Cody Rhodes Targets A Younger AEW Fan Base
AEW’s Executive Vice President, Cody Rhodes, has orated that his next goal in professional wrestling is to appeal to a younger fan base.
Since the so-called Wednesday Night Wars erupted with the onset of AEW Dynamite, the Jacksonville company have been winners in the demos which has been something they’ve been keen to shout from the rooftops every week. Former AEW World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Jericho, even capitalised on the news by declaring himself, ‘The Demo God.’
Now, Cody aims to carry that forward and make AEW appeal to a younger fanbase in the not too distant future, as he explained to ‘Le Champion’ during his appearance on Talk is Jericho:
“The youth that is on the roster and the youth that is in the creative. The direction of the show with Tony in that lead spot. The direction of the show. The artistic vision of the show. The talent on the show. We joke about the demo, but it’s really not a joke. There’s a potential that if you, and this is for any show, if you don’t look at that, you’re going to age out. One of the reasons I’ve turned my act around into a bit of a squeaky clean act is because it’s really not an act anymore. I want to engage a young fan base. And not just the young and affluent and cool, I want to engage kids because the show has a lot of grittiness, a lot of violence, a lot of adult content, and I want to make sure they know there’s guys doing right and there’s guys doing wrong, that’s here too. Just like all great wrestling shows, when they’ve been great. The youth we have and the demos are really not a joke at all. Anyone who’s not scared, and I’m not talking about our competitor, I’m talking about any show, if you’re not in the youth, in terms of if they’re not watching your show you should absolutely be terrified. 50+ means you’re losing your audience. Again, this is about TV in general, not about WWE and not about AEW.”
On the January 6 edition of AEW Dynamite: New Year’s Smash, Cody joined forced with Snoop Dogg – who sang him to the ring with a new theme tune – for a victory over Matt Sydal.
Credit for the interview: Talk is Jericho
h/t for the transcription: Fightful