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Mercedes Moné made her big debut for All Elite Wrestling on their flagship show, Dynamite, last Wednesday. However, Big Business, the subject of the show, failed to generate big numbers and is considered a ratings disappointment despite Moné being the latest big-name free agent signed by company boss Tony Khan.
But to blame Moné is to make her the scapegoat for what remains AEW’s biggest problem: Tony Khan.
Prior to Moné’s debut, ratings were much worse for the March 6 episode of AEW Dynamite, which featured Will Ospreay appearing in the main event and the arrival of longtime New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kazuchika Okada. . But even before that, the ratings of Dynamite had been steadily declining for several months, and it has been over a year since the show gained a million viewers or more. Ticket sales, except for a handful of pay-per-view shows and specials, have been abysmal. And it could be said that the perception of the company has never been so poor.
For anyone to think that the arrival of Moné, Ospreay or Okada would instantly change the fortunes of AEW is sadly misguided and misunderstands the story.
In 1994, World Championship Wrestling, then a distant number two in WWE, much like AEW today, spent two months teasing and promoting the arrival of wrestling and entertainment icon Hulk Hogan. Although Hogan was the most popular attraction in professional wrestling, it took a year for WCW to become competitive with WWE and two years to overtake the sports entertainment giant in the ratings.
In recent years, AEW has signed countless talents that many fans labeled as game-changers, most of whom mocked WWE for releasing or streaming them. Those names include CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Keith Lee, Adam Cole, Saraya, Adam Copeland and Jay White, to name a few.
If these artists were luxury vehicles, they could be a fleet of Jaguars. However, having a garage full of Jaguars is meaningless if the owner doesn’t have a driver’s license, much less know how to drive. Despite needing experienced creative minds to run the company, Khan stubbornly insists on signing himself to AEW. Instead of embracing new ideas, he clings to his beliefs about what wrestling fans, or at least his audience, want.
Additionally, Khan often hypes events and signings as important, only to lose momentum and shift focus to the next big thing. This pattern was evident in the recent reset of AEW’s ranking system. Introduced at the company’s inception, the rankings decided the championship matches in each division. However, the system disappeared at the end of 2022. Khan announced its return in January and, although somewhat hidden, the rankings are now accessible on the AEW website.
It’s a shame they are from August 2022.
So much for that initiative.
While broken promises are nothing new for Khan, his inability to promote and showcase talent effectively is part of what’s hurting the company. Relying on information leaked to wrestling websites, such as Mercedes Moné joining the company, is not a sufficient marketing strategy. Rather than investing in creating vignettes and reaching broader media audiences, Khan assumes that everyone shares his level of wrestling knowledge and will automatically tune in based on suggestions from inside sources.
Recently, I was lucky enough to have passionate pro wrestling fans come into my life, one of whom is an avid AEW enthusiast. The other day he said something to me that almost made me collapse from shock. He said that he didn’t know who Okada was. By that he meant that he was not aware of his work in New Japan.
While I was surprised at how little a regular AEW viewer knew about Okada, this revelation reaffirmed my belief in the importance of educating the audience about new or incoming talent well in advance. Not all fans follow wrestling news sites for in-depth coverage. They also don’t watch everyone’s wrestling every day of the week.
The recent batch of dismal television ratings linked to Moné, Okada and Ospreay do not accurately reflect their talent or star appeal, but rather the lack of publicity surrounding their debuts and appearances. It’s another reminder of Khan’s mismanagement, which remains AEW’s biggest obstacle.