Several people from AEW were interviewed for an article on WashingtonPost.com about AEW’s rise in popularity against WWE. AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker was critical of WWE’s developmental system:
“I don’t think putting a bunch of models and athletes off the street in a warehouse and teaching them all to do the same thing the same way at the same time is going to create a successful roster. People learn differently and they have different strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes you have to find out what those are on your own.”
In the same article, AEW President Tony Khan talked about the quality of their product:
“The pandemic made it more obvious who was putting more time into the stories, and who was trying to put on more quality national television,” Khan said.
“I don’t think you’ll ever please every wrestling fan, but if you can make most of the fans happy most of the time, then you’ll have a great fan base. That passion has been within the fans all along. The fans were just looking for an outlet to express it.”
