>>11620089New Japan is great but I can't kid myself and say it'll ever be mainstream levels of popular in the west.
AEW have made it clear what demo of fans they're after. The way the shows are now that ~800k will stay ride or die but the audience will never grow.
There's honestly no point watching WWE until Vince dies. That includes NXT, since most of those guys will just get moved up top flounder as has happened the past 8 years or so.
Impact/MLW/NWA/whatever else are too low budget and have a similar problem to NXT/westerners in NJPW in that anyone who makes a name for themselves there, baring attitude/lifestyle factors, will get snapped up by AEW.
All In 2023, with the Punk drama and the ticket count stuff etc was the X7 of the IWC. Realistically what stories are going to be as interesting in the next few years? Ospreay going to AEW? Jade going to WWE? The Rock vs Roman? We already knew all that.
We're in a down period, there really isn't any reason to get excited right now as a wrestling fan.
