AEW’s WrestleDream pay per view ended with something that came out a dream, the arrival of Adam Copeland, known to us all as Edge. After spending 25 years as a WWE superstar Adam crossed the street to work for All Elite Wrestling, following in the footsteps of Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk as men who rose to the top in WWE and ultimately decided to take their talents to Jacksonville. But Edge may very well big the biggest of them all.
In less than 96 hours Edge’s AEW debut went over 4.5 million views on the company’s YouTube channel (it now sits at 4.8 million), which puts it ahead of all but two individual WWE pay per view highlight videos for 2023, the Bloodline Civil War (7M) and Roman vs Cody at WrestleMania (5M). That’s also more than any TV segment highlight video from WWE television this year and all but 1 full segment upload, the Rock’s return to Smackdown (6M). Over the same timeframe it has gotten almost 21 million views across AEW’s social media platforms, numbers that would have WWE issuing a press release to publicly pat themselves on the back. Don’t let any naysayers convince that this is not a big deal. Those kind of numbers indicate a reach beyond the 800 to 900 thousand who watch Dynamite live every week, or the 2 million that Warner Media claims watch AEW in some form or fashion every week. The debut was in no uncertain terms a unbridled success.
The fun continued with Edge’s AEW television debut, which in less than 24 hours topped 2.3 million combined views on YouTube and over 5.2 million views on AEW’s social media platforms. And lest you think this is a one time fluke, let me tell you that Edge was a traffic and ratings winner in WWE right up until he left. His TV segments this year got more views on average than everyone except the Bloodline, Brock Lesnar, Bray Wyatt, and John Cena. And the people who worked across from him got their best views of the year working with him. There’s no reason to believe that his presence on TV won’t lead to some all time high numbers for a lot of people in AEW going forward.
(Note: yes I did see the TV ratings for this past Wednesday. They obviously were not good but context matters)
And now, I have some advice for a few people:
For Tony
Don’t waste anyone’s time. You just brought in the biggest star in the history of your company. Just like in 2021 you have the attention of people who either don’t watch your shows at all or only watch them sporadically. Those people expect big things and good television from the man you just signed. Do not put him in struggle matches and struggle feuds with guys who are never progressing the midcard in your company. I don’t care if he said he wants to be ‘one of the boys’, you did not bring him in to be that.
Put the world title on him early next year and have him walk into Wembly stadium next August as the AEW World Champion. MJF winning the title back from Adam Copeland at Wembly Stadium is a bigger win than anything else you could possibly book for him. And once that’s done you can do the Edge & Christian reunion match tour. Don’t wait; all gas, no brakes. And anyone in your locker room who has a problem with it can get on the next bus to Stamford, New Japan, or Impact Wrestling.
For the Locker Room
Don’t blow it. He’s there because Tony wanted him and he wanted to come over, but he’s also there because you guys haven’t been able to get beyond the plateau you’re sitting on right now. If this company is going to have any kind of long term future it’s going to have to expand it’s audience beyond what it has now. And to do that you need somebody like Edge who will get people to pay attention who’d previously been ignoring you. Your boss should have told you this back in 2021 when he signed CM Punk, but it applies today as well.
If for some reason you find yourself not liking the guy, keep that sh- to yourself. We saw what happened when one of you decided to go off script during a promo or a match about how they felt. Now Edge won’t react like Punk did but the overall effect will be the same. Talk to your friends, talk to your wife, but for the love of God don’t talk to the media.
And if the man offers you help or advice, TAKE IT. Edge has main evented two WrestleManias, he has wrestled every big name across the last 30 years. And most recently he was the driving force and a big backstage advisor to the members of Judgement Day. If you can’t see what he can do for you then you need to go back to whatever operation you used to work for and stay there.
In conclusion, this is another big chance for AEW to do something to secure a bigger long term future and reach beyond their normal boundaries. It’s also a chance to get right what went wrong with CM Punk. The truth here is that AEW is the number two company, and as the number two company they are going to have to bring people in who can get the attention of people who normally don’t watch them. That of course means people from WWE. There is no shame in that whatsoever; Impact struck gold with Trinity this year. But when you’re playing on national cable like AEW you need people who have been in the biggest spots on thr biggest shows.
You got that with Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley at the beginning and two years ago with Bryan Danielson and Punk. They all have served their purpose to varying degrees. Edge is the latest, and potentially the best one yet. If it pans out then it will be a signal to anyone in WWE who may be in Edge’s situation in the future, that AEW makes for a good second stop in their careers. And if it goes the way that Punk did then that sends a different message, that it’s better to work through whatever your frustrations may be with WWE and stay there.
I’ll leave you with this. As a fan, you should want this to work out. From a pure labor standpoint the best thing for the wrestlers is to have more than one company that can pay them well for what they do. And for that other company to continue to stay afloat at the highest level they are going to have to poach the occasional big name from WWE. So WWE fans that means people like Edge, people you think would never go there, are gonna have to go there. One day it may be Seth Rollins, or Drew McIntyre or Kevin Owens. Or Sasha Banks.
You may not want them to go there, especially if it means retiring there, but it’s better for them and their coworkers if some of them do. These are human beings, after all. They should not give full and total loyalty to a company that only reciprocates when it suits them. If they feel better going there than staying in WWE, then it’s their life and their career, not yours.
Now I have no idea how this is gonna go. At the least I think we will get some good and entertaining matches and storylines. How much will they affect the bottom line? We’ll see how that goes. But for now congrats to Adam Copeland and good luck.
Stroke of Genius 