On Wednesday, AEW Dynamite cracked one million viewers. The show had its most viewers since October 5th of 2022, and its highest rating, 0.35, since September 21, according to 411 Mania. For a show with a big announcement regarding even more AEW television, with AEW: All Access coming to TBS in March, this was very good news but unfortunately, some folks still aren't happy with the draw AEW has been bringing to television, even if Warner Bros. Discovery very much is. That's right, speaking with Conrad Thompson on their shared podcast To Be The Man, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair let it be known that he just doesn't think people care about the promotion in the same way they once did.

“It’s a big roster that’s getting an 800 credit score. 840,000 viewers, so the great roster ain’t getting the numbers,” Flair said via Fightful. “If you’re going anywhere in terms of numbers, are the numbers not reflective of the number of people that watch it? Less people are watching than ever. I’m not being critical of anything. I’m just saying that the greatest roster in the world… would you not agree after three years they should stay at [one million viewers] at least? Do you not think, after three years, that they should be averaging a one [rating] every week?”

Fortunately, Flair has a solution that could fix AEW's issue, one that will probably ruffle more than a few feathers among the fandom.

“I would continue to own the company, but I would let somebody fresh book it,” Flair said. “He runs it, but he’s also very invested personally in that football [team], which he takes a lot of pride in, and the Jaguars are getting better. Tony has to divide his time and his passion between two things. Sometimes, you know how Vince doesn’t like to delegate authority? In this case, he’s delegated a lot of authority or however it transpired to Hunter, and it’s working. But he still has his hand on it, I’m sure. So that’s what I would suggest to Tony. Maybe step back and let somebody take a look at it. I just think sometimes if you take a step back and find somebody…. I would find somebody that I had confidence in and take some of the pressure off of the management of the booking end of it.”

Now granted, comparing Khan giving up the book after three years to Vince McMahon allowing Paul “Triple H” Levesque to run creative in WWE is a pretty wild choice, as it took 50 years and being (temporarily) forced out of the company to get that chance to happen. Still, after winning Booker of the Year and the Promoter of the Year for three years running in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards, it's hard to imagine Khan taking a step back, as what he's doing clearly works for fans, for TBS, and for his wrestlers.

Matt Hardy's AEW suggestion is far more realistic than Ric Flair's.

Spending some time on his own podcast, The Extreme Life, discussing AEW, Matt Hardy made a suggestion of his own to Tony Khan, though his personal idea is far more realistic, as it doesn't require a complete change to the promotion's creative hierarchy.

“I think if I had one suggestion for Tony Khan, I think I would try and focus a little more on the storytelling of the different characters, really highlight every character's journeys a lot more. I think it's still very important. I know it's a very sports-centric program, AEW Dynamite, and they want the matches to be the best of the best quality and yet, with quality, and I totally respect that,” Hardy said via Fightful. “I feel like professional wrestling, a big part of it is the sportsmanship and the showmanship. Having characters that the crowd is connected to, that they're emotionally invested in, that have this journey that you want to follow, you want to see what's going to happen next. You're really worried about where this story is going to go. I would like to add a little bit more of that into all the amazing wrestling that happens weekend and week out on AEW programming.”

Could AEW use a bit more character work? Sure; when AEW leans into building up a character, like Wheeler Yuta or Konosuke Takeshita, it can be a special thing, but far too often, things lean a bit too UFC and less old-school WWF/WWE. While no one wants things to become 30 minutes of wrestling on a two-hour show, finding a way to provide more insight into the wrestlers – and not just on AEW: All Access – will make fans more invested long-term.