WWE brought John Cena back at a time when fans were finally returning to their shows, and he proved to be a benefit in terms of both ratings and ticket sales. Since then, the latter has definitely dropped, particularly for non-televised shows without the Leader of the Cenation in attendance.
AEW is already beating WWE in some key markets, with one arena both companies are set to visit selling as many as 3x as more tickets for the newer promotion.
"If ever there was any argument about John Cena - I’m not saying throughout his entire career - but John Cena at this stage going to house shows and being a draw...[WWE was] running around everywhere when he was working and they were selling tickets [earlier this year]," Dave Meltzer explains on a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
"And they were doing very well and now that he’s not there it has gone from great to so-so and maybe in some cases less than so-so. I mean bad, there are definitely bad ones now. So, yeah, WWE is definitely, based on modern standards, they are struggling to sell tickets."
This isn't good for WWE, but when they're about to earn $50 million for that upcoming Saudi Arabia show, it's clear the company isn't going anywhere. They do, however, face the prospect of becoming the #2 wrestling promotion in the U.S., and that's obviously going to hurt Vince McMahon's and WWE's standing among shareholders who are going to want answers.
We'll keep you guys updated as this story continues to develop.