Why AEW shouldn't run monthly PPV events so frequently
Disclaimer: The views of the author do not necessarily reflect those of Sportskeeda.
AEW will be running its 4th pay-per-view event this weekend. It is the company's most important show to date. Double or Nothing was an important introduction, but there was so much goodwill at the time that even a show that was just okay wouldn't have slowed their momentum.
The show turned out to be an absolute success and was acclaimed by most fans as a fantastic introduction to the newest promotion in town. Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen were fine, but they existed only to keep AEW's name on everyone's lips and to build towards bigger and better things. The first of those bigger and better things is All Out.
All Out is AEW's biggest event to date, as the first-ever AEW World Champion will be crowned. There will also be a much-anticipated ladder match which closes the chapter on a long-time rivalry.
It is also the culmination of the whirlwind that has been the last 365 days. September 1 marks the first anniversary of the show which made Cody and The Elite realize that "change the world" was more than a catchphrase. All Out is a big deal.
Shouldn't every pay-per-view, in theory, be a big deal? Over the last 25 years, multiple companies have run with the monthly PPV format and only a handful of the events have truly been considered important. The market has been saturated 10 times over.
That is why I believe All Out, the company's 4th big event in 4 months, should be their last for a while.
I'm making a pretty simple argument. AEW cannot, and should not, fall into the trap that has been set by more than 2 decades of precedent. The more special events you do, the less special they become.
I fully understand why the company ran 4 shows between May 25 and August 31. They didn't have a TV show on air yet and needed to keep as many eyes on the product as possible.
Once the weekly television show begins, however, Wednesday nights need to be the focus. There's no reason to further saturate the sponge that not very many people are interested in squeezing.
From my perspective, it's a completely mindless way of doing business. It's the comfortable format which all of the TV wrestling companies settled into over the years. It has become a tired formula.
I would ask Tony Khan, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks to be smarter than that. Don't format yourself the same way so many others have. The buzz exists because you are going to be something different, something fresh.
Doing a live 2-hour weekly television show with storylines that culminate at the end of every 4-to-5 week cycle is not fresh. There are many directions for AEW to go. I won't propose any here, because I could write a dissertation on the way I think they should do things.
That's not what I'm here to do. I'm just a wrestling fan who is hoping they don't go in a predictable direction.
It's going to be interesting to see what AEW does in September. There's a full month between this weekend's All Out event and their TNT debut on October 2. TNT gave them a preview show for All Out, so it wouldn't be shocking to see them get a special on their new cable network home before the official television debut.
A clip show possibly? One that airs matches from prior shows and features interviews and video packages? A quick preview show would get people more excited for October 2. Maybe they could do it on September 18, as that's perhaps the midway point between August 31 and October 2.
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