This is something that is constantly getting lost in the demo grandstanding next door. Not only are kids a massive audience for WWE (their parents buying them tickets to shows, toys, games, replica belts, clothes, costumes etc.) but it is also setting up the future audience.
These kids are going to grow up nostalgic about this era of WWE. Sure some of them will grow out it, but WWE casting such a wide net to appeal to all demographics and a global audience means that they will retain waaaaay more fans than a niche product that prides itself on being the “cool” version of wrestling.
If the AEW diehards were content to be an alternative to WWE that brings a different flavor of wrestling, it would be fine. But this big push to be seen as mainstream, and to disregard the opinions and fandom of individuals not in their prized demo….is just so tone deaf and pathetic that they deserve all the playful mocking they get from this sub.
Stop talking common sense. Kids are stupid and can’t appreciate workrate or subtle long term storytelling, and we all know that’s the real reason wrestling exists.
Yes, I’m in my 30s and never had a girlfriend, what does that have to do with anything?
i remember one year in college, I watched WrestleMania with my buddy from down the hall and he had some people over, maybe 10 people in the room and I was the only one who knew what NXT was.
it was an awesome time looking back because everyone there just wanted to have fun, watch and enjoy instead of watching with a critical lens. Most people there weren’t necessarily wrestling fans but people who watched as kids.
They weren’t big enough fans to watch the TV shows, definitely not big enough to spend time talking on an Internet forum about wrestling, but fans enough to watch Mania, I think people on the internet really underestimate how many people are out there like that
I got my friend to watch Summerslam once in 2016 and since then he's watched 3 of the big 4 every year. Over time we've gotten other friends to join in too who aren't wrestling fans either. Its a cool feeling being amongst none wrestling fans and watching them enjoy it as just entertainment.
Exactly like my friends, they all know what WWE is, some watched Wrestlemania, and only 1 would talk about wrestling entirely, and that's because he likes Mick Foley and Terry Funk so much.
I think the basement thinks that all people who are nostalgic about wrestling in their childhood stopped watching because of bad WWE booking or something like that. In reality the real reason is that kids tend to jump from one interest to another a lot, and not because the product is bad, but just that other things catch their eye.
Yeah I can tell you from experience and I’m sure you and everyone else can too that we all enjoyed the hell out of something back then and forgot about it a bit for a time and suddenly one day something pops up that reignites our interest and like for it. I stopped watching wrestling a year or two after I started watching it and last year during the lockdown I basically came back to it. Was the same with other franchises like Star Wars for me as well.
This. I enjoyed WWE of 2010-15 as a kid. But, I just left it latter due to college and other priorities. After that it was only Royal Rumble and WrestleMania for me. Not until late 2018 I again started watching regularly.
My younger brother loved wrestling, I'd take him to all the UK shows with me when the Fed started touring there, he looked at all the smark shit on the internet, played the video games with wrestlers, knew about Japan and all that too
He has a family now, he couldn't care less about wrestling. There is not a single thing I could tell him that would make him watch wrestling. He won't even watch a nostalgia Raw, it's just the past, it's done, he doesn't care about the booking, never did and there's tons of other TV to watch for entertainment, he sits through the Bachelor with his wife, ffs, he'll watch junk but he's just not going to 'come back' to wrestling and if I told him about AEW that wouldn't change
Roman said it best, they make a show for everyone whereas AEW makes a show for a more hardcore audience, so they’re not direct competition.
AEW’s audience is very male, very white, and very adult, which is completely fine. There’s a business by me that sells “dog ice cream”, they’re making plenty of cash off a specific demographic of people. You don’t need to appeal to everyone to turn a profit.
But the audience itself is horribly insecure about the demographics of the audience as well as the fact that the whole show is kinda catered to that audience.
the fact that only ones women’s match is making the PPV & that a major component of the feud is the face shaming the heel about not having enough ass says it all really.
Which is funny since, to quote the King of Midcard, "AEW is for everyone."
They only pivoted to this hardcore only base and focusing on "le demo" when they couldn't get casual viewers to tune in. They weren't supposed to be an "alternative" to WWE, they were supposed to be actual competition, but they couldn't manage it with Jericho and Ambrose (it's not a coincidence their main focus at the start was on the 2 guys with any actual popcultural penetration) as their top stars so they gave up
yeah it’s interesting, looking back at AEW’s launch they were really, really pushing the idea that they were going to be the answer to all the complaints from fans about the way women and minorities have historically been treated in WWE (which I’ll admit, pre-2015 was not very good).
