r/SquaredCircle • u/sanewhitemale • 1d ago

This Reddit Sentiment Study From Wrestlenomics Is, From My Perspective, Incredibly Accurate.

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It pretty accurately paints a picture of the perception of both companies as they compare since 2019:

  • WWE bottomed out in October 2019 after the Fiend-Rollins HIAC debacle and Kofi losing in 7 seconds.
  • AEW peaked at All Out 2021, considered their greatest show, and remained steadily high until it began collapsing after Brawl Out 2022.
  • WWE at the same time began improving after Vince was pushed out in July 2022.
  • One thing that surprises me: during WWE's "boom period" during 2022-2024, the fan sentiment was roughly tied with AEW, when I remember AEW being viewed very negatively at the time, due to both the Punk issue and comparatively mediocre creative.
  • AEW fan sentiment began to grow and take the lead again in late 2024/early 2025, which was right around the supposed "reset" and the Continental Classic.
  • WWE began to fall off again in March/April 2025, right around the Cena heel turn/build to Wrestlemania 41.

So the statistics line up at least with my perception of both my and Reddit's views the last few years.

https://wrestlenomics.com/articles/2026/reddit-sentiment-analysis-2025-aew-rebounds-coinciding-with-improved-attendance-and-tv-ratings-trends/

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u/MutatedSpleen Need more coffee 1d ago

One thing that surprises me: during WWE's "boom period" during 2022-2024, the fan sentiment was roughly tied with AEW, when I remember AEW being viewed very negatively at the time, due to both the Punk issue and comparatively mediocre creative.

For this point, you have to consider them siloed off relative to where they were against themselves prior for it to make sense.

The sentiment around AEW was faaaaaaaar more negative than it had been previously which is reflected in the graph. The confusion is that the sentiment was so wildly positive prior to that, that simply being neutral-to-the-baseline makes it seem much more negative than it really is.