WWE's Massive Public Relations Edge Over AEW: Here's How & Why and What AEW Can Do to Combat It

[@VoicesWrestling]

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[@peytoncarter5353]

Listening to this after WWE did those releases last week, but the story coming out of them was how respectful the firings was. They said it was the “most respectful round of cuts ever”. Everything said here is 100% true

[@adriancle93]

The stories came out on how shitty they treated WWE releases like Mickie James when that happened as well? Trevor Lee literally did the video himself, Eddie Kingston himself talked about the AEW releases. The **** are you saying?

[@janus78]

And talent have to take it graciously because even though AEW exists there is only so many people that can be hired by all of the companies, so you don't want to burn bridges. Even some of the people burning AEW bridges better be on good behavior because Tony Kahn is a nice guy but there are people on his list he would never hire again and it isn't just CM Punk.

[@Aurora-Nyx]

This was AMAZING. Absolutely needed to be said. For almost a year I’ve almost been felt like I’ve been gaslit for loving AEW? Like I genuinely started to question my OWN feelings toward because it felt like the ENTIRE world hated what I loved *so* much… And eventually I started to trust my own feelings, but am damn resentful over people using those kind of psychological tactics on people who are just fans of something. No matter what it is. People shouldn’t be treated that way for LOVING something.

[@ishmael802]

The fact that WWE is saying “the Gaslight Era” is the New “Attitude era” is insane. Ratings have not increased at all. There is no new WWE wrestler well-known outside of the Wrestling community.

[@littlechange]

Preach. These are facts as we all see it every other day. Hate against AEW is soo much on KZbin and Twitter.

[@GiFTheGreat]

The first part of this vid is soooooooooo satisfying. Thank you for acknowledging the BS because I know I'm not crazy

[@zareefhaque]

Everyone needs to hear this audio.

[@niners9485]

Bots and WWE PR will gaslight everyone to ignore it too.

[@RSalawu]

Had to put my blinders up to give this a listen. I must say while I grew up watching WWE and have mainly paid attention to them, I do not support when companies engage in these sketchy tactics. Very distasteful on their end to say the least. AEW should invest in a stronger PR department because to the casual wrestling fan, it does look like they are always doing something wrong, even if they are not.

[@rickcobos1724]

Thank you for getting Chris Legentil and that corporate welfare bullshit on my radar.

[@littlechange]

Hate towards AEW and all these articles are picking up as AEW TV Deal is getting closer. So, I'm not surprised because I can see the reason .... They want to affect new TV deal.

[@peteacron]

Interesting listen

[@sagethevvitch]

It's so sad either how bought and paid for everyone is or how propagandized everyone is. I saw someone, who I listened to for over 10 years straight, say there wasn't any selling in Danielson vs Will. I'm glad y'all at least call it like it is. Even if I don't agree with everything, I've never felt like you and Rich were being disingenuous with your listeners and that's the difference.

[@WalkingCowboy]

I dare to assume two reasons why TK is not taking the offensive in this smear campaign against AEW: the first is because he sees it as useless since WWE is unreachable with all these bigger contact the company has, and the other is that he hopes to complete that renewal of the TV agreement, and if he manages to do it for a huge amount, he would be able to make fools of all those who got on the train of ridiculing everything that AEW did since 2019.

[@BigmanDogs]

But people haven't been doing it since 2019. The popularity of this type of content has increased over the past few years, because the demand for it has increased. I'm more likely to click on a video that is critical of AEW to hear it out now, since my opinion is mixed. As opposed to 2 years ago when I was a die hard AEW fanboy who got actually upset when people like Cornette and whoever else would say negative things about AEW. I'm not as overprotective and uncritical of AEW now that WWE is good again.

