AEW Should Embrace The Ambience Of Smaller Venues
It’s near serendipitous that NXT went up against AEW Dynamite two weeks ago considering the two brands once competed for television supremacy. While AEW won that initial ‘piss-ant’ battle back in 2019, NXT dominated Tony Khan’s company in the ratings going mono-a-mono in 2024.
Granted, AEW was saddled with Tuesday night instead of Wednesday, but the numbers for Dynamite were extremely jarring even for a day change. NXT finally won the face-off, but if AEW were to parse through the tea leaves, there’s a bit more AEW could garner from their longtime rival.
NXT had grandiose plans for their second episode on The CW as the black and gold brand aimed to put the show on at The Enterprise Center, home of the St. Louis Blues. However, ticket sales weren’t up to standards and WWE decided to pivot by moving the show over to The Factory at The District.
The venues have quite the difference in capacity. The Enterprise Center houses over 18,000 while The Factory slices that in sixths, seating only 3,000. It is an absolute downgrade, but ultimately the product benefitted from the change.
With a smaller venue, you obviously fill the seats easier and it creates a more intimate aesthetic to your television presentation. Courtesy of The Factory’s website, the venue already sets up a unique set-up, touting an “industrial style” as it “takes cues from old factories and manufacturing spaces with appointments like weathered wood, open metalwork stairs, exposed brick, industrial lighting fixtures and polished concrete.”
WWE was cagey enough to understand the limitations that a big venue would present and embraced the downgrade, which in turn, upgraded the episode. NXT pulled a page from Paul Heyman book of ECW in so many ways by downplaying their weakness (not a big audience) and playing to its strengths (the intimacy of the venue). Back in his “extreme” swing, Heyman was well-aware that it’s better to turn 1,500 away than make that 1,500 try to fill a 3,500-seated arena.
If WWE makes the decision to continue NXT on the road, they’ll likely be more cognizant of how much attraction value the brand currently has. The hope would be to build to those bigger venues once again, but NXT likely realized that they need to build those stars again to the Triple H operation days. AEW should very much get the jump on them, but NXT is reportedly a step ahead by booking the original ECW arena for the month of November.
Yes, Wembley and ALL IN is a tent-pole event for AEW that speaks to the potential reach of the All Elite brand, but domestically, it’s been a different story for All Elite Wrestling. The company has encountered low ticket sales and sparse audiences. However, the fans that do go to the show are typically rapid and invested.
The week before their “black Tuesday”, AEW came to Pittsburgh and played at the Peterson Events Center. “The Pete” is not where Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins hoisted four Stanley Cups, but it is were the University of Pitt Panthers struggle to remain relevant as a collegiate basketball team (Pitt basketball used to be good, but the arena itself is still very nice). The place was packed and the crowd kept the energy up for the majority of the show.
It’s a new era for the company considering the television deal and a key aspect of making each episode feel special is to make the venue and the crowd you’re playing to feel special. Embrace the ambience, make the most of your environment. If you do that right, pair it up with sensical storylines, then those environments will grow. Consistency of all that will put more butts in those seats.