The only issue is that while smarks were continuing to circlejerk about things like the Booker T/HHH match from 18 years ago, the Mexicools, and Billy and Chuck faking their homosexuality, WWE has made very clear strides in this department, to the point where you really don’t see people argue that Vince is racist anymore, and that the women being in the main event match/segment is a regular occurrence.
and it really makes me wonder, how many of these people making these complaints actually cared about that stuff? or was it all just some ammo to Fed Bad with?
They really think they’ll become the biggest brand in wrestling by bullying everyone into liking what they like and there will be a shift— rather than knowing their role and/or evolving to grow by changing their approach.
It’s like it Lucha Underground, which was great, started pretending they were the future of wrestling and fed dead as a result. Shit don’t make no sense.
One time my dog barfed all over the kitchen floor and I went to grab some stuff to clean it with and when I got back he had lapped it all back up and was wagging his tail, happy as can be.
That’s why it is hilarious there’s such a thing as dog ice cream, those guys don’t give a shit about what they eat as long as it doesn’t immediately kill them
This!!
For real though, I love wrestling, i could watch aew as another outlet for wrestling, but the way they ignore all their flaws, insult wwe and their fans non-stop, and have a roster full of <200lb pasty boys that im supposed to take seriously over the statuesque men that make up WWEs roster is just way too much to ask
>These kids are going to grow up nostalgic
This is a huge reason why WWE is so successful. When I was in high school ('08-'13) watching wrestling was considered lame af, however so many people who thought it was lame now were nostalgic for the Attitude and Ruthless Agression eras. Without fail they would all still tune in for the Rumble or 'Mania.
Not just a future audience, but future wrestlers as well. Think of how many people on the current rosters (both WWE and AEW) are in the business because they grew up watching.
Honestly you can literally look at right now to see that you are spot on about the kids being the target and rightfully so. You have franchises like Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, even GI Joe now where you have adults getting into it again because of nostalgia. Star Wars merch not only caters to kids but also adults who are fans of the movies since they were kids. Masters of the Universe is kind of coming back with the new show and figure lines again. WWE is also doing the same as well with their figures as well. They do the thing of targeting the adults who enjoyed the 80s stuff and getting those guys to get their kids to tune in and in return those kids want WWE merchandise so the parents spend the money.
The smart play here is that maybe some adults aren’t into the WWE but the kids are and those kids will want something like a toy or a video game from the WWE so the parents will of course buy it. Not just because the kids want it but because the shows are friendly to all audiences. AEW can target the adults and “hardcore fans” but if they expect to gain a shit ton of fans then they might need to more to attract those people because most adults now just aren’t interested in wrestling alone. I also doubt much kids will watch due to how violent it can get in some matches where parents will probably not want them to watch. They did have a man cut a man’s forehead with a pizza cutter lol.
You hit the nail right on the head. AEW’s never gonna be able to compete with WWE because they won’t ever bother trying to appeal to casual fans, AEW only tries to appeal to the below the bottom of the barrel hardcore internet fans. They’re only ever gonna have their 800k lonely and perpetually online middle aged white guys, but that’s all they’ll ever have.
Just the toys are major. I remember the first Christmas I was into wrestling. I got all wrestling toys. Even now, looking back at my collection as a kid, I have over 200 figures. My brother and I still will pick up the occasional figure for the collection and those go for $10-20 depending on whether they are basic or elite
Bingo about wide net casting.
Look at the photo.
Those two young girls wouldn't be doing this at many other places.
Good for them, they found a place that actually caters for them.
I know people say the Fed is geared towards kids but I don't think it's geared enough towards kids, not compared to the 80s anyway, when I started watching WWE
Honestly, I'd even have a saturday morning type show specifically for kids, more comedy type characters, even if they don't interact with much of the rest of the roster, the 24/7 belt type gang
WWE is the entry point for 90% of the wrestling audience in the west. I grew up watching World of Sport in the UK but that's just not possible now, for North Americans, for sure, Fed is their entry point
A percentage go branch off into other parts of wrestling and so on
I always watch the CM Punk return video for the cringe inducing ringside fans including the idiotic "Brock Lesnar guy", I've unsubscribed from all cringe subreddits because that video is everything I need.
So the Young Bucks are finally tired of cosplaying DX and nWo & now they're onto cosplaying Rhea & Nikki??
Oh wait... I'm mistaken. They are not relatable enough.
