AEW will probably last longer than WCW (what was it, 13 years? Several indies and even TNA have outlived that) but whether the spark ever gets brighter, who knows. Ratings are a whole different ball game nowadays but I think the industry has room to boom even more insularly as it goes.
I disagree with the comparison of AEW being Kuyt or Origi though Its a lot better than thought and is the cure for lapsed fans.
I honestly feel there is a billionaire somewhere (not some sportswashing type) that grew up watching WCW, who would love to restart it again. The problem is, if they approached Vince McMahon they wouldn’t get a sniff at it. He likes it dead (while he’s in charge of WWE that is).
But once he sells (and it gets more likely with every batch of releases) it’s fair game. Yes, the new owners would love the appeal of all its archive content and merch. But money talks.
And I feel if someone were to acquire the WCW rights, with all the trademarks and relaunch it post Vince WWE, it would appeal to a lot of people. A lot of wrestling fans got into wrestling because of WCW, and stopped watching when it went under.
And yes, I get the Kuyt Origi analogy may not be for everyone haha. But I feel there’s a difference between lapsed wrestling fans and lapsed WWE fans.
Eric Bischoff says lapsed wrestling fans from the 90s watch cable news and Netflix because of the more real promos by news anchors and rich storytelling on Netflix. As well as UFC for the buzz of a fight that you would get from Rock v Austin, or Goldberg v Hogan. He says the audience is out there. 4m people tuned into Smackdown fox debut because of The Rock. 2m watch now. They are out there.
Whereas the lapsed wwe fan is people who watch wrestling but just not WWE. It’s why the forbidden door appeals to people as those fans know who these NJPW people are.
The lapsed wrestling fan just wants sports entertainment done better. WCW did that with the NWO. While the lapsed wwe fan likes AEW, because it’s an augmented version of NXT. AEW haven’t got over a million viewers since September. It’s a better alternative to WWE, but it’s not setting the world alight.
I feel a consortium post a Vince McMahon WWE that approaches NBC/Disney and buys the WCW rights with a vision of giving a Sports Entertainment product that has rich storytelling, fun events like Bash at the Beach, and just the overall tenets that make WCW great, is what could happen in the next decade. But also get us near what we used to have. The Bischoff mantra of SARSA. Story, Anticipation, Reality, Suspense, Action.
Eric Bischoff has said he is doing a study on where wrestling fans went, and how to get them back. Someone on his podcast jokingly said he could sell the findings to a company for a million dollars. That hypothetical consortium would be a good bet.