MR. TITO: The REAL Reason Why All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is Declining and Struggling
For those who are born between 2025 and 2039, they will be considered as “Generation Beta” by those who seemed to enjoy placing labels on groups of people born within a certain period of time. However, if I was born during this time, I’d question why the label of “beta” was attached to my generation. That’s unfair and just not right, as the term “beta” is defined as something that is being “second in a sequence”.
There’s a term out there called “Alpha Male”, as the word “alpha” is considered to be “first” as alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. According to Oxford Dictionary, the term “Alpha Male” is defined as the dominant male in a particular group or male tending to assume a dominant or domineering role in a social group. Other definitions include someone who is “assertive, competitive, confident” and as someone seen as being “successful” and a “natural leader”.
In comparison, a “Beta Male” is defined as a subordinate male in a social group or someone tending to assume a passive or subservient role in a social or professional situation, according to the Oxford dictionary.
If you look at much of the top draws in professional wrestling history, they all tend to have the “alpha male” quality in some form. There’s ZERO doubt that the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, the Rock, the Undertaker, and John Cena had most qualities listed above, some moreso than others. In my opinion, since August 2020, Roman Reigns elevated himself as the clear locker room leader through a boost of confidence when he could finally be unleashed as a heel character (or more like his natural self). The terrible babyface push of 2014-2019 presented him as if he were a “Beta”, as he was booked like a clone of John Cena but didn’t naturally exert that natural confidence.
Much of the alphas mentioned here will slice the throats of any up & coming wrestler while being so exceptionally confident, assertive, and aggressive towards keeping their top spot. How many times have they tried to get Hulk Hogan to walk away only for him to politic his way back up to the top and seize control of a wrestling promotion? Tried it after Wrestlemania 4, tried it after Wrestlemania 6, tried it after Wrestlemania 8, tried it after King of the Ring 1993, and then WCW tried it several times such as early 1996, StarrCade 1997, WCW Monday Nitro early July 1998, during 1999 and then during 2000. When Hogan returned to WWE, Vince McMahon struggled to resist Hulkamania as they scrapped the Triple H babyface push of 2002 to make Hogan champion again. And acquiesced to Hogan repeatedly to keep him booked strong, as both Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton found out.
WWE is growing again because they have their alpha male with Roman Reigns since August 2020 and the WWE locker room is aligned solidly behind him. Without him, as you saw during 2024, WWE was lacking on the Smackdown side of the ledger. BUT, following his lead on RAW, as you just saw for 2024, was CM Punk and Drew McIntyre tearing up houses. Those guys have seen the standards set by Roman Reigns and are busting down the door behind him. Cody Rhodes… While I enjoy him as a character and respect his family a whole bunch, there’s a little beta in him. The guy who was tearing up New Japan, Ring of Honor, and other promotions before forming AEW during 2019 suddenly tucked his tail between his legs with that promotion. When he’s joined WWE, he’s had some alpha moments, but is he the natural #1 leader that someone like Roman Reigns is? Not even close in my opinion.
WWE is growing because they are following the natural leadership of Roman Reigns and everybody is learning from the top guy, while Triple H has created an environment where multiple wrestlers can rise up to join Roman as successful top guys.
Meanwhile in AEW…
A bunch of betas.
Sorry, but if you run to Dave Meltzer and tell him gossip and lies about other wrestlers, you’re a beta!
If you post about your feelings on social media and break script on television about something said on social media, you’re a beta!
If you’re older and not as aggressive or hungry to be the top guy as you once was, you’re a beta!
Tell me who is the “natural leader” of AEW who exudes confidents and a radiance of being successful.
Young Bucks? Oh please… And those wimpy leaders are the ones that a beta and wimp named Tony Khan placed in charge as Executive Vice Presidents all because the Bucks and Cody drew 10,000 for 1 independent wrestling show in a populous Chicago area during 2018 when fans were starving for wrestling other than WWE. Look at the smaller talents they’ve signed along with the poor presentation of their specialty, the tag team division. Both of those guys collectively stormed 1 guy’s locker room and got their arse kicked easily in a 2 on 1 situation.
Okada? Instead of asserting himself as a $4.5 million dollar man, he took a side role with the Young Bucks upon arrival. Ever since, we have NOT seen the guy whom Dave Meltzer, beta loving master, used to shower with 5+ stars per match.
Will Ospreay? Wasn’t he the guy who threw a hissy fit because of vague words that Triple H said about guys working a tougher schedule? Called him out on an AEW show?
Jon Moxley? Loved his 2019-2021 work, been iffy on his work since. Poor guy worked really hard as a top free agent during his early years and I thought his championship run was great even though it was interrupted with COVID. He’s still seen as a leader by many wrestlers backstage, but I think his desires to revert back to his earlier indy hardcore self has harmed his standing.