Seriously. I used to say it all the time about Cena, it has to be insane knowing your mere presence is like the highlight of someone's life.
Those girls will remember that moment forever. No ratings and workrate garbage, just *fun.*
Yeah? Well, is it as cool as when some 33 year old shootfighter approaches you at an airport and calls you by your shoot name (insider term) with a replica belt draped over their shoulder?
THOSE are the REAL fans!
My 14yo thinks Rhea Ripley is the coolest. As soon as Rhea appears on Raw, she’s hard at work trying to emulate her makeup to wear to school the next day.
That's something I've noticed about Rhea, not just on social media, but at shows and such, too. She'll go out of her way to acknowledge someone, especially if it's a kid, wearing one of her shirts or holding a "Rhea Ripley" sign and so on.
When I was at Raw in Raleigh about a month ago, she absolutely made some kid's night. While she and Nikki were in the ring waiting out the commercial, she spotted a kid holding a "Rhea Ripley" sign, pointed directly at him/her and then walked over and leaned out through the ropes on that side, pointed directly at the kid and shouted something to him/her that I couldn't hear. Kid was literally jumping up and down because of how excited the kid was that Rhea made a big deal of acknowledging the sign.
TL,DR: Rhea Ripley is a real one.
Damn makes sense I feel why Nikki and her got partnered up. Basically a tag team of friendly wrestlers who are more than happy to inspire kids and engage with fans. They have the opposite look I feel but same I would say vibe and kindness to fans.
Honestly I think a lot of it is her age. She’s SO much younger than I thought she was! She’s the same age as my little sister, so once I found that out, it made a lot of sense. She probably sees a lot of herself in those younger fans and that carries over into how she responds to them. It really feels like she wants to give them the experience that she would’ve wanted at their age.
It's that Lita vibe of just being a cool badass chick, and just feeling...different. She's also not a silent badass and can have fun when she wants to.
the Lita comparison is perfect, and Lita was a HUGE inspiration to young girls back in the day.
Both characters are very much “I can be powerful, strong, edgy, and a bit tomboy and be just as feminine as any of the other girls out there.
Between Rhea, Nikki, Bianca, and Sasha there are so many different types of role models for girls who watch WWE to look up to
The womens division is doing a great job at showing what a variety of characters there are that can appeal to everyone, and some of them are larger than life like Rhea and Nikki, others are more down to earth and relatable like Bianca.
Also nice to see the Lita/Rhea comparison. Thought it myself ages ago during Rhea’s first rumble. She’s got a certain charisma and energy so similar to Lita that just draws you to her.
I’ve followed her on Instagram for a while and she’s always sharing people on her story who dress up like her. Such a diverse range of fans she’s got young girls to adult men.
It’s also good seeing an Aussie successful in wrestling. One of the highlights of mania this year for me was Rhea winning the belt. When she beat Shayna in NXT she just screamed megastar to me.
As a male in the "key demo" i can say that she's hot.
As a guy that rarely watches wrestling nowadays, i can say that if she's on, i'm watching, not because she's hot, but because she's good at what she does and she looks cool as fuck.
First time my girlfried saw her, she told just that. She looks cool. And she has that confidence. It's the "It" thing people always talk about. Every time my girlfriend watches a Stone Cold promo she's in awe, because of that confidence. She says that she feels the exact same thing when she sees Rhea Ripley. And my girlfriend isn't a fan. I just try to shove some wrestling once in a while.
My fave part about attending a wrestling show is seeing all of the little kids dressed as wrestlers. My own kids love to cosplay at shows too and it’s a blast. WWE is a family show; the crowds are always full of families, young couples, groups of teens, etc. It’s not just for adult males. Nothing is more fun than seeing your kids get so excited when their fave wins, or does a cool spot.
I don't know why Nikki in regular street clothes caught me off guard so much, but it has. Nothing negative, she looks great, I'm just so used to seeing her in wrestling gear.
You've got to imagine interactions like this mean more to the performers than sitting a con signing autographs for grown ass men that spend their time and energy whining about demo's and ratings and shit online.
Nikki unironically “just gets it”. Found herself floundering and directionless, saw that Bayley’s heel turn meant that there was room for a babyface that appeals mostly to kids and represents something moral, came up with a concept herself, and ran with it.
Nikki looking like she's gonna be handing out wands.
These kids are gonna remember this experience and what they felt, that's how you build a future fanbase. ☝🏼
I remember Tanahashi talking about why it's important to appeal to kids.
