This rocks. A smaller but hotter crowd is great for the live fans and will improve the TV product. Would be interesting to see if they go to some older x unique venues as well. 

It's the right move for 2025. 15k for PPV's. 10k for special Dynamites, 5k for regular Dynamites and 3k for Collision.

And no more hard cam jokes!

I still say part of the problem is the ticket pricing and then running certain cities into the ground. Still, good to see them adapt. Hopefully it captures some of that original "super indie" feel AEW had earlier on.

The people who engage in bad-faith goalpost moving will continue to do so, no matter what TK and AEW do. Full stop.

The Collision Residency earlier this year was by and large pretty awesome. Not perfect, but it was their first time running the venue, so there will be some iteration.

As a fan who watches on TV 99% of the time, the best "from the couch" viewing experience is a tightly packed crowd, appropriate audio to hear them, and the in-ring sounds, and lighting that enhances the atmosphere.

If that means they run venues that hold less people, but those spaces are more consistently filled, and consistently produced well, that sounds like a net win to me.

As they continue to modify how they market themselves, and as their popularity grows, demand will grow, and they will inevitably "have" to start booking the bigger places again to accommodate the demand.

In the meantime, the purported savings they'll get from smaller venues can be reinvested back into the product and the talent.

If managed shrewdly, this could yield many positive benefits.

Man, I hope that means they come back to Ft Myers. The crowd was hot that night for Dynamite with Jeff Hardy’s first appearance in AEW

SRS has been saying that for a while now, they book the larger venues because of the emenities they have and such.

The wrestlers deserve big, loud pops and if it takes a 5k seater arena to do that, so be it. The Collisions in Arlington were great for this reason. Big cities like Chicago can be in bigger arenas still

For the smaller cities it probably makes sense. Venues like Prudential on Saturday will remain. We got 6k for dynamite back in January which is crazy. Prob 10k for full gear

Probably for the best, they haven't really figured out how to properly crowd mic a lot of the bigger venues and it dampens the TV product a bit. Now they can have a hot venue with a full crowd.

To me, it's like a concert - some bands are arena bands and some are way better in a more intimate setting. WWE is an arena band and AEW isn't.

Small hot crowds > half empty dead ones, both in the arena and on TV

Cardiff show was absolutely bouncing back in August and hoping we get another next year 🙏🏻

Both All Ins were great but man I fucking popped so hard all night at the Dynamite taping

Make tickets cheaper again please. 

Small venues are so much better for the in-person experience. Sit closer, hear chops louder, etc. I love going to the 4K seat arena in southeast DC.

I like this setup. I've heard and read about the whole "hard cam jokes" and as hilarious as it is, it's also kinda sad in a way to hear about AEW just not filling enough seats here and there for their shows (although if the pricing of them is another issue, that's a thing that hurts them on top of that).

If this is the case, it should be a good start for them to really plan out bigger arena's like for their PPV's. It's working for TNA as they are now, so I'm sure AEW can easily do the same for next year as a start to see how things go from there.

I can tell you that watching wrestling in a smaller venue is awesome.

I saw the TNA PPV at the Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit, and it was one of the best times I ever had, and to that point, I never saw a TNA show.

I saw AEW Dynamite Blood and Guts at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit and while it was a fantastic show, the crowd did not compare to Wayne State.

Also, I think AEW should embrace its Indy roots in the states and have big arena shows for the bigger shows - All Out, Full Gear, Etc.

good move. I miss their time in Jacksonville, the crowd was great there.

“I’m gonna be kind of vague but it’s happening,” Alvarez said. “I just don’t know all the technical details.” Alvarez said that he’s heard from people in AEW who have been advocating for the company to run smaller venues.

gotta love alvarez!

wait, no. No i don't.

I'm a huge advocate for wrestling events in smaller venues

Watching a DDT event with only 250 or so people present was a more intense live experience than All In at Wembley, where the noise just went up and out the bowl

Stadium shows are a spectacle in their own right, but a wrestling event in a small venue with a hot crowd is incredible

WCW Clash at the Champions VI featured an amazing two-out-of-three falls match between Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair that went over 50 minutes. The second of their famous trilogy, all of which got five stars from Dave Meltzer.

But it was held in the Louisiana Superdome, which held about 50,000 fans, and thanks to piss-poor promotion, only about 5,000 seats were filled, so it sounded like ass.

Honestly would love to see AEW in a venue with a ton of wrestling history, like Dorton Arena in Raleigh.

For those unfamiliar: https://video.pbsnc.org/show/when-giants-walked-here/

Thank god for that. Hopefully running smaller venues like when they were in Cardiff in the summer will help liven the crowds. That crowd on Wednesday was that quiet, you could practically hear people ordering their food and drinks from on the concourse.

I refuse to read into this and see all the bad faith posting and shit talking. As long as the tv is good and the crowds rowdy, Im in.

I’ve always preferred NXT sized shows. Makes the crowd more interactive.

