In fairness Punk's return sums up some of the bias today. Can't argue to much against the argument that had the WWE brought back Punk after all this time out of the ring and had him doing similar promo's each week and wrestling in completely random feuds and then having him randomly come out one week to do commentary, they'd be getting shit all over.
Personally I have no problem with him wrestling younger guys and doing a slow burn with him but we all know had the WWE done something similar the reaction would be much different and people would be saying it's crazy to have such a big name returning and being put into the middle of the pack.
But you surely see why fans give aew more of the benefit of the doubt than WWE right?
Let's take two years as the example as that's all aew has but even if you wanted to, let's compare aew in 2 years vs WWE for the last five
Compare the build of younger talent
Then compare the use of the older guys
Then compare the ppv matches and finishes
Then compare the fun, as a fan you have watching aew tv vs WWE tv
For every gaffe that aew has made (they've made some big ones, like the dark order beat down of elite, or Jericho falling on cardboard boxes or the ring explosion stuff) they've more than delivered on other aspects
Now look at WWE. For every great thing they've delivered they've more than left a bad taste in numerous amounts
WWE has a stacked and strong roster of talent. There is no excuses on that, but the delivery from WWE makes you think 'how are they going to ruin this' whereas for aew it's more 'what are they going to deliver'
That isn't bias (not to say there isn't out there) but it's expectation based on experience of delivery