I really like MJF, but he’s repeatedly losing or working in programs with AEW talents who are either “beta” of nature or below him. That or when someone like Wardlow gets the best of him, they’ll undercut Wardlow and make both guys look foolish in the process.
Like Kenny Omega, too, but he’s honestly too nice of a guy whose has let the Young Bucks take more charge as Kenny focused on the awful Fight Forever video game that underwhelmed. Unfortunately, the tread on the wheels has thinned with age and it’s been sad to see him go through medical issues for the past few years. Listening to speak openly on Twitch, you could hear that he’s more intelligent than what he’s been presented as in AEW. However, taking a backseat to others is part of what’s lacking with Omega.
You’re asking a lot of Chris Jericho, Adam Copeland, and Christian Cage in their early 50s to contribute to AEW. Like and enjoyed the careers of all 3 talents, but they energy and hunger reduces with age. That said, all 3 usually had other alphas in their way during their past tenures with the WWE and could not overcome the likes of Rock, Austin, Undertaker, or John Cena. Each of the 3 have taken extended time off. While I commend them for working with their families and adding years to their in-ring lives, for every month off, another talent steps in.
Let’s use a few real-life analogies…
The NBA had issues through the 1970s, but then 2 bigtime players and clear leaders of men arrived during the 1980s: Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Those two built the NBA into the powerhouse that it is today and then others were encouraged to follow. With an improved NBA, then the likes of the super-alpha male arrived with Michael Jordan. Is there any question about the drive, competitiveness, and hunger of that guy? He’s the best competitor of all time and the NBA once reached like 32 million viewers during his last playoff series with the Bulls. After he left, the NBA lost viewership and attendance but the likes of Shaq and Kobe helped sustain business for a while.
Since then? It’s been the Lebron James league and what have we seen? Instead of players toughing it out with 1 team, the top players team-up and stack the odds in their favor. Lebron couldn’t win with the dysfunctional Cavs front office, so he bolts to Miami to join Wade and Toronto’s Chris Bosh. He only returned to Cleveland after Kyrie Irving played well and facilitating a trade to obtain Kevin Love. Then with the Los Angeles Lakers, Anthony Davis trade is orchestrated to get Lebron another tag team superstar. You could argue that the “Bulls had Pippen”, but the Bulls obtained him via trade on Draft Night before Pippen even played an NBA game.
Load management, extensive time off for injuries, and constantly switching teams… Think about James Harden, who literally quit on a few teams to force a trade. Constantly happening in the NBA with the high levels of money paid out, compared to the guys who refused to take nights off during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s for lesser money.
Here’s another analogy… The 2024 Presidential Election. Why did Donald Trump win? It’s not because he’s an “alpha”, though he does have natural leadership and confidence qualities. The issue with Trump is that he’s assertive with his personality, but not assertive with his ideology. Before 2008, he took liberal positions on social issues (pro-choice, as his own spoken word indicates) and heavily donated to Democratic candidates (Clintons were featured guests at his wedding with Melania). He’s more of an opportunist with is politics, as he witnessed how Sarah Palin and the Barack Obama birther movements stirred up the hard right base. Trump went for it and easily obtained the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination… But for 2016, he lost to a weak and no-so-assertive Hillary Clinton candidate.
With Donald Trump, all you have to do is flatter his ego or wave dollar bills his way. For the latter part, whatever your money tells him to do, he’ll do it. World leaders know how to play him and I believe that’s going to make things difficult for the next 4 years. Just send him faint praise and he’ll look the other way, may even join you on your radical position.
With that said, it makes for a real tragedy of the Democratic Party. They really failed for the 2024 election. Why? Because they had BETA personalities not only running for President in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but their entire party was full of them. Joe Biden won during 2020 because Trump mishandled the COVID pandemic while also crashing the economy. Instead of asserting himself and humble bragging on the mess he had to clean up, Joe stayed silent while Trump, the GOP, and their media friends could lampoon him in any way. Lots of money was thrown at the 2020 recessed economy and that truly caused the inflation seen during later years, but again, because Biden was not an assertive leader and seemed to lack confidence, he never received credit for his work. In fact, he created the presence that he lacked confidence in his own policies by not communicating his successes or positions well. His Department of Justice also lacked the assertiveness needed to hold the previous administration accountable for a possible insurrection attempt and stealing sensitive documents. WIMP Merrick Garland will go down as one of the biggest beta Attorney Generals of all time.
