Add as a preferred source on Google Tony Khan believes the COVID-19 pandemic had an unexpected effect on the rivalry between AEW and WWE.
As AEW’s president sees it, the stretch without shows in major arenas reduced WWE’s structural advantage and let fans compare the two shows on what really matters most — pro wrestling in its rawest form.
He made the comments on Power Players with Brian Sozzi, during a conversation about AEW’s growth and the decisions that helped the company establish itself in the market.
Khan said:
“That was the best experience I ever had. That’s the best thing that ever happened to the company. It really leveled the odds for the two wrestling promotions and so many people around the world, to this day, talk about the quality of wrestling and say when you put it back like that and put it on a level playing field, so many people saw that AEW is the best wrestling. For me, that was the best experience, and those are the shows I’m most proud of.”
When the restrictions began, AEW Dynamite had been on the air for less than six months. The first episode affected by the pandemic aired on March 18, 2020, at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville. While WWE ran its shows out of the Performance Center before creating the ThunderDome, AEW put wrestlers around the ring to generate reactions during matches.
Limited fan attendance began on August 27, 2020. Daily’s Place initially operated at 10% capacity, a number later raised to 15%, capping attendance at 825 fans. Before returning to the road, AEW held 27 events with tickets sold at the venue.
AEW’s full-time return to the road came at Road Rager on July 7, 2021, in Miami. That stretch also covered nearly the entire Wednesday Night War, a period when Dynamite regularly beat NXT in the 18-49 demographic.
WWE’s show left Wednesday nights on April 13, 2021.