[@philo2189]

I remember when aew dropped the all in footage one of those British KZbin channels made a video and said how "OMG Forbes even dissed them and said how bad it is. Forbes who doesn't even cover wrestling!" mind you when you look at the article it's written by that clown Alfred Konuwa lmao I was like come on guys seriously? Also forth to note ign recently and also very very very randomly started covering wrestling. They started posted about it very consistently guess when? Right after the all in footage dropped. And they made one post about how awful aew is and continued to make a bunch of post about how great wwe is. Even people in the comments were saying "since when did ign cover wrestling" it's so disturbingly in your face that all these people are paid

[@JohnNeave]

This is why you guys get my $10 every month! Excellent audio.

[@GiFTheGreat]

I've long said it, but it feels like more of a problem now...the way wrestling news is covered and presented as "news" is so hyperbolic, toxic and clickbait-y...it's turned me off from wanting to be a part of the IWC. Too often I see speculation and opinions get reported with the same gravitas as actual facts and tribalistic fans are rabid for it. I saw a headline on social media last night that "reported" on a wrestling legend saying Tony Khan is offering Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch $10 Million each...it was a quote from Disco Inferno answering a fan question on what Tony Khan should do if he wanted WWE talents...totally irresponsible reporting and it only served to drum up anti-AEW rhetoric and feed the narrative that Tony Khan is some type of entitled money mark. None of it was based on any actual fact.

[@SkullSnax]

These things come in waves. When AEW were the hot promotion and WWE were doing stupid Vince booking, WWE was in the toilet and getting dunked on constantly because it was good for views, everyone loves a pile-on, and AEW could do no wrong because they're the hot company and they've got all the good will. Right now, mostly from what happened after All In with the Punk stuff, but also because WWE has started improving and had a good run from the Rumble through Mania, the tides have turned and really they're probably even for quality, it's just a matter of personal taste. But the internet doesn't deal in nuance, one has to be good and one has to be bad. It doesn't matter that AEW just put on an amazing show, with one of the best matches of all time, the crowning of a fan favourite World Champion, and crazy good match quality across the board... WWE are "the hot property", so WWE good and they can do no wrong, AEW bad and everything they do is criticised. Personally, I'm so done with the discourse around wrestling. Just let me watch the show I keep up with and I'll judge what I liked and didn't like.

[@estebanfumero3728]

It's amazing how much dirt sheets + social media turned wrestling from escapism to pretty much a corporate job with how much fans keep their fingers on the pulse of creative, behind the scenes personnel, politics, firings, PR, etc. I'm glad wrestling companies are better workplaces now than they used to be (aka no Vince anymore), and I love watching my favorite wrestlers doing podcasts and sharing their insights, but as good as the product is right now, the suspension of disbelief is at an all time low and it will never recover. And that's not a bad thing in itself, it simply is.

[@WalkingCowboy]

Funny enough, even on that AEW peak there was still a discourse about how AEW was "minor leagues" because ratings/attendances/revenue, case in point is Cheese Boy (Konuwa) with Rampage's fast nationals. And seeing all that panorama, it becomes even more impressive how AEW got all that great reception from the internet, and hopefully at some point all those idiots pushing that bad faith narrative of AEW dying get completely humiliated

[@BigmanDogs]

You're complete right that media critics are completely worthless if they don't actually believe what they're saying. There are plenty of people jumping on the anti-AEW train because that's an easy way to get views. Likewise, the opposite have been the case a few years ago and to extent today, where some people are overly positive toward AEW for the same reason.

[@Ronedog22]

A voice of sanity in the abyss of insanity. Thanks for laying it all out.

[@KBlade1]

I've been thinking about this recently. WWE has a PR edge over every other wrestling company including AEW.

[@philo2189]

Another person who seems to be a brand new paid wwe shill is this guy called the wade concept. He has a channel where he covers wrestling called what we saying I believe. He's known to kiss you know what to Jake Paul's camp which lands him commentary jobs. I have no doubt he's doing that with wwe now. And I promise when you see this guy on the pre show on wwe one day remember this comment.

[@niners9485]

AEW need to fight fire with fire.

