This weekend is a significant event for professional wrestling fans, with four major shows scheduled over Saturday and Sunday. AEW’s highlight is its biggest event yet in the U.S., held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, featuring a highly anticipated main event between John Moxley and “Hangman” Adam Page, likened to AEW’s version of WrestleMania.
Despite AEW’s growth, WWE remains the dominant force in wrestling and is attempting to undermine AEW by scheduling three competing shows: NXT Great American Bash on Saturday afternoon, a Goldberg main event on Saturday night, and WWE Evolution airing on Sunday night. This strategy appears aimed at damaging AEW’s pay-per-view sales, but ironically, WWE is hurting its own brand — especially with poor ticket sales for Evolution.
AEW’s All In event has sold about 21,000 tickets, marking it as AEW’s largest U.S. show. In contrast, WWE’s NXT Great American Bash struggles with only 593 tickets sold out of 772 available, and Evolution is underperforming with just 4,800 tickets sold in an arena that holds 15,800, highlighting fans’ lack of interest. WWE’s creative direction has also been questioned, with controversies and a perceived focus on profits over quality wrestling detracting from its appeal.
WWE’s aggressive attempts to sabotage AEW, including scheduling events directly against AEW shows and trying to dominate markets like the ECW Arena, seem more like desperate tactics than smart business. Fans are not interested in paying high prices to attend multiple WWE shows on the same weekend, showing resistance to WWE’s oversaturation strategy.
Instead of focusing on undermining AEW, WWE would benefit more from returning to its roots by improving storylines and matches and revitalizing house shows. House shows offer opportunities for emerging talent to develop and help WWE maintain a presence in markets where it no longer regularly performs. As AEW continues to improve after its early struggles, WWE should concentrate on creating compelling content and nurturing future stars to sustain growth rather than engaging in counterproductive competition tactics.
Fan Take: This weekend’s wrestling clash highlights the fierce rivalry between WWE and AEW, but WWE’s strategy to counterprogram AEW could backfire, hurting its own reputation and sales. For wrestling fans, this could signal a shift where quality and innovation, rather than market dominance, become the key drivers of the sport’s future.