Then you have Kamala Harris… Talk about a LACK of being assertive… Can anyone tell me what her positions were during this election? The candidate who ran during 2024 was not only different than the one who ran during 2020, but also the ones who ran for various elections in California. Her weakness in her positions made Donald Trump look like the stronger leader, though her luck changed after that debate. However, Kamala’s BETA Vice President selection of Tim Walz was the end of his campaign. Walz botched the Vice Presidential Debate by not appearing confident, assertive, or looking like a natural leader. In contrast, the person lampooned as being “weird” named J.D. Vance appeared on the stage with confidence, assertiveness, and appeared to be the natural leader of the two. If you look at the polls, Trump regained the lead after that debate. In my view, John Kerry, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris were all affected by poor Vice Presidential candidate choices. Zero doubt about Cheney, Pence, and Vance while I’d argue Obama was such a strong candidate that his VP pick didn’t matter with Biden.
WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump won the 2024 election because he APPEARED to be the “alpha” leader in comparison to what appeared to be a “beta” administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I also think that the Democrat Party pushing Kamala to the ticket without a vote hurt as well, in addition to a platform that lacked strength on a few specific issues, like the border.
Let’s get into the Music Industry next… Where are all of the male musicians at? Mostly country music, with a few exceptions elsewhere. Since the 1980s and 1990s where all-male groups or bands spoke about partying, doing drugs, getting violent, or talking smack, the music industry has effectively neutered male artists from ever singing about that material ever again. They really panicked when Eminem hit the scene and even he self-censored. Males just aren’t getting into music as they once did, and if they do, it’s mostly for Country Music. However, they’ve found other avenues of entertainment which aren’t censoring anything they say, such as stand-up Comedy or Podcasts, or sports who have hardworking participants such as Football or UFC. If you’ll notice, Trump heavily embraced the Podcast medium during the 2024 election and many of those shows were parroting his ideals or positions. In return, Trump won the majority of male voters by a margin and actually made major gains on the youth vote and other demographics dominated by Dems.
There are a lot of people who are waiting to be led by an “alpha” or who want to follow an “alpha” as part of a team or a wrestling promotion. Or, for what APPEARS to be an “alpha”.
Roman Reigns is CLEARLY an alpha male and everyone is taking his lead in the WWE.
AEW lacks alpha males and hence why they are not viewed favorably by MALE consumers, which also translates to females who could accompany them to shows as wives, moms, or females who have the hots for the top male alpha wrestlers. Honest question, who has sex appeal with females in AEW? Roman Reigns tracks really well females, for example, as did John Cena and the Rock in the past.
Tony Khan is a total beta… He’s someone that the betas in AEW can walk all over, he likes to party with the boys, and he’s not very assertive. In fact, he had a committee formed to doll out punishments because he wasn’t man enough to hold his own employees accountable. The entire CM Punk situation could have been stomped out during both 2022 and 2023 with a stronger leader backstage. Someone like Vince McMahon or Triple H wouldn’t tolerate such backstage shenanigans.
And let me be VERY CLEAR with this statement… Alpha wrestlers can overcome BAD creative.
Let’s quit acting like the Attitude Era booking was 100% perfect. It wasn’t… But things were made easier and fell into place when you had AMAZING strong-willed talents on your roster to make anything happen. For example, the “Higher Power” storyline was total dogcrap. In contrast, WCW went downhill because they didn’t have younger alpha wrestlers to push and were too interested in pushing the same old stars.
If AEW had alpha wrestlers on their roster, we wouldn’t be blaming Tony Khan’s creative ways. Instead, we’d be praising how loaded that roster is of fully confident professional wrestlers.
AEW fails to grow beyond their 2021 peak because its leadership has beta qualities and they’ve assembled either a roster of beta wrestlers or have created a culture where wrestlers are unable to adequately or confidently become natural leaders for their promotion. Furthermore, nobody is assertive or competitive backstage in AEW, other than whether or not you’re in the Young Bucks’s clique of friends or not.
Sad thing is that AEW has nothing in their youth pipelines that could ascend and become that confident, assertive, and natural leader they need as a talent and top draw. Their culture won’t allow it and there’s no leader to emulate by example.
So you can give me all of your BS reasons why AEW’s viewership, attendance, and merchandise has declined, but it all boils down to how male and female wrestling fans views their top talents. Right now, they don’t see the alpha qualities that previous top draws in the business had or what Roman Reigns currently has to help the WWE grow.
Truth hurts.
And ignore the betas in my Comments section who will claim NoDQ hates AEW or is biased against them, or that I’m just an older guy yelling at the clouds. No, I’m an older guy with WISDOM on what works and doesn’t work from viewing and investing time in over 36 years following this business and 26 years writing about it online.
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