppose that the arrival of Moné, Ospreay, or Okada would immediately flip AEW’s fortunes round is unfortunately mistaken and doesn’t perceive historical past.
In 1994, World Championship Wrestling, then a distant quantity two to WWE, very similar to AEW is at this time, spent two months teasing and selling the arrival of wrestling and leisure icon Hulk Hogan. Although Hogan was the most well-liked attraction in professional wrestling, it took WCW a 12 months to change into aggressive with WWE and two years to overhaul the sports activities leisure big within the rankings.
In recent times, AEW has signed numerous skills many followers labeled as recreation changers, most of whom scoffed at WWE for releasing or passing on. These names embody CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Keith Lee, Adam Cole, Saraya, Adam Copeland, and Jay White, to call a couple of.
If these performers have been luxurious autos, they is perhaps a fleet of Jaguars. Nonetheless, proudly owning a storage filled with Jags is pointless if the proprietor doesn’t have a driver’s license, not to mention know methods to drive. Regardless of needing skilled inventive minds to run the corporate, Khan stubbornly insists on reserving AEW himself. As a substitute of embracing new concepts, he clings to his beliefs about what wrestling followers, or at the very least his viewers, need.
Moreover, Khan typically hypes occasions and signings as important, solely to lose momentum and shift focus to the following large factor. This sample was evident within the latest reinstatement of AEW’s rankings system. Launched on the firm’s begin, the rankings determined championship matches in every division. Nonetheless, the system disappeared on the finish of 2022. Khan introduced its return in January, and whereas considerably hidden, the rankings are actually accessible on AEW’s web site.
Too unhealthy they’re from August 2022.
A lot for that initiative.
Whereas damaged guarantees are nothing new for Khan, his failure to successfully promote and showcase expertise is a part of what’s hurting the corporate. Counting on leaked data to wrestling web sites, like Mercedes Moné becoming a member of the corporate, isn’t a enough advertising technique. As a substitute of investing in creating vignettes and reaching wider media audiences, Khan assumes that everybody shares his degree of wrestling information and can routinely tune in based mostly on hints from insider sources.
Lately, I had the nice fortune of getting passionate professional wrestling followers come into my life, one in every of whom is an avid AEW fanatic. The opposite day, he advised me one thing that nearly made me collapse in shock. He mentioned he didn’t know who Okada was. By that, he meant he wasn’t conscious of his work in New Japan.
Whereas I used to be stunned by how little an everyday AEW viewer knew about Okada, this revelation reaffirmed my perception within the significance of training the viewers about new or incoming expertise properly prematurely. Not all followers observe wrestling information websites for in-depth protection. Nor do they watch wrestling from all over the world daily of the week.
The latest batch of dismal TV rankings linked to Moné, Okada, and Ospreay doesn’t precisely mirror their expertise or star enchantment however quite the dearth of publicity surrounding their debuts and appearances. It’s one other reminder of Khan’s mismanagement, which stays AEW’s major impediment.