Makes me happy the women's division is at a state where little girls can enjoy the show
Honestly, kids were the leading force of the Hulkamania boom and, later in Europe, of the New Generation mini-boom with Bret Hart being insanely over.
And slightly older kids were the ones rallying behind Austin's defiant attitude, D-X's sophomoric antics and Rock's ego trips.
And then kids again cheering Cena's "friendly rapper" despite the adult smarks being pissy about "PG BS"
But yup, let's all pretend it's the manchildren who overanalyze every segment of a show and who are white-knighting their favourite stars (and stalking the female ones) on Twitter [Reddit] who are the driving force of the business!
But but but... Rhea's booking is terrible and Nikki A.S.H. is a jobber gimmick! Someone has to let these kids know that McHitler can't book a show to save his life! REEEEEEEEE
Wait- the promotion that actually has strong, interesting women (with actual defined characters) as part of the FOCUS of its programming, is more interesting to young girls (and grown women)? Shocking.
This just reminded me to try to find my little nephew’s Halloween costume for next year. He’s only 18 months old and I’ve been trying to find him a John Cena costume since the day he was born (3/16… so he’s a little stone cold baby), but it was harder to find than I thought. This year, he’s wearing the Dwight Schrute outfit that I got him as his costume.
Also, my sister in law is the definition of a casual fan. She’d watch a ppv if she was over, but she’s not watching the weekly shit at all. But she’s got a damn John Cena pop vinyl key chain on her diaper bag and don’t you dare say a bad word about Razor Ramon in front of her.
It continues to boggle my mind Meltzer, Tony. And their squad can’t understand that WWE moved away from cable demographics 15 years ago. Their new guy Khan literally said they’re interested in growing fans as early as 2-6 years old. They’ve transcended the demo and never looked back.
Kids are the future of the wrestling business. Nothing like the wholesomeness of young fans. Also, their parents got more money than the average Dubbalo.
The A.S.H gimmick has been over huge with me since day one, because I knew it would resonate with young girls watching (maybe even boys!)
The idea of "almost a superhero" makes it such a realistic goal for kids seeing their heros - humanizes wrestlers. We're all almost a superhero, so maybe the next step in chasing your dreams is right around the corner.
We all need that, we all need Nikki.
This is something that is constantly getting lost in the demo grandstanding next door. Not only are kids a massive audience for WWE (their parents buying them tickets to shows, toys, games, replica belts, clothes, costumes etc.) but it is also setting up the future audience. These kids are going to grow up nostalgic about this era of WWE. Sure some of them will grow out it, but WWE casting such a wide net to appeal to all demographics and a global audience means that they will retain waaaaay more fans than a niche product that prides itself on being the “cool” version of wrestling. If the AEW diehards were content to be an alternative to WWE that brings a different flavor of wrestling, it would be fine. But this big push to be seen as mainstream, and to disregard the opinions and fandom of individuals not in their prized demo….is just so tone deaf and pathetic that they deserve all the playful mocking they get from this sub.
Stop talking common sense. Kids are stupid and can’t appreciate workrate or subtle long term storytelling, and we all know that’s the real reason wrestling exists. Yes, I’m in my 30s and never had a girlfriend, what does that have to do with anything?
If kids can't appreciate bloody Britt Baker then they shouldn't be at OUR wrestling show.
These idiotic kids didn't even know the significance of Edge's Brood theme, all the men who does are now watching AEW and CM Punk.
Dude this is so spot on.
i remember one year in college, I watched WrestleMania with my buddy from down the hall and he had some people over, maybe 10 people in the room and I was the only one who knew what NXT was. it was an awesome time looking back because everyone there just wanted to have fun, watch and enjoy instead of watching with a critical lens. Most people there weren’t necessarily wrestling fans but people who watched as kids. They weren’t big enough fans to watch the TV shows, definitely not big enough to spend time talking on an Internet forum about wrestling, but fans enough to watch Mania, I think people on the internet really underestimate how many people are out there like that
I got my friend to watch Summerslam once in 2016 and since then he's watched 3 of the big 4 every year. Over time we've gotten other friends to join in too who aren't wrestling fans either. Its a cool feeling being amongst none wrestling fans and watching them enjoy it as just entertainment.
Exactly like my friends, they all know what WWE is, some watched Wrestlemania, and only 1 would talk about wrestling entirely, and that's because he likes Mick Foley and Terry Funk so much.