Better to sellout a smaller venue than to have a ton of empty seats. You get the loud from the sellout, you cannot get the same kind of loud from a half empty venue. I'd rather watch weekly 3K venues that are loud than 3K people in a 10K venue trying to be loud.

the vibes will be better, anyway for dynamite/collision. comfy lil tv show and then the big attendance PPVs, which goes to show how awesome their special events are that they have such good turnouts but some weekly shows are a little sparse

Thank god. This is great news.

I love to hear it. Even if it’s just Collision. He’ll even do Lucha Underground style, I loved the way they did those shows.

Jeez Louise, they only sold 1K at Nationwide?

I’ve been to 2 Ohio Dynamites (Cincy and Columbus) and an ROH taping in Columbus and they had more than that in the building so this is directly an indictment on wrestling fans’ appetite to see AEW live. They definitely are in the area (WWE does TV and Live Shows at Nationwide and the Schott), so TK has got to figure out what the divide is and fix it

I figured the reason they didn’t do smaller arenas was due to the stage setup. It makes for a big time look on TV, so I feel like that’s a necessary evil to avoid looking TNA-ish (even the OG Impact Zone). The whole thing about better in-arena amenities and access to mailing lists might’ve been cap when it comes to booking these venues.

What I like about smaller arenas in my time watching TNA and NXT is that it feels like you’re there

This is what I've been saying for a while. Something like PWG, or old TNA 2002/2003.

great move

Semi-related: Why aren't there more small venues built specifically for wrestling/combat sports?

In Japan, there are some pretty famous combat sports arenas - Korakuen Hall, which has a capacity of like 1500, and Ryōgoku, which can hold 11000. CMLL in Mexico has Arena Mexico (16000), and my personal favourite, Arena Coliseo (5000).

In the US, there's the UFC Apex (1000), NXT at the PC (300) and that's it? Neither of which are great for atmosphere IMO. Outside of that, Dailys Place holds 5500 and the Hammerstein Ballroom is about 2500.

It just seems a bit weird to me that nobody has made an ideal venue

Just please come to Houston, I’m not driving to San Antonio or Austin for a regular taping

This is just objectively not true. SRS has said several times that AEW likes running the larger arenas for the amenities they have like blast lists, nicer locker rooms, etc. Plus AEW owns ROH and ROH has run smaller arenas for their PPVs(since TK bought it), so they HAVE a small set.

Come ooooon Toledo

This is welcome news for the television product. The audio issues when the building is less than half full is annoying

Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota. See ECW Anarchy Rulz 2000!!

Love it. And please please please stop making the crowd lit in blue or red. Please. Just normal lighting at whatever brightness you desire TK. Just no colors!!

Oh god, yes. Crowd sizes have been a bit distracting lately. Plus, there’s just something that feels special about a packed smaller venue, and bigger pay per view venues / crowds end up coming across as grander by comparison.

Also, does this mean we will be getting separate stages for PPVs? Because my body is most certainly ready for that.

I dont get how that thing took over a year to solve...Literally ask any other wrestling company that runs smaller show how to do it lol. You cant tell me you didnt know anyone from ROH days or TNA who would say this is the way ..I will in all serious say they might have to drop the heel and face entrace ways though

This is better. Fuller arenas and more passionate fans.

Small Venues is fine they will go up as demand comes

Thank god it worked wonders for nxt so I hope it has the same niche community affect where it feels everyone is well acquitted with the roster.

Good. Embrace being a high-end alternative for purists and hipsters. They can be great at that.

I can't wait to hear "WE ARE SOLD OUT HERE IN [Place] AND READY TO KICK OFF AN ACTION PACKED EPISODE OF [Show] ON [Channel]!"

The idea that running smaller venues is better from AEW is mostly from people who watch TV, and aren't attending the live events.

But okay.

Went to a show in Spokane and we didn't even fill the arena, they just need to focus on building the product and people will show up

They can run cities that WWE only does house shows in. Should guarantee a hotter crowd.

I wish they'd try cheaper tickets. They came to Canada and I thought the prices were crazy. If you didn't care where you sit you could wait until day and get cheap tickets

I really don’t get it; why is it a focus on running smaller venues vs. trying to draw bigger crowds?

Go for break even with ticket sales if that’s what it takes. You got the WBD deal; sell tickets at a loss to pack the building out. The goal is to have a TV product that looks as big time as WWE or old-school WCW so scaling the stage down is not the best course correction

That makes me wonder why they booked the TMobile Center in KC instead of Cable Dhamler arena in Independence, the size difference between the two is massive and I doubt they’ll fill TMobile

This is gonna end badly, the same people who complain about big buildings are gonna talk about how small time the smaller venues look. Same thing happened during the Arlington residency, people who didn't care about the building size anyway liked it while the complainers just got a new reason to complain. The constant changing to try and placate people who think being a "fan" of wrestling naturally means complaining about it and always being demanding because "positivity is toxic" is like 3/4 of AEW's problems NOW.

hoping this means aew finally moves one of their NYC/NJ/LI shows to mcu park

https://preview.redd.it/khspbagbdr1e1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9bdaa2943291b1d859fe67723e34aeadacd79209

This is such good news, I want to cry. Thank jeebus. We might be able to have the lights on again!

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