Dave Meltzer has attempted to set the record straight about AEW.
Prior to the launch of AEW, the closest competition to WWE in North America since the closure of WCW had been TNA/IMPACT Wrestling. At various points in its existence, the promotion established itself as a clear number two and even tried to recreate the ‘Monday Night Wars’ by running shows on Monday nights up against Raw.
TNA also featured a number of former WWE stars including the likes of Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley, and more with varying degrees of success. However, names such as Samoa Joe and AJ Styles cemented their positions as some of the most highly-rated competitors in the world while with the company.
Despite this, TNA never really got close to WWE and in more recent years AEW has surged past them as the main rival to the sports entertainment giant. During a recent exchange on Twitter, Dave Meltzer dismissed suggestions that TNA had been averaging close to two million viewers a week in late 2009, adding that the way some fans try and inflate the success of TNA to knock AEW is “laughable.”
“It’s really just the people who were sure Khan would have failed, were proven wrong, and now cling to TNA saying they were just as successful when clearly that’s laughable.”
It's really just the people who were sure Khan would have failed, were proven wrong, and now cling to TNA saying they were just as successful when clearly that's laughable. https://t.co/jlnRlwEFtS
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) July 19, 2023
Dave Meltzer Praised Recent AEW Match As A “Classic”
While WWE is firing on all cylinders in 2023 and breaking records of their own, AEW is also going strong. The company recently created a third television show, Collision, and has sold more than 70,000 tickets for its debut in the United Kingdom at Wembley Stadium.
The company’s in-ring product has also garnered significant praise from fans and critics. Most recently, Dave Meltzer waxed lyrical about the Two Out of Three Falls tag team match between Bullet Club Gold and FTR, dubbing it “the best American tag team match ever on television.”