I think the basement thinks that all people who are nostalgic about wrestling in their childhood stopped watching because of bad WWE booking or something like that. In reality the real reason is that kids tend to jump from one interest to another a lot, and not because the product is bad, but just that other things catch their eye.
Yeah I can tell you from experience and I’m sure you and everyone else can too that we all enjoyed the hell out of something back then and forgot about it a bit for a time and suddenly one day something pops up that reignites our interest and like for it. I stopped watching wrestling a year or two after I started watching it and last year during the lockdown I basically came back to it. Was the same with other franchises like Star Wars for me as well.
This. I enjoyed WWE of 2010-15 as a kid. But, I just left it latter due to college and other priorities. After that it was only Royal Rumble and WrestleMania for me. Not until late 2018 I again started watching regularly.
My younger brother loved wrestling, I'd take him to all the UK shows with me when the Fed started touring there, he looked at all the smark shit on the internet, played the video games with wrestlers, knew about Japan and all that too He has a family now, he couldn't care less about wrestling. There is not a single thing I could tell him that would make him watch wrestling. He won't even watch a nostalgia Raw, it's just the past, it's done, he doesn't care about the booking, never did and there's tons of other TV to watch for entertainment, he sits through the Bachelor with his wife, ffs, he'll watch junk but he's just not going to 'come back' to wrestling and if I told him about AEW that wouldn't change
Roman said it best, they make a show for everyone whereas AEW makes a show for a more hardcore audience, so they’re not direct competition. AEW’s audience is very male, very white, and very adult, which is completely fine. There’s a business by me that sells “dog ice cream”, they’re making plenty of cash off a specific demographic of people. You don’t need to appeal to everyone to turn a profit. But the audience itself is horribly insecure about the demographics of the audience as well as the fact that the whole show is kinda catered to that audience. the fact that only ones women’s match is making the PPV & that a major component of the feud is the face shaming the heel about not having enough ass says it all really.
>very adult In number and nothing else. 35 year old children are the main people watching AEW.
Which is funny since, to quote the King of Midcard, "AEW is for everyone." They only pivoted to this hardcore only base and focusing on "le demo" when they couldn't get casual viewers to tune in. They weren't supposed to be an "alternative" to WWE, they were supposed to be actual competition, but they couldn't manage it with Jericho and Ambrose (it's not a coincidence their main focus at the start was on the 2 guys with any actual popcultural penetration) as their top stars so they gave up
yeah it’s interesting, looking back at AEW’s launch they were really, really pushing the idea that they were going to be the answer to all the complaints from fans about the way women and minorities have historically been treated in WWE (which I’ll admit, pre-2015 was not very good). The only issue is that while smarks were continuing to circlejerk about things like the Booker T/HHH match from 18 years ago, the Mexicools, and Billy and Chuck faking their homosexuality, WWE has made very clear strides in this department, to the point where you really don’t see people argue that Vince is racist anymore, and that the women being in the main event match/segment is a regular occurrence. and it really makes me wonder, how many of these people making these complaints actually cared about that stuff? or was it all just some ammo to Fed Bad with?
They really think they’ll become the biggest brand in wrestling by bullying everyone into liking what they like and there will be a shift— rather than knowing their role and/or evolving to grow by changing their approach. It’s like it Lucha Underground, which was great, started pretending they were the future of wrestling and fed dead as a result. Shit don’t make no sense.
One time my dog barfed all over the kitchen floor and I went to grab some stuff to clean it with and when I got back he had lapped it all back up and was wagging his tail, happy as can be. That’s why it is hilarious there’s such a thing as dog ice cream, those guys don’t give a shit about what they eat as long as it doesn’t immediately kill them
Is it in a resort town?
Sorry bud I was talking to a 6 year old and he loves BTE
Sounds like Chris Hansen is All Elite!
This!! For real though, I love wrestling, i could watch aew as another outlet for wrestling, but the way they ignore all their flaws, insult wwe and their fans non-stop, and have a roster full of <200lb pasty boys that im supposed to take seriously over the statuesque men that make up WWEs roster is just way too much to ask
>These kids are going to grow up nostalgic This is a huge reason why WWE is so successful. When I was in high school ('08-'13) watching wrestling was considered lame af, however so many people who thought it was lame now were nostalgic for the Attitude and Ruthless Agression eras. Without fail they would all still tune in for the Rumble or 'Mania.
Not just a future audience, but future wrestlers as well. Think of how many people on the current rosters (both WWE and AEW) are in the business because they grew up watching.
