All Elite aims to build on fast start
Sitting on the steps of the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi in 2007 — about to debut for WWE, and face Randy Orton on Monday Night Raw — Cody Rhodes couldn’t have envisioned this future.
Years laid ahead him where he was buried in the midcard of the world’s largest wrestling promotion at the time, going through gimmick after gimmick — including the ill-fated Stardust — and way too much face paint.
Rhodes knew he was better. And the fans knew he was better.
And so, the son of wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes made a choice. He left the WWE in 2016 and, along with stars from New Japan Pro Wrestling like Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) and formed All Elite Wrestling.
His gamble has paid off. Twelve years after his careeropening loss to Orton, he is not just one of the biggest faces of a wrestling company (AEW) with a weekly show on cable, but also its an executive vice president.
And that company is thriving. Since the premiere episode of “AEW Dynamite” on TNT twelve weeks ago, Rhodes’ new promotion has sold more than 100,000 tickets and was TNT’s highest rated premiere ever. Wednesday the wrestling show is taping its weekly show at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi.
“I never would have foreseen the crazy whirlwind of events that happened in wrestling. It is definitely special, and I will have to take a moment tomorrow to reel it all in,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes, though, is quick to put the company’s initial success into perspective.
“It begets the question what do we do in Year 2? How do we continue to roll this into the world and provide people with great wrestling?” he said. “I am married, and I can tell you the honeymoon is wonderful, but the marriage aspect is even better. For AEW, I think the honeymoon phase has been over for some time, and I am OK with that because I think where we’re at now is a great baseline to continue to grow the product.”
That baseline — mainly AEW’s viewership on TNT — has leveled off since its debut, going from 1.4 million viewers to between 750,000 to 950,000 on a weekly basis. And the once hot ticket — AEW sold out its All-Out pay-perview in 15 minutes — has somewhat cooled. Tickets are still available for the show in Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
“To say we’ve plateaued at this point, I would feel like would be a wrong statement, because we’ve just gotten started,” Nick Jackson said. “I feel like we’re on our way to becoming even bigger and better and we’ve barely been on TV and to be drawing an average of 5,700 fans (to the arena) every week is pretty crazy and surreal.”
Rhodes, along with the others who started AEW form its creative team. Their goal? To break from the norm that has been established in other promotions such as WWE and the now-defunct WCW.
“Great wrestling show is a variety show. It’s got a little bit of everything. And we’re so new, it’s like, we’re still trying to figure out exactly what our identity is like, you know what I mean?” Matt Jackson said. “We’re all trying to figure out what works and it takes time. … We’ve all done this thing all over the world. So clearly, we know what we’re doing. But it’s just a whole different animal when you’re on live television every week.”
Rhodes believes building the AEW audience further is all about breaking through “the barricade.”
“There is 1,000 ways to do and gimmicks and strategy, but the only thing that matters in pro wrestling and pro wrestling on TV is the talent continuing to connect and become relevant with the audience,” he said. “Every audience member probably has their favorite or least favorite man or woman on the roster and those reasons are specific to them.
“And that connection when you are reaching across the barricade is most important.”
Rhodes said the driving force behind AEW was wrestling fans demanding something better.
“Wrestling is the last form of live theatre where the crowd has a bearing on the match and on the future and the trajectory of the characters,” Rhodes said. “It is as simple as knowing why someone is clapping their hands when you are in a hold to when you are leaving the arena and checking your social media.
“It is paramount to listen to the fans and to give them a longform, disciplined product.”
Wednesday, when Rhodes sits on those steps in Corpus Christi, he will surely sit back and reflect on the last 12 years — where it has taken him and how is finally delivering on his potential.
And how he won’t even have to wear facepaint to do it.