A few weeks ago, I wrote an article to discuss the comments that podcast czar, Conrad Thompson made on the Ariel Helwani show about Roman Reigns being the most overhyped champion in wrestling history. As I said at the time, calling him overhyped might not be entirely accurate, but there’s no doubt that he benefited from the current climate of the industry. As with most things in sports entertainment, some of it is a matter of perspective. Some viewers saw the slow, plodding pace of the 30-minute main event at Summer Slam this year and thought they were watching some epic drama unfold in front on them. Others saw it for what it was, a forced attempt to manufacture drama that wasn’t there and thus provide very little substance to back up the sizzle. But, the entire point of the industry is to draw money, and Roman Reigns is one of the few guys that actually moves the needle, albeit to a lesser degree than the top guys of a previous generation so that provides some unbiased prospective on the subject.
The art of pro wrestling is probably why it survived the peaks and valleys of the business, it was the “glue” that held it together because the quality performances can’t be denied, but the metric of money drawn is how to truly gauge success of individual eras.
That’s why All Elite Wrestling is such a dichotomy of the pro wrestling industry.
Conrad mentioned in the same interview that WWE produces sports entertainment for the shareholders, whereas AEW produces content for the fans. That’s not a ground-breaking statement, as it was something that was covered before, but the ramifications of those philosophies are a discussion of their own.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, for as much grief as the writing team sometimes rightfully gets in the WWE, it’s an extremely difficult task to serve that many masters on the same show. They have to satisfy the networks, the streaming partners, the fans, the sponsors, and the investors. The global, publicly-traded corporate machine might seem complacent as times, but when the office finds a formula that checks all of those boxes, it’s tough to stray away from it. That’s one of the tradeoffs of corporate wrestling, you get the spectacle, but you aren’t going to get anything too edgy that might sour networks or sponsorships. It’s important to keep in mind that the slightest miscalculation could throw off the balances of all those categories that TKO has to serve with its product.
As of this writing, the TKO stock is worth $177 per share, and the overall value of the company is listed at $33.6 billion, a nearly 50% increase from the 21.4 billion the corporation was worth when the WWE officially merged with the UFC to form TKO just over three years ago.
We can parse detail on if the strategies to get them to that point will ultimately erode the audience in the future, but the bottom line is, TKO generates revenue and makes a hefty profit between the two commodities that it has under its umbrella. It can’t be understated how important that amount of media muscle is and market share that goes along with it.
However, Conrad is right, the WWE produces content for investors, and the reason that’s not a earth-shattering statement is that the company has a legal obligation to work in the best interest of the stockholders. The amount of lawsuits based on the stock, and the millions of dollars that company had to pay as a result of them are proof of that. Of course, when billions of dollars are made in the process, getting sued for tens of millions is merely the cost of doing business, it’s the American way. Anything for more profit and then pay for the penalties to go away, right?
That’s why All Elite Wrestling is an anomaly.
For the first time in the history of the industry, a promoter doesn’t have to be concerned with the bottom line. The Khan family is worth an estimated $15 billions between the various assets that they own, including the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tony’s father, Shad originally made his fortune with a patent for bumpers in the automotive industry, and as a result, the family more or less makes a few billion dollars from the totality of their investments each year. In short, funding for All Elite Wrestling won’t run dry any time soon, and as long as the 44-year-old Tony wants to be a promoter then the organization will continue to exist.
The problem is, Tony’s biggest qualification to be the second-biggest promoter in the United States is solely that his family had the money to fund it for him. Don’t get me wrong, Tony’s intentions are noble and he’s unanimously praised as a great guy that cares about his roster, but from purely a business standpoint, what was Tony’s experience in the wrestling business besides being a really big fan? Sure, he’s a longtime subscriber to The Wrestling Observer newsletter so he knew bits and pieces of the behind-the-scenes dealings, but he hadn’t actually worked in the business before he landed a national television show on TNT.
I’ve often written that it would’ve been much cheaper and probably more profitable if Tony decided to run independent cards.
