"The tire came off the wheel" - Wrestling veteran Dutch Mantell weighs in on what's preventing AEW from being mainstream like WWE
WWE legend Dutch Mantell has weighed in on whether or not AEW can be considered as a mainstream company compared to World Wrestling Entertainment.
All Elite Wrestling has garnered some mainstream attention from a number of places during its near-four-year history. Chris Jericho went viral with his "little bit of the bubbly" meme, CM Punk's return brought new fans to the show, and Cody Rhodes being a part of the "Go Big Show" are among the most high-profile.
On top of all of these moments, the sponsors that AEW has brought in have brought a lot of attention. Wendy's acknowledged the company and their YouTube show "Being the Elite."
@youngbucks @AEW @BranCutler @Minimates @KennyOmegamanX @IsiahKassidy @GarciaWrestling @PAvalon 👀👀👀👀👀👀 https://t.co/TU917wcGV2
But can All Elite Wrestling be considered mainstream? Speaking on "Story Time with Dutch Mantell," the WWE legend believes that AEW was reaching a mainstream level as recently as 2021. However, due to its down period in 2022, things have prevented that from happening:
“They were getting mainstream back about a year ago when their ratings were up around a million people. That’s not a bad rating really, getting a million people, dedicated viewers. But they were getting to be mainstream, and then all of a sudden the tire came off the wheel, and it started careening down the road and it was out of control. So even the people behind the wheel didn’t know where it was going.” [0:29-1:06]
Dutch Mantell also stated that he believes WWE far surpasses All Elite Wrestling when it comes to the mainstream appeal of wrestling:
“I think WWE is probably three times, four times as the mainstream value more than AEW has right now.” [2:38-2:47]
In case you missed it, you can check out the Dynamite results here.
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AEW has incorporated many mainstream celebrities since its inception
A surefire way to inject some mainstream attention into a product is by incorporating some sort of celebrity involvement. Some of WWE's most famous moments have involved celebrities, and it seems that AEW is attempting the same thing.
Stars like Mike Tyson have been on commentary and UFC fighter Paddy "The Baddy" Pimblett has had a very public feud with MJF. More recently, rap superstar Rick Ross has provided some of All Elite Wrestling's funniest moments in his sporadic appearances.
Rick Ross has produced nothing but PURE GEMS on AEW television. https://t.co/BJg2yr1vvy
Ross let an "f-bomb" slip through the censors on the "Holiday Bash" edition of Dynamite. He was brought in to be the mediator in the segment between Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland.
Which celebrities would you like to see in All Elite Wrestling? Let us know in the comments section down below!
Please credit "Story Time with Dutch Mantell" and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.