Cody Rhodes isn’t interested in attracting casual fans to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) when they debut on TNT this October 2nd.
Speaking with SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio, Cody spoke openly about the idea of the ‘casual fan’ and the kind of demographic AEW are specifically targeting.
“You guys have heard the term ‘casual fan,’ right?” he asked. “‘Oh, how are you going to get the casual fan?’ The term ‘casual fan,’ honestly I just threw up a little in my mouth every time I hear it because it’s this vernacular to describe wrestling and it’s based on the Monday Night Wars.”
He argued that with the Monday Night Wars long over, the idea of the casual fan is no longer a thing in modern pro wrestling. This mindset has allowed him to instead focus solely on appealing to AEW’s core audience.
“My focus is always the base that built AEW,” Cody added. “And that base, if you’ve seen it, you get it. And if you haven’t seen it, it’s just something that you have to see and feel. Bully [Ray] knows what I’m talking about. Because there’s a lot of confidence that sometimes can get misplaced for arrogance on my half or on The Elite’s behalf, but I’ve seen the power. I’ve seen it. And that’s why I want to focus on them first and foremost.”
“There’s people who are plenty critical of what AEW does and instead of signal boosting that, I’d rather a hundred of the fans that we have in that base than that one sulky son of a bitch that’s not coming on-board anyways. You guys know that first way to fail is to try and please everybody, but I gotta take care of the people who brought us to the dance in the first place… and I think that will be appealing on a global level. I genuinely do.”
Cody will face Shawn Spears in a grudge match at AEW’s next event, All Out, which takes place on August 31st from the Sears Center Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