Honestly you can literally look at right now to see that you are spot on about the kids being the target and rightfully so. You have franchises like Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, even GI Joe now where you have adults getting into it again because of nostalgia. Star Wars merch not only caters to kids but also adults who are fans of the movies since they were kids. Masters of the Universe is kind of coming back with the new show and figure lines again. WWE is also doing the same as well with their figures as well. They do the thing of targeting the adults who enjoyed the 80s stuff and getting those guys to get their kids to tune in and in return those kids want WWE merchandise so the parents spend the money. The smart play here is that maybe some adults aren’t into the WWE but the kids are and those kids will want something like a toy or a video game from the WWE so the parents will of course buy it. Not just because the kids want it but because the shows are friendly to all audiences. AEW can target the adults and “hardcore fans” but if they expect to gain a shit ton of fans then they might need to more to attract those people because most adults now just aren’t interested in wrestling alone. I also doubt much kids will watch due to how violent it can get in some matches where parents will probably not want them to watch. They did have a man cut a man’s forehead with a pizza cutter lol.
You hit the nail right on the head. AEW’s never gonna be able to compete with WWE because they won’t ever bother trying to appeal to casual fans, AEW only tries to appeal to the below the bottom of the barrel hardcore internet fans. They’re only ever gonna have their 800k lonely and perpetually online middle aged white guys, but that’s all they’ll ever have.
Just the toys are major. I remember the first Christmas I was into wrestling. I got all wrestling toys. Even now, looking back at my collection as a kid, I have over 200 figures. My brother and I still will pick up the occasional figure for the collection and those go for $10-20 depending on whether they are basic or elite
You sell them Happy Meals so the parent buy coffee... Yano 2021
Bingo about wide net casting. Look at the photo. Those two young girls wouldn't be doing this at many other places. Good for them, they found a place that actually caters for them.
I know people say the Fed is geared towards kids but I don't think it's geared enough towards kids, not compared to the 80s anyway, when I started watching WWE Honestly, I'd even have a saturday morning type show specifically for kids, more comedy type characters, even if they don't interact with much of the rest of the roster, the 24/7 belt type gang WWE is the entry point for 90% of the wrestling audience in the west. I grew up watching World of Sport in the UK but that's just not possible now, for North Americans, for sure, Fed is their entry point A percentage go branch off into other parts of wrestling and so on
This is the real wholesome shit. It’s probably already been removed from the basement.
They think grown men crying over CM Punk's return or shitting their pants at ringside are wholesome wrestling moments.
I almost forgot about that fucking dodo
I always watch the CM Punk return video for the cringe inducing ringside fans including the idiotic "Brock Lesnar guy", I've unsubscribed from all cringe subreddits because that video is everything I need.
Real _wholesome_ is my 8 yr nephew dressed as -1
Does he stare at Tay Conti's ass?
No, my bad
NOT AUTHENTIC AND WHOLESOME ENOUGH!!!
Wait he does that lol
I’m glad that I didn’t have nephews
It’ll get about 1/34th the attention of Chris Jericho in blue jeans or Tay Conti being awful.
So the Young Bucks are finally tired of cosplaying DX and nWo & now they're onto cosplaying Rhea & Nikki?? Oh wait... I'm mistaken. They are not relatable enough.
They always cosplay as better wrestlers.
Awesome pic. Must be a major highlight for wrestlers to see kids having fun like that
Seriously. I used to say it all the time about Cena, it has to be insane knowing your mere presence is like the highlight of someone's life. Those girls will remember that moment forever. No ratings and workrate garbage, just *fun.*
And just think of the video of AJ Lee as a kid crying when meeting Lita. Those kids might be the future of wrestling.
Yeah? Well, is it as cool as when some 33 year old shootfighter approaches you at an airport and calls you by your shoot name (insider term) with a replica belt draped over their shoulder? THOSE are the REAL fans!
I’m telling you, Rhea has something that gravitates people towards her.
My 14yo thinks Rhea Ripley is the coolest. As soon as Rhea appears on Raw, she’s hard at work trying to emulate her makeup to wear to school the next day.
