I can fully understand why some wrestling fans gravitate toward AEW more than WWE because the content they produce is far edgier. They are basically doing what WWE did to win the Monday Night Wars. WWE used to produce content very similar to this back in the Attitude Era, but the company has gone softer (particularly in recent years) in an attempt to appeal to viewers of all different demographics and ages.
AEW provides fans with just enough familiarity with WWE (because they have at least 5-7 superstars and several other employees who worked with WWE in the past. Jon Moxley, formerly known as Dean Ambrose in WWE, was probably the character with a vibe very reminiscent of a superstar in the Attitude Era. And Chris Jericho, Le Champion, may be the greatest of all time after having success to this degree in two different companies.
Jericho, in my opinion, is the perfect first world champion in AEW because he has such an established reputation around the world. Fans are virtually immune at this point to growing tired of his reign as champion because he has reached a level of superstardom where fans just simply accept he is one of the greatest.
One of those employees is Jim Ross, who worked as the play-by-play announcer for WWE. He did the same job Michael Cole currently does– and he serenaded the WWE universe right through the Attitude Era. Many older wrestling fans have a sentimental soft spot for “Good Ol’ JR” because he guided the company, at least on screen, through probably the greatest Era in professional wrestling history.
As I was watching Jericho and MJF’S promo segment this week, I heard a couple of their remarks and I thought to myself, “This is exactly what WWE did in the late 90s. Why don’t they do that stuff anymore?” If they did, they would lose their audience under 12, but they would gain a lot more viewers in the 18-34-year-old demographic, which mostly drives the product.
MJF is also a budding superstar in the professional wrestling/sports entertainment industry. He appears to be much further along in his development and much more comfortable in front of a live crowd than even Randy Orton or John Cena was at age 23. It takes a whole lot of nerve to be able to command an audience that well at such a young age.