AEW Unable To Run Smaller Venues Despite Recent Poor Attendances

Although All Elite Wrestling held one of the biggest shows in pro wrestling history earlier this year with All In at London's Wembley Stadium, the promotion is noticeably cold in the United States and they have struggled to move tickets for tapings of Dynamite and Collision.

The Saturday, October 7 edition of Collision in West Valley City, Utah was the lowest attendance for an AEW TV taping in 2023, with only 2,245 tickets being distributed for the event. This meant around 80 percent of the venue was empty and the sheer volume of unfilled seats was visible during the live broadcast of Collision. 

Tickets aren't selling much better for tonight's special AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday show and WrestleTix has reported that only 2,473 tickets have been distributed for the show at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri. The venue has a capacity of 5,800.

Some have questioned if AEW should transition back to running smaller, more intimate venues in order to improve the show's look on TV and overall atmosphere. The promotion will be unable to make any changes to the venues they run for some time, however, with AEW seemingly stuck trying to pack out big arenas in the United States for the next year.

This comes after Ibou of WrestlePurists suggested AEW should run smaller venues but he has since tweeted: "AEW clarified to me how this wouldn't be possible anytime soon because venues are booked for the next year and they'd be subject to cancellation fees, losing the cost of deposit and whatnot."