Wednesday’s Are For Wrestling!!!
Complaints—
Wednesdays are for wrestling, yes I said it. End of story, goodbye!
No, but seriously the biggest thing us fans have in common is…complaining!
We all love to do it, matter of fact it seems like the cool thing to do when it comes to wrestling; especially the WWE.
Let’s face it, WWE is a juggernaut that seems to never slow down and never will. They bring in massive amounts of money.
Yes, our opinions matter and no matter how many times we say we’re not watching or turning in no longer — WWE will always survive and proceed to be successful. The casual fan appeal will always be there, as well as the interest from younger audience.
We would all love for the main shows Raw & Smackdown to be better. But honestly, those shows are no longer geared toward the hardcore fan.
—Real Alternative(s)—
There are different alternatives too like NJPW, Impact, Ring of Honor, NWA, MLW and of course AEW whom leaped over all the other promotions to get comfortable in the #2 slot of being the best sports entertainment/wrestling company in the U.S. and maybe globally…one day.
Those companies have issues too that can’t be over looked, from audio issues, roster depth or they simply lack appeal for one reason or another.
But guys…there is hope and we continue to over look it! Numbers don’t lie.
The “Wednesday Night Wars” between AEW & WWE NXT (WWE’s personal alternative) have been decent and they both have provided some of the best content in wrestling this year. AEW has a lot of work to do still but they are a baby as AEW Dynamite just debuted on — October 2nd, 2019 on TNT.
Regardless of the minor issues and yes they are minor, that can be improved upon over time; Wednesdays is the night for us, the hardcore fans…so why are we not tuning in?
Both, AEW & NXT starting of with good numbers. AEW debuted on TNT with 1.409 million becoming TNT’s largest television debut in the last 5 years. NXT went to two hours on USA network (second hour on the WWE Network) on the same night (October 2nd, 2019) with a respectful 891,000 viewers.
—Where is the Support?—
Overtime those numbers continue to dip, for both products. Which for us, the hardcore fans, it’s not good. Both, AEW & NXT struggle to crack 1 million viewers and continue to hang around the 780,000-795,000 range. Now, I know these numbers don’t factor in DVR etc but still.
It shows that this type of wrestling is not profitable, popular or needed to TV Networks or sponsors. Especially when the numbers continue to decline.
Now, I understand AEW has been catching flack and fans have been losing interest due to storylines, repeat matches, too many spots, every match feeling the same…the list goes on but things take time.
Forget about AEW for a moment; so what about NXT.? NXT has always been a decent—great show but was always overlooked unless it was a TakeOver special. The matches and storylines have been top notch and the complaints about NXT have been almost obsolete.
So, why do the numbers continue to struggle?
NXT is only going to get better, especially in the hands of Triple H.
AEW seems to be on the road of improvement rather than decline. They are looking to piece together their identity in 2020; I believe they will do just that.
We need these shows to succeed, the more they do, the better for the business as a whole and the content will be catered to the fans more.
2020 seems to be a big year for wrestling, it will be interesting to see how “Wednesday Night Wars” continue to pan out.
Thank you for stopping by and giving your time to read this article.
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— T Will
