Les (@HighFlyFlo on Twitter) asked a question about Alternatives in Wrestling on Twitter and I decided to answer it. My answer got a little long. I decided it would be best to just post it here instead of have like 30 tweets in a row or something.
Les tweet is:
Let me first say that I am simplifying a lot of things that are not simple by any means as people have written books on it so if you think I’m lacking context in anything I’m saying of course I am. I’m trying to answer a Twitter question and ended up going over 1300 words. Anyway.
There is more to being an alternative than being different. Anyone can be different. Anyone can just do the opposite of what the mainstream is doing and then claim to be an alternative but there needs to be a soul in it. So what’s a soul?
Alternative Rock and ECW
Alternative rock music was considered such because college rock radio wasn’t playing the hair metal and adult contemporary that was popular at the time but it still had guitars drums and songs about breakups. It may have taken sounds from 60s and 70s bands and re-contextualized it for a 90s audience but it also started small and grew and never forgot the roots. When alternative rock became the mainstream it didn’t stop catering to the smaller audience that was there from the beginning. It was also a very fan friendly product for marginalized groups. The soul was the fans. New fans are created all the time in listening to these alternative bands today but they know in watching footage and hearing the way these artists speak about their connection.
Once upon a time ECW was the alternative to WWF and WCW. They did what they could to stand out. Most of the surface level stuff they did was already taken from somewhere else (Japan, Memphis, Puerto Rico, etc.) so people in the mainstream companies knew how to do it. They just didn’t want to since they were trying to cater to younger audiences in the mid 90s. What really made ECW stand out was the fan connection to the product. The WWF (not only WCW like revisionist history likes to claim) started signing up ECW’s top guys like Taz and the Dudley Boyz and used all of their “alternative concepts” but in a WWF package called Attitude. For some people that meant they didn’t need ECW anymore but not ECW’s hardcore base. ECW could have survived that if they just made new stars and kept audiences grounded with the stars they still had like Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. And weren’t run by Paul Heyman but I’m trying to not get into the weeds more than I am. Some of ECW’s biggest success wasn’t in their early years but the later years when they still had the hardcore base and added onto it. Even if the product itself was losing the reason why those hardcore fans connected.
ECW beat Tommy Dreamer like a drum to build up new guys who didn’t have that connection in the final years. The last ECW PPV had Dreamer losing to CW Anderson. RVD unfortunately got hurt at the worst possible time. ECW did a poor job scouting new stars to build around. They took the nicknames of previous stars and slapped them on new guys thinking that would work. It didn’t. It wasn’t just the mainstream pilfering them that caused them to lose favour. It was also ECW losing itself and being unable to replicate their own success. ROH dealt with this as well in the 2010s and their only way to breathe new life into the product was to become a vehicle for NJPW’s Bullet Club. TNA abandoned being an alternative when they brought in Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan and some people never went back, even when they went back to a more niche independent product. It was too late.
Alternative vs Challenger
There’s a reason Tony Khan talks more about being a challenger brand than an alternative brand to WWE. He doesn’t want AEW to only be carried by how different it is to WWE. He also wants it to be a mainstream product that survives in the same atmosphere. That way if WWE does copy them it won’t hurt as much because a challenger sits on the same shelf. But where Tony Khan and All Elite Wrestling have absolutely been an alternative is by having a dedicated connection to the fans that they gained in starting up in 2019, some of those fans having come way before AEW was conceptualized. Much like an alternative rock band forming in the 90s but with college rock guys from other bands in the 80s coming together for it. Think of AEW like Pearl Jam if you need a name for it.
The problem is that AEW isn’t losing stars to WWE the way ECW lost talent to WWF and WCW. They still have a lot of the guys fans were engaged in. Tony just listened to people telling him to not use them anymore and focus on the bigger stars. People forget that one of the last times Dynamite hit a million live viewers was with Evil Uno in the main event against Jon Moxley. Now Uno with Reynolds and Silver work the AEW dark matches before Dynamite tapings. All of the time spent with them between 2019 and 2021 means nothing in 2024 and fans who fought for AEW in those years recognize that. They don’t like it, they stay loyal, but they recognize how little their previous loyalty to the other guys means today.
I don’t know how many AEW “observers” understand how important the Trent vs Orange Cassidy program is to the AEW faithful. For every Will Ospreay and Adam Copeland you bring in you cut back on how much those guys people truly invested in the early days are on the TV. Roster turnover is natural and you have to build for your future or else you become like the ECW’s and TNA’s. But sometimes it’s not about who has the biggest star appeal. It’s about who people connect to. That’s what makes you an alternative. That’s what makes you a challenger. You are providing something the others can’t just sign or give to an NCAA burnout.
Fight For The Soul
The standard is always going to steal from the alternative. The alternative/challenger has to be prepared for this. The best way? It’s to listen to the people who helped you survive a pandemic. Who watched the silly YouTube vlogs. Who watched Dark and developed connections with the job guys and girls who showed up every taping. In the rock world, we called them the ones who read the liner notes and knew the words to the bad songs. It’s a push and pull. Never forget where you came from but never stop evolving.
I think All Elite Wrestling is still a strong alternative and still an exceptional challenger brand to the WWE. I don’t think they have any terminal issues. Everything is mostly philosophy based and how Tony Khan and the Creative use the time they have on TV each week. Most of the recent British bloggers crying about AEW no longer being for wrestling fans just want less interference and run ins. And I agree with them! I agreed with them when they said it about New Japan Pro Wrestling. But it’s not a breaking point. This also happened in AEW before and it eventually scaled back. Push + Pull folks. Good song by July Talk.
There’s certainly things that need to be fixed in AEW and I could go another couple thousand words talking about them but I’ll quote myself from this tweet: AEW just needs their stars back. Hangman Page. Kenny Omega. Britt Baker. They got MJF back at Double or Nothing 2024 and that’s a great start. You heard the pop. The new guys they’ve been revolving around need the original stars to boost them. They also need to remember the little guys that people connected to. Dark Order. Best Friends. Hikaru Shida. Nyla Rose. These people are not running to work for a cult in Florida. They are right there waiting for their name to be called. So are the AEW fans who read the liner notes.
If the WWE is going to copy AEW then AEW has to be more AEW than they can ever copy. You do that by remembering your soul.
Photo by me from AEW Blood and Guts: Detroit in 2022.
