For the first time in a very long time, I’m not embarrassed
to be a pro wrestling fan.
In 2022, I don’t feel like such a dork for being a pro
wrestling fan.
I went to both AEW shows in Washington, D.C. this month. I
also went to the very 1st Dynamite in a long ago, pre-COVID world, but that was
different. That was an event, which drew about 13,000 fans from all over the
East Coast, as lapsed wrestling fans came together to usher in a new era.
These two shows in D.C. were different. They were held at
the smaller arena in Southeast built for the Washington Mystics and the Wizards’
G-League affiliate. There were about 3,000 people there on Wednesday and less
on Friday, about 2,500. It wasn’t a ton of people. It still revealed something
very interesting about AEW.
The fans represented an actual cross-section of the DC area.
When I went to the first Dynamite, it was about 90 percent middle aged white dudes
in Bullet Club t-shirts. I would’ve been one of them, but I couldn’t find my
Kenny Omega shirt.
This week, the crowd was completely different. It was
especially apparent during Friday’s live Rampage taping. I sat between two
Black couples – I don’t think I saw a single Black couple at the 1st Dynamite,
so the crowd’s diversity instantly skyrocketed.
Secondly, there were way more kids and teens than that first
Dynamite. A Dad seated behind me had gone to Wednesday’s show with a friend and
came back for Friday’s show with his son, about 10 or 11 years old, because
they wanted to see Hook. Jungle Boy had an unannounced match before the live
show started, and the kid behind me screamed so loud I had to smile.
Simply put, there was an energy to both shows that has been
missing from pro wrestling in this country for years. Even as AEW has grown its
audience during the pandemic, it was hard to gauge how successful they were
because they couldn’t tour or sell tickets.
The return to live shows indicated that there’s a
groundswell of support that is, honestly, pretty hard to comprehend. WWE had a virtual monopoly over pro wrestling in the U.S. for two decades when AEW
launched. It didn’t seem like anything would change. And if it did change, it
wouldn’t be quickly.
Yet this week we learned, courtesy of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that AEW actually averaged higher crowd attendance than WWE in the
fourth quarter of 2021. That’s insane. AEW Dynamite also beat WWE Raw in the
all-important 18-49 demo this week in the ratings. Certainly, the caveat that
Raw went up against the Cards/Rams playoff game cannot be discounted. But it
shouldn’t be close, with all of WWE’s inherent advantages.
After going to both AEW shows, it’s easy to see why the
company is growing, and why it has so much potential. For starters, the crowd
played along with everything all night each night, with rare exceptions. Fans
didn’t try to hijack the show with cute chants or going against the grain. We
largely cheered the faces and booed the heels.
It was the last two matches of the week that showed exactly
why AEW might be on the verge of something special.
The first example is Hook, Taz’s son who was a meme for
about a year until he wrestled for the first time, and it turned out the kid is
legit. CM Punk said, “Send Hook” and it’s become a calling card. We chanted for
Hook so loudly on Wednesday that AEW founder Tony Khan came out before Dynamite
to promise us we’d get Hook on Friday night. It might’ve been the loudest pop
of the week.
With Hook, AEW is taking its sweet time despite his insane
popularity. They aren’t rushing anything or doing anything that would ruin the
aura. He hasn’t even delivered a promo yet. He goes out, does some amazing judo
throws, looks bad ass, and leaves. The crowd loves it. It’s rare to see that
type of a superstar at the beginning of their journey.
In response, AEW had to take chances and develop people.
Anna Jay had only a handful of actual matches before AEW signed her and put her
on TV. A shoulder injury kept her out for months and further stunted her
development.
Jade Cargill, an absolute freak of nature, had a grand total
of zero “real” matches before she debuted last March in a match where she teamed with Shaq. Instantly, you saw that Jade had the look and had charisma.
But you need more than that to make it in pro wrestling today.
Anna Jay vs Jade Cargill was announced as the main event for
Rampage, and wrestling fans were skeptical. Putting two very inexperienced
wrestlers out there on a live show is inviting trouble.
Instead, it may have been the highlight of both women’s
careers so far. Even though Jade was technically a heel, the DC crowd decided
both women deserved to be cheered. At one point, a shockingly loud dueling
“Let’s Go Anna/Let’s Go Jade” chant broke out. I couldn’t believe it. These two
wrestlers were complete unknowns to most a year ago, and they were headlining a
live show on TNT with the crowd losing its mind.
When the show ended, I came home and watched Rampage on my
DVR. I had to see it again. It was that much fun of a show. Both shows were
awesome. Whenever they come back to D.C., I’ll be buying tickets.
The reason that AEW is on the verge of something special is
the mere fact I’m writing this at all.
I put pictures of the show up on my Instagram feed, and I’m
sure many of my friends still think I’m a dork for liking pro wrestling. And
that’s fine. But they know the show meant enough that I went, and maybe that
gets them to google AEW or what the heck “Send Hook” means.
In 2022, buzz is not created through big ad campaigns or
traditional water cooler talk. It’s built by simple word of mouth, and through
social media. If one of my friends is tweeting or posting about something, I am
curious, whether it’s a TV show or a movie or a sporting event.
Pro wrestling fans long for 1998 to repeat itself. Well, pro
wrestling will never be that big again because, unless it’s football, nothing
can be that big again. Still, things can get popular and get onto the radar of
the general public.
On the afternoon of DC’s Rampage episode, TMZ posted a story
about Sting performing a ridiculous move from Wednesday’s Dynamite. It was a
little thing, but it revealed that AEW is started to breakthrough. That
afternoon, AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker was on Nick Cannon’s daily talk show.
Will either of those things change the business in the same
way Steve Austin pushing Mike Tyson did in 1998? Of course not. It’s a sign,
though.
It’s incumbent on AEW to continue this momentum and harness
the energy from its biggest fans.
As of January 2022, the future is very, very bright. The sky’s the limit. Let’s see what they can do. I’m looking forward to the ride.
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