Wednesday night, I attended AEW’s “Holiday Bash” at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington D.C.
While this was the fourth time that I’ve attended an AEW show, the last show I attended was in May 2023, over a year-and-a-half ago.
Needless to say, the success, or lack thereof, of AEW’s business has drastically changed since then.
Both the television ratings and live attendance have suffered.
While I reviewed the “Holiday Bash” edition of Wednesday Night “Dynamite” this week, I didn’t discuss the live experience — which certainly affected my overall enjoyment of the episode. Assessing the quality of a television show and live wrestling are two very different things.
And, I’m sure there’s a large subset of the audience who have never been to a live AEW show.
The first things I noticed
This was a rather momentous show for AEW, though, marking a significant departure from their typical stage design. While the stage design has changed periodically over the last five years, “Holiday Bash” ushered in a new era for AEW, as the company began their transition to smaller venues.
In the past, the entrance tunnels were positioned on a stage, with a ramp that led to the ring. At “Holiday Bash,” the tunnels were within 20 feet of the ring, eliminating the aisle way and creating a more intimate setting. Over the last two years, AEW has become accustomed to dimming the lights on the audience, to obfuscate the show’s poor attendance.
At “Holiday Bash,” more than 3,000 fans packed into the 4,200-seat arena, filling the available sections. And, that translated on television. Wrestling is designed to engage the audience. On Wednesday night, the crowd was completely visible and interacted with the wrestlers in a way that felt organic — enhancing the show’s overall quality.
Lots of wrestling for your money
Live AEW events usually include two televised tapings. In the case of “Holiday Bash,” it included Wednesday Night “Dynamite” which aired live and the taping of Friday Night “Rampage.” So, fans can expect three hours of in-ring action.
While I’ve never attended a Saturday Night “Collision” taping, those events often include the weekly Ring of Honor taping as well. So, those shows typically last four hours. In both cases, fans are experiencing a show well worth the price of admission.
With reports that “Rampage” may be nearing its end, possibly even as soon as the end of this year, it’ll be interesting to see how AEW’s television tapings adapt. As of now, there hasn’t been a program announced to replace “Rampage.” It’s possible that the company might replace that extra hour with dark matches, which would give wrestlers more opportunity to work without narrative constraints.
Blessing in disguise
A common criticism of AEW, levied against Tony Khan’s booking by pundits like Bully Ray and Eric Bischoff, is that matches are haphazardly thrown together without any real impetus. However, much of that can be attributed to AEW’s touring schedule.
Traditionally, wrestling promotions use house shows to showcase their wrestlers, while only loosely adhering to ongoing storylines. This gives wrestlers who otherwise wouldn’t be working together an opportunity to ply their trade. It also gives fans an opportunity to see their favorite wrestlers featured in matches that wouldn’t normally occur on television.
Since all of AEW’s shows are essentially television tapings, the wrestlers aren’t afforded any opportunity to work in a house show environment. So, wrestlers are often featured on television for the sake of the live event, to the detriment of the televised product. For fans watching on television, it’s why some matches seem arbitrary.
For fans in attendance, it’s a blessing in disguise.
In the case of “Holiday Bash,” the round-robin nature of the “Continental Classic” helped dissuade that concern. Otherwise, it would seem jarring to see Will Ospreay and Darby Allin or Brody King and Komander share the ring apropos of nothing.
Replacing a “Rampage” taping with an hour of dark matches would help alleviate some of these issues. Fans would see two hours of “Dynamite” that strictly follow the program’s ongoing storylines. Then, they would receive an additional hour of matches, featuring wrestlers who weren’t previously featured on “Dynamite.”
While AEW’s live experience is, by-and-large, excellent, it isn’t perfect. There were audio and video hiccups early on in the show, which has been a common occurrence at all three television tapings that I’ve attended. However, these issues are insignificant, compared to the positives.
Like their pay-per-views, AEW’s live shows are always a homerun — featuring some of the best wrestlers alive and phenomenal in-ring action.
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