Ex-AEW Star Says Company Needs To Appeal To More Casual Fans

A former AEW star has given their opinion on what the company needs to do in order to grow.

When AEW launched in 2019 it was created to be an alternative to WWE, and the company has certainly lived up to that billing. The promotion typically steers away from “entertainment” segments and leans more heavily into being a pure wrestling show.

However, some feel that this desire to be the polar opposite of WWE has come at a cost, limiting AEW’s growth.

Speaking on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy — who recently became a free agent, explained why he thinks the promotion needs to appear to more “casual fans.”

“I think that you have to appeal to more casual fans. I mean, I understand your mindset where AEW is built on the context of having great matches and having five star matches and bangers and whatever else since the place is very wrestling heavy.

If you love wrestling, where the best wrestle, you know, they’ve even used that as a catchphrase, and I’m okay with that, but I still also think there has to be people that are just casual wrestling fans that are trained in the way like, ‘Oh, well this guy’s a big star. I’d like to see him perform. I would like to see him wrestle. I’d like to see her wrestle. I’d like to see this. I’d like to see that.’ I feel like that would be beneficial.

I feel like sometimes AEW plays and caters to too much of a niche audience sometimes and I think they just need to broaden who they play to sometimes.”

Matt Hardy’s AEW Contract Has Expired

On April 8th it was reported that Matt Hardy was officially a free agent after his AEW contract expired.

The original belief was that Hardy’s contract expired in March, but it was extended for “a few weeks” to take it through WrestleMania. The report confirms that while there had been talks between Hardy and AEW, he decided to let his contract expire.

Speaking on an earlier episode of his podcast, Matt Hardy admitted he could return to AEW, while he’s also been talking with WWE.

H/t to WrestlingNews.Co