[@pentalway]

Cornette is just as much as a grifter as Bischoff if not more. His feelings are much more personal and spiteful than Bischoff

[@CrystalFissure]

Great job Joe.

[@DanTheMoneyManEst]

Tremendous audio as always!

[@janus78]

Its funny because Tony at heart really just wants to buy and invest in his wrestling toys and let them wrestle and have the best matches on American television which he does every week no matter what is on Monday, Friday or Sunday. He really doesn't want to spend money on fighting underhanded tactics with basically the same things back at them. However, AEW is still fairly new, they are learning, they actually do budget contrary to what people might think, wondering if they might consider actually budgeting their own PR after their new contract comes out.

[@eliesleiman3723]

Brilliant podcast, this is all stuff many of us have theorized but it's great to have this piece of audio out there to expose the con men and criminals running the wwe

[@therush757]

TK must’ve listened to this because that interview during NFL draft weekend…

[@CidsaDragoon]

I didn't know Legentil's name until now, but I was certain this was going on. Tony definitely needs to hire a team of PR people as well. He doesn't need to be shady af, just combat this negative bullshit.

[@jmn327]

It's really jarring to me how much these media comms tactics overlap with right wing media misinformation echo chamber trends and strategies.

[@twanmack2686]

Anyone with a paid blue check mark I block immediately

[@jaydenrock]

I turned off all wrestling news unless it directly from the companies. Even the comments underneath is full of WWE fans just being absolutely horrible. It’s so bad it hurt watching WWE for me now. I use to enjoy watching Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Cody, and Drew. Not anymore. So I just watch AEW on my Wednesday, Friday sometimes and Saturday peacefully.

[@pedromello1601]

Thats crazy to me. WWE or WWF has been the most criticised company for decades. People were always looking for alternatives ever since WWF became this empire. "Hardcore fans and wrestling media" were always more pro NWA, WCW and ECW side of things since the 80s and 90s while WWF was seen as the boring mainstream company. And then, after the attitude era, people again were very critical of wwe from the HHH title reigns to the John Cena PG era. But now the product is good and they deserve praise. That is all. The criticism AEW gets now is nowhere close to the negativity WWE got through the years. It is not even close.

[@nadiahassan5307]

So a PR person shouldn’t be doing….PR according to you?

[@VoicesWrestling]

You've missed the entire point of the video. -Rich

[@ufelzonme]

​@@VoicesWrestlinghe missed it on purpose

[@TheAciddragon069]

Jim Cornette said for months that WWE is boring, the matches on Raw and Smackdown don't matter, and that the only thing interesting are the promos, that's not exactly high praise.

[@michaeldodd6181]

AEW's biggest PR hinderance is Tony Khan. They need to get him off of TV.

[@DangerMenace]

Also really convenient how AEW fans will ignore the active smear campaign that Tony Khan started the moment he lost Giulia to WWE. All these articles coming out that she's unsafe and other girls hate working with her. Then he celebrates someone getting fired because he wasn't allowed to play with the STARDOM toybox. AEW are the bad guys. If you support them, seek help.

[@omaralfaro12]

Dave Meltzer is more critical of AEW than WWE?

[@drinkwater5673]

Yes he is, by a lot. He honestly seems scared to say negative things about WWE/ Triple H these days

[@amanofiron8252]

Yes, you have to actually read what he writes and listen to his shows to get that. In fact, people on his own board and people on Twitter who are subscribers complain he's too negative about AEW and is constantly in doom-and-gloom mode over it.

[@michaelfarrow5817]

If you listen to his content, yes.

[@liamcourt5530]

he absolutely is

[@niners9485]

Yes if you actually listen to him. Not even close.

[@jasonthompson3803]

Please stop the crying. Aew is trouble because their shows are crap. Wrestling matches are good but their presentation and show are bad. Also they don't have top stars. Wwe has cody roman seth etc. and aew doesn't. Fix aew and not worry or blaming everyone for your shows fall.

