AEW will continue to rely on stars like Jon Moxley and Orange Cassidy in the main event scene.
AEW’s pay-per-view schedule should look significantly different in 2024.
According to Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Podcast and F4WOnline.com, AEW is expected to move its pay-per-views to streaming service Max—formerly HBO Max—and host 12 events per year:
Since its inception in 2019, AEW has typically held four major PPVs every year: Revolution, Double or Nothing, All Out and Full Gear. However, the company has recently dabbled with expansion, adding the joint AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door to its schedule in 2022 before bringing back the record-breaking All In for a massive show in Wembley Stadium last month.
With All In already confirmed to return in August 2024, it’s become clear that AEW is taking a page out of the WWE playbook and jam-packing its calendar with more PPVs. This, of course, has the potential to either greatly enhance or negatively affect AEW’s TV product.
At times, AEW’s four-PPVs-per-year format has led to weeks-long stretches of lackluster programming across Dynamite, Rampage and, to a lesser extent, Collision. AEW has tried to fill the three-month gaps between PPVs with televised specials, like Battle of the Belts—a major viewership letdown—or Blood & Guts, which has delivered strong TV viewership. That has been a mixed bag, though.
On one hand, AEW’s “less is more” strategy when it comes to pay-per-views has been a welcome change from WWE, which has often overstuffed its PPV schedule to the point that its special events have, in fact, felt anything but that. AEW, however, has also often struggled in its attempts to extend storylines for several months because of the lengthy gap between marquee shows.
In reality, the best scenario for AEW’s pay-per-view schedule would likely be a happy medium between its current one and that of WWE. That is, something in the ballpark of eight shows per year would give AEW adequate time to flush out its storylines but not so much time between shows that it feels like its biggest storylines drag on forever.
That potential move of AEW PPVs to Max is an intriguing one that could follow a similar format to WWE or UFC. WWE airs all of its “Premium Live Events” on Peacock, which fans can access for as little as $5.99 per month. That’s a huge bargain from the days of $60 PPVs, but to an extent, that has also watered down the quality of some events.
Indeed, AEW’s possible switch to Max basically boils down to a preference of quantity over quality. As we saw with AEW’s hastily thrown-together match cards for All In and All Out, just having PPVs for the sake of having PPVs can lead to lackluster TV build, even if the shows themselves are very good to great from an in-ring perspective.
Yet, AEW fans would likely be much more open to the company hosting 12 pay-per-views a year if it comes with a monthly pricetag of, say, $10 per month. But if AEW uses a model similar to what UFC does with ESPN+ and charges upwards of $60 or more for each show, that might not sit well with its diehard fanbases.
AEW’s move to Max, however, is—one way or another—likely coming sooner rather than later. In fact, AEW attempted to air All In on Max just last month, but the technology needed to broadcast the show reportedly wasn’t ready in time.
Now, though, it’s seemingly just a matter of time before Max becomes the new host of AEW PPVs, and if that deal is anything like WWE’s deal with Peacock, it should be a big success for Tony Khan and co.