Since AEW’s establishment in 2019, the promotion has avoided hosting house shows, with only one event, The House Always Wins, taking place in April 2021 at Daily’s Place.
AEW has instead concentrated on holding televised events. The company had a competitive advantage over WWE, which still performs house shows. However, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE has reduced its touring schedule.
Jeff Jarrett’s new role as Director of Business Development may include assisting AEW with house shows.
Meltzer stated, “Right now there are no definitive plans for AEW to do house shows, but a lot of the wrestlers on the roster would like to wrestle more and have expressed interest in them.”
Meltzer noted that expanding the live schedule for AEW is difficult because the product has been the coldest since its debut.
The advantage of working house shows is that it allows talent to work on things in front of a live audience without the constraints and pressure of doing it on live television. In addition, younger wrestlers get more ring time.
To make house shows profitable, top stars on the card are required, and it’s possible that Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, MJF, Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson, and others won’t work all of the shows.