[@DangerMenace]

Just what AEW fans need, another scapegoat and boogeyman they can blame their shitty show on.

[@ufelzonme]

You hate facts

[@BigmanDogs]

Though one pushback I would have is that I do believe that there is an organic shift toward a more AEW critical environment. People aren't automatically a grifter just because they changed their mind. I used to be a gigantic AEW mark a few years ago, I still enjoy the product, but I'm overall mixed. I earnestly think the show is worse now. Tony's embarrassing conduct has contributed to this as its genuinely gotten more an more difficult for me to ignore it to that it now significantly detracts from my enjoyment of the product. Likewise, Punks departure has a similar effect on me. I want to continue enjoying AEW, but I'm not going to stop liking Punk. Some my enjoyment is harmed whenever they go for that negative polarization type stuff, because I'll probably end up "siding" with WWE because Punk is there and they are doing really good content right now. But I would prefer if Tony didn't make me feel as though I have to pick a side. Especially now that my other AEW faves in MJF and Kenny are injured.

[@michaelfarrow5817]

Tony is a dick on Twitter whilst Vince was doing some raping and bragging about who he was raping to others. Other execs had knowledge something was going on and one of them made a token gesture about it. This is what bothers me quite so much. If Tony makes you want to stop watching AEW, shouldn't what WWE did/are doing should make you want to kill it with fire.

[@stalfos268]

The fact that people think some minor tweets are a big deal compared to... A rapist who sex trafficked employees, and his son-in-law who put himself over in racist angles and buried anyone else who got over because he's a thin-skinned narcissist, is pretty sad.

[@becauseifeltlikeit2446]

OK, Bigmandogs. Completely unbiased.

[@IronTonyStark]

Sorry Voices of Wrestling but WON and Melt is not stating the facts and is flooding the fandom and the wrestling discourse with tribalism, negativity and misinformation. Because the owner of AEW misguidedly values that opinion, he perpetuates that as well and then the negativity trickles down the diehard AEW fans who then mutate it into toxicity.

[@TheAciddragon069]

The fact is AEW pissed away every opportunity they had ever had from day 1. It took him 5 years to hire a real COO when that should have been hire #1. They had 3 years with Vince at the helm where they could have built a real business but they didn't capitalize on it. They signed so many big name free agents who are marginalized by the booking. MJF was an executive producer on Iron Claw but was never out in interviews, Liv Morgan, and Tiffany Stratton walked the red carpet for the Barbie premier A MOVIE THAT WBD PRODUCED, but nobody from AEW. Had AEW been run from day 1 with any kind of structure maybe they wouldn't be getting piled on the way they are.

[@sagethevvitch]

You didn't listen to a thing. It's all bought and paid for propaganda right now. That's the only reason anyone thinks anything is wrong with AEW.

[@gunpowderhoes3492]

That has absolutely nothing with why their getting criticized at all times y'all don't like it because it is an alternative to the regular bs WWE feeds you and are mad because they do things that's not the "WWE way"

[@supermetroid009]

Your a fool

[@GiFTheGreat]

You yourself don't care that much about the corporate structure of WWE or how long it took to create that infrastructure. The fact that you even know how long it took TK to get a COO is only because some podcaster connected the online narrative "the booking sucks now so Tony needs to delegate and create a COO position" for you.

[@becauseifeltlikeit2446]

You've bought into the WWE machine. This video is about you.

[@RafaelMartinez-cv3uw]

I see more people complaining about the treatment of AEW than I have seen the actual treatment of AEW. If you think “AEW is constantly under attack” isn’t a PR tactic of its own, you don’t know PR.

[@RafaelMartinez-cv3uw]

This entire pressbox section of this rant applies more to AEW coverage than WWE. Lol There are legit media members who called themselves AEW cosplayers and the took that out their bio when they realized how full of shit it made them look.

[@becauseifeltlikeit2446]

Yes. This is about you and how you've bought in.

[@monkeyboy5595]

This is what you call “meat on the bone”🤌🥩