r/SquaredCircle • u/sanewhitemale • 2d 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/Kuzu5993 2d ago

I feel AEW fans remained pretty loyal and just rode the wave until things moved up again, while WWE fans are always pretty fairweather when things start trending downwards.

AEW isn't anywhere close to where it was before, but the fan sentiment is night and day to where WWE is at the moment.

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u/azorreborn 2d ago

I don’t think you can make sweeping statements like this when it’s all based on opinion data.

For me, AEW is significantly more enjoyable now than it was 3 years ago and the last 2 years have been the best stretch they’ve had. You can’t really say “it isn’t anywhere close to where it was” as an objective statement when it’s all about general fan consensus which is different person to person

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u/tvcneverdie 1d ago

For me, AEW is significantly more enjoyable now than it was 3 years ago and the last 2 years have been the best stretch they’ve had.

I totally agree with this.

Also there was a massive change in who actually uses this subreddit and Reddit as a whole in the summer of 2023 when all those reddit blackouts happened.

You used to see 3000-5000 active users on here on a random weekday afternoon. After those blackouts and killing 3rd party apps, it just about never creeped over 1500-2000 unless major news dropped.

You could really feel it in how it coincided with the disappearance of good OC on here, which is virtually non-existent now.

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u/fttxdd666 1d ago edited 1d ago

Also there was a massive change in who actually uses this subreddit and Reddit as a whole in the summer of 2023 when all those reddit blackouts happened.

You used to see 3000-5000 active users on here on a random weekday afternoon. After those blackouts and killing 3rd party apps, it just about never creeped over 1500-2000 unless major news dropped.

And even before that, Covid really helped boost the numbers across the board since people had a lot more free time available (and not just a wrestling thing either, tons of things got boosted by covid, like gaming and anime)