>>19899023Its a really interesting case study. Wrestling is a broken entertainment business and it has been for perhaps 20 years. The singular truth is that nobody understands what draws now and there's this whole history of logic surrounding talent built over a century that just doesn't work now. Every company is struggling with this.
On paper, Mercedes was worth a big investment; she did great numbers in the Black women demo which was something AEW were not serving, she had a small mainstream footprint, she seemed technically sound, moved merch and a strong gimmick. AEW needed numbers in their women's division and it was a good fit logically.
Her audience in WWE just didn't follow her in numbers and instead latched onto Bianca, leaving her as an albatross in terms of cost estimation and value.
This doesn't square with a post 80s wrestling landscape. When WCW signed top WWF talent, the audience would follow them to some degree but especially their core demos. Bret Hart is probably the best example, when he jumped, ratings in Canada dropped for WWF and soared for WCW.
People started noticing this and then sometime in the early 10s started believing that, just like the 60s to mid 80s era, drawing logic was now closer to the territory era where wrestling fans would primarily watch one show. Amarillo might know some stars in Florida but ultimately they thought "their guys" were the best and were loyal to their show.
The key difference though is corporatisation and the fragmentation of pop culture. In the territory era, 6 months would be a good run and then talent would rotate out. That cannot work in a modern era where wrestlers need guarantees and merchandising operations have a lag time. You can have 4 or 5 homestead guys but there has to be a constant conveyor belt for them to work that are presented as major stars.
