Have you noticed the tone shift in the way everyone is covering All Elite Wrestling these days?
As 2025 began I spoke about AEW Two Worlds. In it, I referenced how back in 2019, with the company only been on cable television for a few months and had barely existed for a year, they were already forgetting why people decided to watch. I said how relevant that felt now in 2025.
The two worlds of course were the world that brought us Kenny Omega and the Continental Classic, and the world that brought us the suffocating heat of the Death Riders and what was at the time a parade of former 90s/00s wrestling stars trying to keep their flame lit by burning through AEW’s television time.
I questioned if this was the Main Event Mafia era of All Elite Wrestling where we’re supposed to be invested in all these old names instead of the names AEW built. I even said, “2025 should be a banner year for AEW. They’ve survived what Vince McMahon tried to inflict on them, they’ve survived the issues of CM Punk, they are getting Kenny Omega back from injury, and they got their WBD extension. It sure doesn’t feel that way.”
Well it’s feeling like that now.
Emotional Pivot
We were crying for a pivot. It was the hot word in All Elite Wrestling discourse. So much so that apparently Paul Levesque of WWE cried more about the word pivot than anyone in AEW.
You could feel that AEW was shifting gears a bit after a harsh January in the build up to Revolution. I called it Fresh Air For Two Weeks in the hopes this would be better for the product. It felt like the pivot was happening, and that pivot could result in Swerve Strickland winning the AEW Men’s World Championship at Dynasty.
That didn’t happen, and unfortunately, that program was more of the same of what we dealt with in January. But overall, the All Elite Wrestling product wasn’t so intent on throwing more and more gasoline onto the fire and was more willing to give us moments to celebrate week in and week out.
AEW wasn’t completely overhauling their angles based on the complaints of the critics but they were changing the tone of the shows. There was absolutely an emotional pivot. They also started writing out a lot of the people causing issues with the show. Chris Jericho has been gone for weeks. Cope is nowhere to be found after FTR turned on him. Jeff Jarrett has barely showed up since his loss to Claudio Castagnoli, and totally tried to retcon his hopes to become AEW Men’s World Champion into he just wants any belt.
I don’t expect for all of the old guys to stay away forever. My hope is still for Cope and Christian Cage to have that one last tag run before they both retire. Honestly I feel like Christian is being underutilized at this point. AEW TV could use some Captain Charisma. But I doubt they will be utilized the way they were earlier in the year as the stars of the show.
Forcing The Hand
Eventually a pivot was forced on the company. Darby Allin, off television to do a personal journey up Mount Everest, it was clear he wouldn’t be back in time to complete his storyline with Jon Moxley. It’s still possible AEW just delays it, but I have my doubts.
AEW pivoted to changing the story about Darby Allin stopping the Death Riders to Hangman Adam Page stopping the Death Riders. Page won the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament, defeating Will Ospreay, and getting the number one contender spot against Moxley for the AEW Men’s World Championship.
I was prepared for Another Bummer Hangman Summer and had zero faith in Hangman actually winning the tournament, let alone winning it to defeat Jon Moxley at Y’All In Texas. Surely whoever wins this tournament is just going to go down to Mox in Texas so Darby Allin can still complete the original story? As I said, I expected them to just snap back to the original plan as soon as they could get back to it.
Nobody knows this snap back better than Hangman fans, as that’s exactly what happened in 2021. When Hangman had to be home for the birth of his child and couldn’t work All Out 2021, there were cries by critics to pivot to a new plan. Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk were all now in All Elite Wrestling, and that meant fresh new programs for AEW Men’s World Champion Kenny Omega that could make big money. Going to a new champion in Hangman would be a mistake in leaving all that money on the table.
Of course, Kenny was hanging by a thread physically, so even extending him to Full Gear was a struggle. We were lucky to even get the Grand Slam draw against Danielson. AEW stuck to the course and just snapped the plans back in motion. Hangman won a Casino ladder match and beat Kenny Omega for the championship. There was no pivot to a new plan. Just delaying the inevitable.
