AEW has seen a dip in business, with ratings and attendance being down. However, they smartly pivoted to booking smaller venues instead of bigger arenas. This has greatly improved the product and atmosphere of its shows with hot crowds.
While speaking with TV Insider, Chris Jericho was asked about the state of AEW. He cited AEW running smaller venues.
“I think we’ve done a good job reconfiguring the buildings the last few weeks. I feel the crowds have been much hotter in these smaller buildings. I mean, listen, I don’t think it matters how big the venue is. It matters how hot the crowd is. We saw the Hammerstein Ballroom had an amazing look. A great energy. The same thing happened the last few weeks in Charlotte and Athens, Georgia. There is so much importance on television revenue in this day and age with AEW getting its new deal with Warner Brothers Discovery.”
He also brought up AEW selling 10,000 seats for its All In: Texas PPV event this July at Globe Life Field in Dallas, TX.
“That’s nothing but pure success and pure profit. There might be some naysayers that may want to predict the doom of AEW because of smaller buildings, but it’s smart business. I think the product is much hotter now because the crowds are hotter. It’s all indicative. We’re excited to go to Australia for show there. We’re excited for Texas in July [for All In], which is seven months away. There are people saying, “Well, they only sold 10,000 tickets.” Yeah, it’s seven months away. We’re going to have 25,000 people in that place. People buy tickets during the last week nowadays. Trust me, I know from Fozzy. I think there are a lot of positives. I think our wrestling is the best in the business. I think our roster is the best in the business. There are other things we can work on, but that’s any company. I’m very happy and proud of where we are right now as a company.”
AEW found its new home for the Grand Slam: Australia event on Saturday, February 15, 2025, as they originally announced the event for Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, which has a listed capacity for football of 52,000. AEW opted to move it to the Brisbane Entertainment Center.
