Top AEW Star Opens Up On Importance Of Growing Casual Fanbase

AEW

A top AEW star has opened up on the company’s need to reach new audiences by growing the casual wrestling fanbase.

With AEW gearing up for the debut of its new Saturday night show, AEW Collision, which may or may not feature CM Punk, Matt Hardy has explored the need to grow the fanbase.

With AEW Dynamite struggling to break the 900,000 viewers mark on a consistent basis, Matt Hardy addressed audience growth on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy.

Addressing the presence of the hardcore fanbase first, Hardy explained:

“That’s a positive for AEW without a doubt that the Turner folks are all about the pro wrestling hardcore fanbase.

“The hardcore fanbase, they’re going to tune in each and every week, even if they complain about the show…”

He would then go on to discuss attracting casual fans and the importance of doing this, adding:

“I’m a big advocate after being around for 31 years, to grow the fanbase of AEW, I do think we need to appeal to some more casual fans who might not be all about just the wrestling and the five-star matches.”

Hardy would also state that AEW does have characters on journeys already but that the company should continue to develop this in order to attract new audiences, giving them a reason to tune in and, hopefully, turning them into the sort of fans who continue to stay tuned.

He would acknowledge that AEW is focused on providing a great wrestling product and that it’s a positive that Warner Media executives approve of this strategy.

With AEW Collision set to debut shortly, he also wonder whether it would add to the excitement or water down what’s being offered to fans, concluding:

“My gut tells me it’s going to add to the excitement because I think it’s going to be two pretty different rosters, so the shows are going to look differently.”

As for himself and Jeff Hardy, he would say that they’re a package deal and won’t be splitting up on television.

Here are the results from the May 17 episode of AEW Dynamite:

Christian Cage and Luchasaurus attacked TNT Champion Wardlow with a ladder, setting up Cage vs Wardlow in a ladder match at Double Or Nothing

Darby Allin & Orange Cassidy def. Big Bill & Lee Moriarty

Sammy Guevara def. Exodus Prime

Karen Jarrett appeared and helped Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh & Sonjay Dutt attack FTR

Toni Storm & Ruby Soho def. Hikaru Shida & Britt Baker

The 21-man Blackjack Battle Royal at Double Or Nothing for Orange Cassidy’s International Championship was announced

Tony Khan announced upcoming dates and locations for AEW Collision, but said the location of the premiere would be revealed next week

Roderick Strong def. Chris Jericho in a Falls Count Anywhere match thanks to help from Adam Cole

Jack Perry def. Rush

Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara ran out to help Perry when he was being attacked by Le Faccion Ingobernables

Jay White def. Ricky Starks via DQ when Starks used a steel chair that had been introduced by White’s partner Juice Robinson

Don Callis came to address turning on Kenny Omega, which turned into a big brawl between the Blackpool Combat Club and The Elite, including Adam Page returning and rejoining The Elite and setting up an Anarchy in the Arena match for Double Or Nothing

Transcript from Wrestling Inc.

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• aew collision
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