So you can’t blame me for thinking this would be more of the same. It’s hard for a company to change who they are, and it just didn’t feel like AEW was going to go against plan. They may still! But I now have the faith and hope that they’ve seen just how much it means to the AEW faithful to see Hangman Adam Page win the Owen and get this title shot.
Lapping the Competition
There’s a lot going right in AEW right now, far more than things going wrong. There’s two strong women’s champions who will be facing each other at Y’All In Texas. There’s strong heels and babyfaces throughout the women and men’s divisions, to the point where not everyone can get TV time and instead of blaming the company we understand.
It’s probably the best roster ever assembled. It’s crazy to think about that. Maybe not in box office draws, but absolutely in the in-ring talent for both men and women combined.
Part of the shift in how people talk about AEW comes from the recent creative struggles of their main competitor in WWE. People are very unhappy with the John Cena farewell title run. People are very unhappy with the recent contract non renewal of R-Truth and other young talent like Cora Jade and Gigi Dolin being released. The excitement for former AEW star Ricky Starks, now Ricky Saints, has cooled off in NXT, to the point where word is they are accelerating him to the main roster to just give him something to do other than fighting other former AEW wrestlers.
The move of Monday Night Raw to Netflix has led to less people watching Raw than ever before. Not going simulcast like AEW did with Dynamite and Collision has not led to millions signing up to Netflix. Netflix subscriber reports are no longer reported in 2025, but the numbers don’t look great for WWE. There were 2.362 million viewers in the US for WWE Raw on USA on April 8, 2024. On April 7, 2025, it was estimated only 1.1 million US viewers were watching on Netflix. Am I cherry picking a little bit by picking the last time Raw did two million viewers? Yes, of course I am. Do you think they ever do two million viewers in the US on Netflix again since their debut? That’s more the point.
There’s constant criticism now of WWE’s decision to only book five matches on a “PLE” and leaving so much of their roster off the show. What used to be defended as a good way to keep your show tight and concise compared to AEW packing the pay per view with as much action as possible? It’s now criticized, especially with how much time is used for entrances and commercials.
Essentially, there’s more to criticize about WWE than there is about AEW, and it’s what makes me talking about 30 day gaps in title defences feel like nitpicking. But I never like comparing WWE to AEW. To me it’s an unfair comparison. I would never watch WWE willingly. Why would I ever want to compare the worst of something to something I enjoy? If The Wire is your favourite TV show of all time, you wouldn’t compare it to Duck Dynasty to make your point.
But WWE’s woes has people looking at All Elite Wrestling in a different light, and appreciating the work they’ve done in changing the narratives of the company from earlier in the year. AEW feels like they are listening. That’s the big difference.
Keeping Up Momentum
Y’All In Texas is crucial for AEW in 2025.
According to WrestleTix, they have sold over 15,000 tickets. It won’t do what All In London 2023 or 2024 did, but with the right push they could sell another 10,000 tickets and at least 25,000 into Globe Life Field.
Having 25,000 people in Texas watch some of the biggest matches All Elite Wrestling could book would be a major success. More importantly, is how people talk about the event coming out of it. Okada versus Omega needs to be a classic. Moné versus Storm needs to feel like the biggest women’s match on US soil. Hangman Adam Page versus Jon Moxley needs to be a happy ending.
The rest of the card needs to lean more towards what the fans want and what they will pay for instead of being about some desperate grab at outside fans.
The company has Forbidden Door in London, England following that, and in September they will run All Out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Being able to carry the momentum of a strong All In show to Forbidden Door with foreign partners and running All Out outside of Chicago for the first time, AEW needs to keep showing they are learning their lessons.
Putting on the best possible show you can is going to draw fans more than any gimmick, more than any former WWE star signing up, and more than any old legend doing a retirement run. The lessons learned from January is that sometimes fans don’t want to be beaten over the head each and every segment that bad guys win. They live every day in a world where bad guys are winning. AEW can provide an escape, and something to believe in.
AEW has put a lot of work in shifting the perception of the company, and moving towards positive momentum. I don’t think everything is being done correctly, and I know there’s room to improve, but for the most part All Elite Wrestling is right where it should be. You keep this up? You will sell more tickets, sell more pay per views, and get more viewers just by being a product people can believe in again.
