WWE attempt hurt ad sales of AEW with personal attack

Hamish Woodward

Dave Meltzer, in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, today wrote an article analysing why WWE would attempt to poison the well with advertisers for AEW now. The idea was that WWE gave a quote regarding an AEW match between The Bunny & Penelope Ford vs Tay Conti and Anna Jay. We have written about this quote, in regards to WWE’s sexism toward women in a previous article.

The quote, which WWE had mocked through Max Caster of The Acclaimed live on AEW Dynamite, stated;

‘If you look at the gory self-mutilation that bloodied several women in the December 31 event on TNT, it quickly becomes clear that these are very different businesses. We had an edgier product in the “Attitude” era and in a 2022 world, we don’t believe that type of dangerous and brutal display is appealing to network partners, sponsors, venues, children, or the general public as a whole.’

WWE made the quote with the intention of it harming AEW ad sales relating to the lead-up to AEW’s next TV deal renewal in 2023. He goes over why the lead up to this new AEW TV deal will be one of the most important periods for the future of wrestling in a long time and how it could change AEW financially.

Sources noted that WarnerMedia was upset about the WWE quote, taking it as an attempt at a personal attack against the company in an attempt to hurt their ad sales.

Meltzer also analyzes wrestling viewership and the different deals AEW could get relative to the current TV and streaming markets. He also touches on why advertisers would be adverse to blood even with popular products with great young viewership. There’s also WWE’s history and playbook of publicly complaining about their competition using blood during previous wrestling wars, as well as their success together with NBCUniversal in improving their image to those advertisers. You can find the full article in this week’s newsletter:

Link: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/january-24-2022-observer-newsletter-wwe-aew-q4-numbers-wwe-takes-shot

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