On Sunday, August 27th, Wembley Stadium played host to AEW All In: London. The massive show broke the official paid attendance record for any wrestling event in history at 81,035 fans. 

And here’s the thing: I don’t care how you view that number. There are bigger things in this universe than bickering about the technical aspects of attendance figures. With the tragic passing of Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt), less than three years apart from his former stable-mate in Jon Huber (Brodie Lee); it puts a lot of things in perspective.

Tribalism is bullshit. I’m just personally done with taking and defending sides, no matter how little or how much I was perceivably apart of this awkwardly “divided” wrestling community. There is never enough time left on this world, so I’d rather spend it choosing to always view wrestling through a positive light, no matter what.

Anyway — So in regards to last night’s historic event, three things stood out to me:

1. This was an incredible show from top to bottom.
2. I still wish they would book the women better…
3. Aren’t Pay-Per-Views during the afternoons amazing?

 

A Case for Afternoon Pay-Per-Views

It’s Sunday morning. You wake up, make some coffee, and try your best to find your living room while still walking about like a zombie. But there’s something to look forward to — a wrestling event? On a Sunday afternoon?

Okay, might as well spike that coffee with some RumChata; Let’s fucking go! This is like NFL Sundays, but better. And much like the NFL, we have a pre-show to get us hyped for the event. Granted, pre-shows exist in both major promotions already, but it felt different. The energy was different. Yesterday was special.

And top it all off, if you live in the United States, the show was over by the early evening hours. You still have your entire night left afterwards. Even as a U.K. fan, I would imagine catching a live PPV at 7PM as opposed to 1AM would be welcomed.

It seems to me that more fans could benefit from a move like this, and possibly even more PPV buys with more time available during the day. And think of the talent. Did the AEW roster likely enjoy an early finish time last night? I can’t speak for them, but I would imagine so.

 

Sundays PPVs Suck

Do you know the biggest problem with Sunday night events? If you’re a working professional that has to be into the office fairly early on Monday morning, you really don’t have time to let what just transpired sink in.

Maybe the event was lit, something crazy went down — a title unexpectedly changed hands, or an unspeakable act of betrayal was carried out. Too bad; time to get my ass to bed. If you’re a social drinker, there’s almost no time to sober up, either.

If you try to have guests over, they either can’t make it because they have to be in bed early; or they can’t remotely stay long after the show closes. We’re all (hopefully) adults and have to prepare for the coming work week. Most Sunday nights (for me anyway) tend to be spent getting ready for the next working day. Squeezing that in between a 4-5 hour wrestling PPV can be quite cumbersome.

But what about Saturdays? Saturday nights work out better, right?

Sort of…

 

But, Even Saturday Afternoon PPVs Would Be A Lot Cooler

While I always appreciate Saturday night shows, do you know what would be better? Saturday afternoon shows.

Think of it a few ways: Not only do you have an entire evening off to discuss the event and party with friends without worrying about a pending Monday, but there’s profit involved if you’re Tony or Nick Khan.

Imagine how many parents would love to take their kids to see a large Saturday afternoon Pay-Per-View. Not everyone has Saturday nights open and available. Think of the tailgating-like vibe you could have with a younger crowd at larger afternoon shows, much like the NFL.

We’re wrestling fans. We’re going to make time for the show no matter what time it is, but I know that a Saturday afternoon show to kickoff a weekend would be kind of incredible. Furthermore, let’s take into account the replay value: If you happen to work or have something that pulls you away that particular morning; no matter, just watch the replay in the evening.

It seems to me that there are more opportunities in both financial gains and consumer happiness present in a Saturday afternoon option.

 

Time For a New Tradition?

WWE PPVs have already moved to Saturday nights, and for good reason. It likely hasn’t affected streaming/buyrates, more families have flexibility to take their kids to shows, and as mentioned above, it just results in more consumer happiness.

You’re always going to go head-to-head with some entity, but let’s face it, the only real competition wrestling has in that sense is football.

If you’re Tony Khan, you only hold one PPV during football season with Full Gear. And as of last night, Khan announced Full Gear for Saturday, Nov. 19. Now Saturday shows are much preferred over Sundays in general. I can only hope that AEW, like WWE, moves completely away from Sunday night shows for how inconvenient they are to the average fan.

But Saturday afternoon shows? You not only hit the live audience, but you get the live U.K. audience as well. While a move to Saturday nights are welcomed, I believe moving to Saturday afternoons is the sweet spot for an overall complete wrestling experience.

-T5W
t5wrestling@yahoo.com