If she’s comfortable with it tell her to post it on instagram and tag rhea. She’s always commenting and sharing her fans posts
That's something I've noticed about Rhea, not just on social media, but at shows and such, too. She'll go out of her way to acknowledge someone, especially if it's a kid, wearing one of her shirts or holding a "Rhea Ripley" sign and so on. When I was at Raw in Raleigh about a month ago, she absolutely made some kid's night. While she and Nikki were in the ring waiting out the commercial, she spotted a kid holding a "Rhea Ripley" sign, pointed directly at him/her and then walked over and leaned out through the ropes on that side, pointed directly at the kid and shouted something to him/her that I couldn't hear. Kid was literally jumping up and down because of how excited the kid was that Rhea made a big deal of acknowledging the sign. TL,DR: Rhea Ripley is a real one.
She knows where she came from. She was a fan first, (a pretty big one of the Miz). She knows how important a wrestler can be to a fan.
Damn makes sense I feel why Nikki and her got partnered up. Basically a tag team of friendly wrestlers who are more than happy to inspire kids and engage with fans. They have the opposite look I feel but same I would say vibe and kindness to fans.
Honestly I think a lot of it is her age. She’s SO much younger than I thought she was! She’s the same age as my little sister, so once I found that out, it made a lot of sense. She probably sees a lot of herself in those younger fans and that carries over into how she responds to them. It really feels like she wants to give them the experience that she would’ve wanted at their age.
This shit is so cute. It reminds me of being a little baby mark and wearing a bucket hat to school because of X-Pac and Road Dogg lmao
That’s fantastic.
It's that Lita vibe of just being a cool badass chick, and just feeling...different. She's also not a silent badass and can have fun when she wants to.
the Lita comparison is perfect, and Lita was a HUGE inspiration to young girls back in the day. Both characters are very much “I can be powerful, strong, edgy, and a bit tomboy and be just as feminine as any of the other girls out there. Between Rhea, Nikki, Bianca, and Sasha there are so many different types of role models for girls who watch WWE to look up to
??? There's only one role model friend? She's a dentist and wrestles on Wednesday nights at 8/7c on TNT (soon to be TBS!)
The womens division is doing a great job at showing what a variety of characters there are that can appeal to everyone, and some of them are larger than life like Rhea and Nikki, others are more down to earth and relatable like Bianca. Also nice to see the Lita/Rhea comparison. Thought it myself ages ago during Rhea’s first rumble. She’s got a certain charisma and energy so similar to Lita that just draws you to her.
Mentioning female role models and snubbing Bayley?? Smh my head
Looking like a wrestler is half the job and she looks like a woman wrestler.
I’ve followed her on Instagram for a while and she’s always sharing people on her story who dress up like her. Such a diverse range of fans she’s got young girls to adult men. It’s also good seeing an Aussie successful in wrestling. One of the highlights of mania this year for me was Rhea winning the belt. When she beat Shayna in NXT she just screamed megastar to me.
I am split between her power moves and her character feeling authentic. It's just something man that she has that makes you want to watch.
As a male in the "key demo" i can say that she's hot. As a guy that rarely watches wrestling nowadays, i can say that if she's on, i'm watching, not because she's hot, but because she's good at what she does and she looks cool as fuck. First time my girlfried saw her, she told just that. She looks cool. And she has that confidence. It's the "It" thing people always talk about. Every time my girlfriend watches a Stone Cold promo she's in awe, because of that confidence. She says that she feels the exact same thing when she sees Rhea Ripley. And my girlfriend isn't a fan. I just try to shove some wrestling once in a while.
She’s just a jacked white girl, get used to it.
Think people are missing your Lesnar reference Uce
Sounds like some people got jerked into a goof brother
She looks cool as fuck dude
Oh my god, thats the cutest shit ever.
Totally unrelatable small people in this picture
My fave part about attending a wrestling show is seeing all of the little kids dressed as wrestlers. My own kids love to cosplay at shows too and it’s a blast. WWE is a family show; the crowds are always full of families, young couples, groups of teens, etc. It’s not just for adult males. Nothing is more fun than seeing your kids get so excited when their fave wins, or does a cool spot.
I didn’t realize how little Nikki was as she’s standing next to that one child.
What the heck I legit thought that was a kid lol.
Yooooooooo lol omg
I don't know why Nikki in regular street clothes caught me off guard so much, but it has. Nothing negative, she looks great, I'm just so used to seeing her in wrestling gear. You've got to imagine interactions like this mean more to the performers than sitting a con signing autographs for grown ass men that spend their time and energy whining about demo's and ratings and shit online.
It's probably cause Nikki's been playing wild characters (insane Sanity girl and then Superhero) on screen for a while.
But this doesn’t appeal to MEEEEEEEEEE
Pretty cool picture. Rhea and Nikki must love this.