Since All Elite will exist regardless of revenue or profit, Khan isn’t bound by realistic options, he can ignore the rules to book the exact product that he wants to watch. Granted, it’s one of the perks of the job, but by nature, the basis for what draws The Wrestler Observer audience isn’t suited for national television. If it was, that type of work rate content would’ve become mainstream in the United States years ago instead of the niche that it has always been.
That isn’t a knock on Tony Khan, but rather to point out that signing a large portion of the New Japan roster just because Dave Meltzer praised them doesn’t mean that they automatically had a role on American television. The argument could be made that in most cases those acquisitions didn’t truly help AEW’s business, but it certainly hindered New Japan’s revenue over the past several years. As talented as many of the Japanese workers were over the years, there’s a reason that WWE didn’t try to sign a dozen of Japan’s best years ago. There probably wouldn’t be a spot in the company for all of them, which is a waste of resources, and there would be no reason to take away from the Japanese leagues since keeping the doors open long term also allowed for the development of talent in the future.
Will Ospreay has been the exception to the New Japan rule so to speak for AEW. Okada is hit or miss depending on who he’s working with. David Finlay and Clark Connors would be better off being bigger fish in a smaller pond than they are lost in the All Elite shuffle. The same could be said for Gabe Kidd if he decides to make the jump on a full-time basis. Shibata couldn’t get cleared by New Japan and his impact in AEW is minimal. There are countless guys that are under contract, but are essentially in the witness protection program of Ring Of Honor, or they are simply paid to stay home. Why is Keith Lee still on the payroll? Has anyone seen Kip Sabain lately? Why in the wide world of sports is Anthony Ogogo still getting paid?
If the bottom line mattered, there would be some effort at efficiency, or at the very least, Tony wouldn’t give away contracts the way that Oprah gives away cars.
Aside from the numbers, the sheer amount of overkill that pollutes the vast majority of the product, which doesn’t endear itself to sponsors or advertisers, created an overall negative effect on the industry. Putting syringes through someone’s mouth, risky bumps, and literally setting people on fire with a flamethrower does nothing for the industry, except encourage stunts that lead to more injuries, and ultimately limit the audience for the product. The younger and older demographics aren’t going to buy tickets or order the pay-per-views for grotesque stunts. Obviously, AEW can be geared toward a specific male demographic, but there’s a different between that and completely souring a potential expansion of the audience. In theory, bringing in a guy like Edge could get a portion of the WWE audience to sample the All Elite product, but when they see someone using a staple gun with actual staples in their opponent’s chest, how does that build an audience? Furthermore, why bring someone from the WWE into the company until the product will offer something to the audience that might follow their career to AEW? Something as simple as shows that aren’t four and a half hours long would be helpful to expand the fan base. When watching a wrestling pay-per-view becomes a chore, you know that the broadcast went too long.
Again, if profit mattered, I doubt there would be the bloodbath segments that cater to the most niche demographic of fans. It goes without saying that the entire point of being on national television is to draw the biggest audience possible, but All Elite simply isn’t tailored for that. Even major wrestling fans don’t want to watch four and a half hours of a marathon show.
At the end of the day, the reason that Tony Khan can make those decisions is that his family doesn’t depend on the success of All Elite Wrestling for financial security. AEW might be the second-largest pro wrestling group in the United States, but it’s just another portion of the Khan family portfolio.
The silver lining in all of this, and perhaps this is more important than the prosperity of pro wrestling since WWE will provide that tent pole, since Tony Khan doesn’t need the profits from AEW to pay his bills, he often goes out of his way to do more for his roster than most promoters have in the past or probably would in the future. More than once Tony Khan has given someone a job, especially some of the aging legends, that provided them with financial security in their latter years. Tony Khan doesn’t make the business decisions to be anywhere near as success as he could’ve been when AEW launched, but he’s a boss that cares about the people that work for him, and outside of the harsh reality of business, that might be more important in the grand scheme of things.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
