Negativity Within AEW: Ticket Sales, Bad Optics, Britt Baker Missing & More

There is a heavy sense of negativity within All Elite Wrestling at the moment due to several factors, it has been reported.

This week, AEW parted ways with Kevin Sullivan (not the Taskmaster,) who had served as the promotion's VP of Post Production. It was Mike Mansury, a former WWE exec who joined AEW last year who made the call. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that there is negativity within AEW about Sullivan being let go and that some have taken this as a sign that the company is changing. People within AEW didn't like the optics of someone associated with WWE who relatively recently joined, having the power to terminate Sullivan, who'd been with AEW since 2019.

Meltzer said the situation is like a WWE Outcasts Vs. AEW Originals storyline and that some people within the company feel this is the case.

In his report, Meltzer added that there is "a lot of negativity" right now, and some of that is due to ticket sales. While shows like Worlds End and All In 2024 are doing well, weekly TV tapings have struggled to perform in the past. This issue isn't exclusive to AEW, with ROH Final Battle seeing serious struggles with ticket sales.

Last week, Britt Baker called out AEW for giving her no promo time for the entirety of 2023 and compared her situation to some of her male counterparts. On the show, Meltzer pointed out that AEW's roster is so large that even with five hours of TV, there isn't enough to give everybody TV time, which has led to some who deserve time getting frustrated.

When Bryan Alvarez asked if he was talking about Britt, Meltzer said not specifically, but she is in the category of frustrated talent. Meltzer added that it's unclear why Baker is being kept off TV and he isn't sure anyone knows. While Baker's back is reportedly injured, Meltzer stated that she's been working through it all year and this isn't the reason she's off TV. Meltzer pointed out that Baker was going to be at AEW's recent tapings in her native Pittsburgh but she was ill and couldn't go.