Pro wrestling companies competing for viewership and attendance is nothing new. WWE has dominated the landscape of professional wrestling for a long time after the demise of WCW. Having the biggest stars, grander shows, and a global audience has only added to their dominance and monopoly in North America.

However, for the past few years, Tony Khan’s AEW has tried its best to raise tensions for the Stamford-based promotion. The perfect example of that was the Wednesday night wars, where WWE’s NXT came nowhere near in terms of ratings against AEW’s Dynamite. The Wednesday Night Wars came to an end on April 13, 2021, when NXT moved to Tuesday nights, with AEW emerging victorious almost every week in terms of both total viewership and viewership from the key 18–49 age group.

But this was a story from the past. Since the change in WWE’s leadership when it came to creative decisions last year, the promotion has broken record after record and even blown away AEW in weekly ratings for their shows and the trend has continued this year where SmackDown’s 20th October episode bagged a whopping 2.2 million viewers and AEW’s Rampage only managed to get 342k viewers. Also, WWE’s RAW drew nearly 1.5 million viewers whereas AEW’s Dynamite could only manage to draw 774k viewers. The stats indeed reveal how behind AEW is of its rival. But why is it so? Let’s dive deep into the discussion.

Long Term Storylines by WWE might have got the fans invested

WWE has essentially seen a positive change in building storylines. The Stamford-based promotion has been trying to develop long-term storylines for quite a while now. It might have happened because of a shift in creative power from Vince McMahon to Triple H. One of the major examples of that is what is happening with The Bloodline. The faction is considered to be the major wrongdoer in the WWE. In fact, this very quality of the faction has kept the fans intrigued for the past 3 years now. Moreover, it was not only the fans who admired this step but also a veteran journalist who has been in the industry for a very long time.

And one of them was Dave Meltzer. With nearly 40 years of experience as a wrestling journalist, Meltzer’s opinions at this point in time might be considered to judge WWE’s performance as a promotion. Well, when both WWE and AEW are indulging in the rating wars and also shooting salvos at one another, Meltzer’s choice might be enough to settle the dispute. Recently, the veteran journalist was asked by a fan on social media about his ‘Booker of the Year.” After reading that, Meltzer responded, “Levesque,” referring to Triple H’s real name.

Not only that, he considered The Bloodline storyline as an essential aspect that might have shot the Stamford-based promotion to the forefront to consistently maintain the ratings. Especially with guys like Jey Uso, Cody Rhodes, and LA Knight, WWE is trying to present them in the best possible way, eventually standing tall as a rating mogul.

Creative differences in AEW might be a reason for propelling WWE

Maintaining authority in promotion is considered a key step to increasing productivity among its employees. And this fundamental has been implemented by the Stamford-based promotion for a while now. The WWE has proper control over superstars who work for the promotion. Moreover, their way of dealing with the creative differences is what has kept them consistent in terms of productivity. On the other hand, AEW head honcho has been witnessing problems in order to settle creative differences with the AEW talents.

Well, it was all revealed by WWE veteran Matt Hardy in a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy. In the interview, he laid bare how the creative differences are handled in Tony Khan’s promotion.

He said, “There are guys who have had ideas given to them by Tony, that they didn’t necessarily like and they didn’t do them, because I guess they didn’t want to. There’s been times where guys have been home and we know had seen someone in a while say, ‘Oh well, you know creative differences’. So, I guess they’ll hang out and be off TV until they figure out something that they really like,”

As evident from his quotes, it seems like the situation is completely different from WWE. The WWE has a proper way of handling things; where superstars first approach the writers concerning their problems, they eventually end up dealing with creative heads having the final say. However, Hardy revealed that those who don’t like the creative ideas in AEW refuse to follow them and even don’t work accordingly. This presents a challenge for the CEO because, whether they work or not, these talents bring in a lot of money eventually decreasing productivity and also loss of ratings.

Triple H’s impact might have been another reason

Triple H’s creative influence on WWE has been nothing short of remarkable. The 54-year-old frequently tries to include novel ideas to mix since he knows the pulse of the fans. No one ever thought that The Bloodline could go that far in promotion, but it happened under the authority of Hunter. Furthermore, its leader, Roman Reigns, played a crucial role in enhancing the stature of this heel stable. With this, not only did the faction rise from the bottom, but it also developed some great babyfaces like Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, and the hottest name in the latest buzz, LA Knight.

Moreover, a guy like Gunther has been raised to prominence by holding the record for the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in the history of WWE. His dominance inside the squared circle might reflect how well he was booked throughout his reign, which was made possible by the 14-time world champion. Indeed, the quality of providing equal opportunities to the superstars might have captivated the fans, ultimately resulting in the rise of the weekly ratings for the WWE shows.

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The fans have also witnessed women like Iyo Sky climb the ladder under the creative control of Triple H. Also, the rise of The Judgement, another colossal faction in WWE, has sparked the attention of the universe. All in all, the star power is across the board, which might be another reason for WWE to gain ratings and mostly stay ahead of its rival AEW.

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