Blame Tony Khan, not Mercedes Moné, for disappointing Dynamite numbers

Once more, AEW’s troubles start and end with its boss.

Mercedes Moné made her grand debut for All Elite Wrestling on its flagship show, Dynamite, last Wednesday. However, Big Business, the show’s theme, failed to deliver big numbers and is considered a ratings disappointment despite Moné being the latest big-name free agent signed by company boss Tony Khan.

But to blame Moné is to make her the scapegoat for what continues to be AEW’s biggest problem: Tony Khan.

Ahead of Moné’s debut, ratings were far worse for the March 6 episode of AEW Dynamite, which saw Will Ospreay featured in the main event and the arrival of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s longtime star Kazuchika Okada. But even before that, ratings for Dynamite had steadily been decreasing for several months, and it’s been more than a year since the show netted a million viewers or more. Ticket sales, except for a handful of shows and pay-per-view specials, have been abysmal. And the perception of the company has arguably never been poorer.

For anyone to think that the arrival of Moné, Ospreay, or Okada would instantly turn AEW’s fortunes around is sadly mistaken and doesn’t understand history.

In 1994, World Championship Wrestling, then a distant number two to WWE, much like AEW is today, spent two months teasing and promoting the arrival of wrestling and entertainment icon Hulk Hogan. Even though Hogan was the most popular attraction in pro wrestling, it took WCW a year to become competitive with WWE and two years to overtake the sports entertainment giant in the ratings.

In recent years, AEW has signed countless talents many fans labeled as game changers, most of whom scoffed at WWE for releasing or passing on. Those names include CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Keith Lee, Adam Cole, Saraya, Adam Copeland, and Jay White, to name a few.

If these performers were luxury vehicles, they might be a fleet of Jaguars. However, owning a garage full of Jags is pointless if the owner doesn’t have a driver’s license, let alone know how to drive. Despite needing experienced creative minds to run the company, Khan stubbornly insists on booking AEW himself. Instead of embracing new ideas, he clings to his beliefs about what wrestling fans, or at least his audience, want.

Additionally, Khan often hypes events and signings as significant, only to lose momentum and shift focus to the next big thing. This pattern was evident in the recent reinstatement of AEW’s rankings system. Introduced at the company’s start, the rankings decided championship matches in each division. However, the system disappeared at the end of 2022. Khan announced its return in January, and while somewhat hidden, the rankings are now accessible on AEW’s website.

Too bad they’re from August 2022.

So much for that initiative.

While broken promises are nothing new for Khan, his failure to effectively promote and showcase talent is part of what’s hurting the company. Relying on leaked information to wrestling websites, like Mercedes Moné joining the company, isn’t a sufficient marketing strategy. Instead of investing in creating vignettes and reaching wider media audiences, Khan assumes that everyone shares his level of wrestling knowledge and will automatically tune in based on hints from insider sources.

Recently, I had the good fortune of having passionate pro wrestling fans come into my life, one of whom is an avid AEW enthusiast. The other day, he told me something that almost made me collapse in shock. He said he didn’t know who Okada was. By that, he meant he wasn’t aware of his work in New Japan.

While I was surprised by how little a regular AEW viewer knew about Okada, this revelation reaffirmed my belief in the importance of educating the audience about new or incoming talent well in advance. Not all fans follow wrestling news sites for in-depth coverage. Nor do they watch wrestling from around the world every day of the week.

The recent batch of dismal TV ratings linked to Moné, Okada, and Ospreay doesn’t accurately reflect their talent or star appeal but rather the lack of publicity surrounding their debuts and appearances. It’s another reminder of Khan’s mismanagement, which remains AEW’s main obstacle.