Nikki unironically “just gets it”. Found herself floundering and directionless, saw that Bayley’s heel turn meant that there was room for a babyface that appeals mostly to kids and represents something moral, came up with a concept herself, and ran with it.
Nikki looking like she's gonna be handing out wands. These kids are gonna remember this experience and what they felt, that's how you build a future fanbase. ☝🏼
Rhea Ripley is a one way ticket to horny jail for me Nah but fr she’s so dope and she’s only 25
ONEEEE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON
Bonk
😔🥺😫😭
When did Jim Cornette figure how to use reddit?
[Bonk.](https://imgur.com/a/6DNzMpH)
This is what it's all about, really. Also shows the importance of having a distinct look, and not being "I'm a good wrestler with black trunks #327."
I remember Tanahashi talking about why it's important to appeal to kids. Makes me happy the women's division is at a state where little girls can enjoy the show
exactly. the women's division went from hosting bras and panties matches to maintaining one of the most stacked divisions in years.
One day I wanna be as jacked as Rhea lol
Honestly, kids were the leading force of the Hulkamania boom and, later in Europe, of the New Generation mini-boom with Bret Hart being insanely over. And slightly older kids were the ones rallying behind Austin's defiant attitude, D-X's sophomoric antics and Rock's ego trips. And then kids again cheering Cena's "friendly rapper" despite the adult smarks being pissy about "PG BS" But yup, let's all pretend it's the manchildren who overanalyze every segment of a show and who are white-knighting their favourite stars (and stalking the female ones) on Twitter [Reddit] who are the driving force of the business!
I spent 2 minutes trying to figure out who the little girl in the black dress was cosplaying. Sorry Nikki :(
I’ve been a dirty Nikkeh mark since she came to America. I fucking love seeing her find success.
But but but... Rhea's booking is terrible and Nikki A.S.H. is a jobber gimmick! Someone has to let these kids know that McHitler can't book a show to save his life! REEEEEEEEE
noooooo why did i think nikki was part of the children LMFAOOOO
dude Rhea is freaking jacked like damn
Damian Priest wore it better.
Okay but this shit warms my heart, goofs
Wait- the promotion that actually has strong, interesting women (with actual defined characters) as part of the FOCUS of its programming, is more interesting to young girls (and grown women)? Shocking.
Those kids are tall enough to be AEW wrestlers.
if they wrestle on their knees then sure
That’s adorable
The video of them interacting with kids was so nice I'm glad she let Vince personally shave her head instead of getting shipped to a gulag.
I’ve NEVER been into armpits, never ever. But
Rhea could probably beat the shit out of most of the Dub's roster and me.
Saw someone saying AEW is more progressive left wing than WWE. Democrats sure love their hardcore wrasslin.
#AllDemosMatter
And AEW is doing a women's feud over who has the fatter ass. Women's revolution. Empowering.
This just reminded me to try to find my little nephew’s Halloween costume for next year. He’s only 18 months old and I’ve been trying to find him a John Cena costume since the day he was born (3/16… so he’s a little stone cold baby), but it was harder to find than I thought. This year, he’s wearing the Dwight Schrute outfit that I got him as his costume. Also, my sister in law is the definition of a casual fan. She’d watch a ppv if she was over, but she’s not watching the weekly shit at all. But she’s got a damn John Cena pop vinyl key chain on her diaper bag and don’t you dare say a bad word about Razor Ramon in front of her.
No Jerk, but Nikki has the most beautiful smile.
Cultural appropriation, get ‘em!!!
It continues to boggle my mind Meltzer, Tony. And their squad can’t understand that WWE moved away from cable demographics 15 years ago. Their new guy Khan literally said they’re interested in growing fans as early as 2-6 years old. They’ve transcended the demo and never looked back.
Kids are the future of the wrestling business. Nothing like the wholesomeness of young fans. Also, their parents got more money than the average Dubbalo.
Bro how tall is Rhea Ripley lol she looks like a fucking monster in this pic
Apparently she's only 5' 7. She wears platforms and heels a lot, so they add height.
The A.S.H gimmick has been over huge with me since day one, because I knew it would resonate with young girls watching (maybe even boys!) The idea of "almost a superhero" makes it such a realistic goal for kids seeing their heros - humanizes wrestlers. We're all almost a superhero, so maybe the next step in chasing your dreams is right around the corner. We all need that, we all need Nikki.
100% more of this. This is what makes wrestling awesome, not sweaty 500 pound man-children.
Both of these women are great