AEW Redemption in Montreal : A follow up column

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about how hard it would be for AEW to move tickets for this event in Montreal. I’m not going to go back into all the details, but let’s just say that with all the major events and festivals in the city, along with the fact that many people will be out of town during that period, AEW probably won’t be the priority for them.

Now, I just wanted to do a little follow-up column because, since it’s official and they are coming to Montreal, I kind of want to give my opinion on how the announcement was made and how this will affect ticket sales.

From what I understand, because I found out through Facebook, Tony Khan made the announcement not through any local media outlets, but through Toronto media. This tells me that, first, Tony truly doesn’t understand how to market an event, as announcing a show in a different market isn’t a great way to start things, especially in this case since Toronto and Montreal aren’t necessarily the best of friends. As a matter of fact, Montreal vs. Toronto is one of the biggest rivalries in sports history and in Canada in general. So yeah, announcing an AEW event in Montreal while praising the territory in Toronto didn’t make much sense.

Also, if you follow AEW but don’t follow wrestling on social media, how would you even know they are coming if no media outlets in Montreal covered it? Really, this was a dumb move on Tony’s part, as he really should have sent the press release to and made the announcement through Montreal media outlets. Because of that, I’m sure there are a lot of fans in the area who don’t even know AEW is coming to town. This move could also potentially alienate some fans in the area, as it could be viewed as Tony having so little faith in Montreal fans that he needed to make the announcement outside the market.

What this has done, however, is make sure that fans from outside the Montreal market might be willing to make the trip to see the event, and I’m thinking that was what went through Tony’s mind with this. He knows how badly he did in Montreal the last time he came, and by announcing it in Toronto, he’s probably hoping that a lot of those Toronto fans decide to make the six-hour trip to Montreal to watch the show.

Now that this is official, AEW will have to do a lot of advertising in Montreal to move tickets, as this is a strong WWE town. It’s going to be hard to convince fans to go see a show from another company, especially when it doesn’t have the same exposure that WWE or, for that matter, TNA has in the area. The bright spot is that with them adding Mick Foley into the fold and having both Foley and Billy Gunn announced as guests for Montreal Comiccon at the beginning of July, they have two legends who can actually help advertise the show while signing autographs for fans in attendance, which will be a big plus for them.

In the end, like I mentioned in my first column, this is a big gamble that Tony is taking by coming back to Montreal, especially with a new PPV, and I hope for his sake that he wins that gamble and is able to fill the Bell Centre. Because if the crowd is as small as it was the last time they came to Montreal, it’s going to look really bad on television, and that’s the last thing you want when you’re starting a new PPV.