>>18505177 (OP)
AEW has a bunch of guys watching who then tune out for a few weeks and check back for a ppv to see what the stories will be.
For all the atrocious wrestling and storytelling they do, at least you can get a good idea of what the ppv is going to look like a few weeks ahead of time.
With the WWE, it's a slow decay as the promos go on and on and on, and viewers would rather just wait for the card to be finalised while they keep up through highlights on social media.
The result is that AEW's presence doesn't grow but fluctuates heavily, and the WWE has tens of millions of up-to-date fans who keep up but never watch a whole show and will never pay for it.