Hiya!

SummerSlam should be over by now and, as I’m writing this just before WWE‘s “biggest party of the summer,” I can only hope this was a good show. While I will decry Disney+ essentially pulling a fast one on Philippine audiences as they don’t show replays of WWE pay-per-views anymore, at least they did for a while. I do wish they did more, though, as they never did have any of the RAW, Smackdown and NXT shows available on the app. Eh, what’s done is done and, hopefully, Netflix do much better when they finally get to broadcasting WWE programming sometime next year.

As big as a professional wrestling fan as I am, I will admit I have been living in seclusion as the WWE is what I consider what professional wrestling is. It’s the only brand I’m extremely familiar with. I grew up watching RAW and Smackdown so I can’t help but associate “sports entertainment” with it. I do believe it’s unfair to think that as there are other professional wrestling brands out there besides WWE.

In fact, there seems to be more now than when I was growing up. It’s not like these other brands like TNA haven’t tried. Heck, AEW is the newest brand out there and has former big name WWE stars like Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson and Adam Copeland on its roster. These are stars I loved watching in the WWE but, even with their drawing power, I still haven’t brought myself to really watching AEW programming on a weekly basis like with RAW and Smackdown.

So, why is that? Why can’t brands like AEW and TNA ever be on the level of the WWE? Well, I’m just a simple wrestling fan from the Philippines but I can tell you the reasons from my viewpoint.

For one thing, brands like AEW and TNA already have an uphill battle against the WWE because, like I said, most wrestling fans today grew up watching WWE shows. So, when another professional wrestling brand comes along, it’s not that easy to make the switch. It’ll still feel like an off-brand product; the Wish version of the WWE, if I may. It may not be true but it doesn’t look like the WWE and it doesn’t feel like the WWE. So, our brains would immediately have a distaste for it. You’re trying to break years and years of indoctrination done by the WWE and that’s not going to happen overnight.

This actually goes hand in hand with my second point: brand marketing. A lot of WWE Superstars are well known by non-wrestling fans. There are the Legends like Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. There are also more modern figures like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena and Batista who are now household names as well.

Now, can you say the same thing for any star from, say, WCW, TNA or AEW? I’m more forgiving with AEW as this is a relatively young promotion. I can’t be that forgiving for WCW and TNA, though. Once again, this was because the WWE is still a name people remember. WWE has tried their darndest to be a mainstream product by shilling out their Superstars services for commercials and TV shows. I don’t see that with the other brands.

Even when WCW tried to be more mainstream when they had that Ready to Rumble flick, it just didn’t work because even when they made a wrestling movie, the star wasn’t a WCW wrestler! It was David Arquette! Sure, he eventually became WCW Champion but that’s a sad other story altogether. The point is they didn’t count on their wrestlers to be the main attraction. The WWE is a little more confident in that.

However, the biggest reason may be the most nefarious and it also deals with brand marketing. That would be accessibility. The WWE has the WWE Network where you can watch all their stuff. However, that’s not the only way to watch it as, worldwide, you can still watch shows like RAW and Smackdown on free services.

Let me tell you a little secret if you live in the Philippines: there’s a streaming service here called Blast TV and, if you’re a Globe internet subscriber, you can get it for free! Blast TV allows Philippine viewers to watch channels like Nickelodeon, UFC and other live TV shows. You can also watch the most recent WWE shows like RAW, Smackdown and NXT on there on demand! No WWE pay-per views yet but it’s still an incredible deal!

Now, what about TNA and AEW? Where the heck can I watch Impact and Dynamite here in the Philippines legally? I can’t speak for TNA but, for AEW, there is a way through Thriller.TV but you have to pay $5 a month! I don’t think curious pro wrestling fans who would like to get a taste of AEW programming would shell out $5! You may say most of it is on YouTube but you would have to actively search it out instead of making it available for the curious wrestling fan. Besides, say they did like what they saw on YouTube? They’re not going to pay $5 a month because it would be an extra $5 a month on their bills!

Now, it’s not all doom and gloom for companies like TNA and AEW. In this day of age, it has become incredibly easy to build brand awareness, both domestically and internationally, thanks to the Internet. It mostly just deals with leveraging it to your advantage and be a little more creative. For example, the WWE had the entire WWE Network thing and, while that ultimately died because of corporate buy-outs, they were willing to take risks while using the Internet.

I’m not saying the head honchos of TNA and AEW start up their own streaming service. Rather, why not team up with streaming services to carry your product? Make it free for subscribers for things like HBO Max. Set up deals with international streaming services to get the foreign market hooked. Better yet, just stream your shows on Internet sites like Twitch.

In fact, I would think steaming something like AEW Dynamite on Twitch would be a banger of an idea since Twitch has a chat function and we all know wrestling promotions love fan engagement. Well, what would cause more fan engagement than being able to watch something live and instantly react to it in a chat room with others watching the same thing? I actually floated this idea way before and it looks like the WWE never took my idea to heart. Maybe TNA and AEW will heed the call?

While it seems impossible for other wrestling promotions to beat the WWE right now, I don’t think that should be what’s on their minds. I would rather they focus on bringing the product to as many people as possible instead of trying to out-do the WWE product at the moment. Concentrate on that first… then think about beating the WWE.

Byee!

How do you think wrestling promotions like TNA and AEW can compete with a juggernaut like the WWE? Let me know in the comments section below!