Fans are all saying the same thing about two viral stills from this week's WWE and AEW shows
The wrestling section on Twitter seems to have the same reaction regarding the viral pictures from the recent WWE SmackDown and AEW Collision shows.
AEW recently launched its brand new show, "Collision," which airs every Saturday with high hopes. The debut episode featuring the return of CM Punk was well-received by the wrestling community. However, the ratings of the show have seen a massive downfall over the past two episodes.
On top of that, many have raised concerns regarding the crowd numbers on the show as well. Several fans on the internet claimed that the new Saturday show has failed to pull crowds and is only getting less attendance since its inception.
Meanwhile, a user pointed out a contrast between the crowd on both WWE SmackDown and AEW Collision last week side by side, and the comparison garnered attention from fans all over the internet.
The visual contrast between the #WWE and #AEW crowds this weekend... https://t.co/5l1lXUdsiX
After the tweet went viral, Wrestling Twitter took notice of this and reignited the issue of AEW shows having lesser crowds than WWE shows. Furthermore, most of the users seem to have the same opinion that the Jacksonville-based promotion is failing to be a crowd-puller. Here is what fans have to say:
AEW needs better Crowd lighting 😇 https://t.co/REY1HjH0n7
@Unpaid__Critic They had 1.8k fans compared to 15k 🤣 they ain't turning the lights on to show that little number
@Unpaid__Critic No sir, that’s a lot of empty seats they’re not showing.
@Unpaid__Critic Why? so we can see how empty the arena really is?
@Unpaid__Critic For what? To highlight all the empty seats?
@Unpaid__Critic WWE used to have low crowd lighting. It’s to cover up they barely have a full house
@Unpaid__Critic If they had better crowd lighting last night than everyone would have seen, there was just 1860 people in attendance.
Would AEW shows ever be able to beat weekly WWE shows in ratings?
While WWE has been around for decades, establishing itself as the biggest wrestling promotion in the world, AEW has also seen a decent amount of success since its inception in 2019.
However, other than Dynamite clearly winning the Wednesday night wars against WWE's developmental brand, NXT, the Jacksonville-based promotion is yet to touch the other flagship shows, such as RAW and SmackDown, in terms of rating and crowds.
A few years ago, former WWE and AEW world champion Chris Jericho expressed his views regarding the ratings of the All Elite shows while also assuring fans that Dynamite would beat Raw in the ratings sooner rather than later. Jericho said the following on the Busted Open Radio:
"Sooner or later, we’re going to start beating RAW. It’s not going to be every week, but I bet you over the next two to four months, maybe four to six, we’re going to start beating RAW, and that’s my prediction that I’m saying to you guys right here...We book smartly, if you watch our show it’s like watching the first three Star Wars episodes—one thing always leads to the next and sometimes you’ll see where the seeds were planted months earlier, but we always know what we want to do and where we want to go." (H/T WrestleZone)
Moreover, it's been nearly two years after the statement was made, and fans have yet to see it. Hence, only time will tell if the statement turns out to be true.
Sound off in the comments if you think AEW will ever overtake WWE in terms of ratings.