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When AEW announced that MJF and Kenny Omega, two of the promotion's top in-ring wrestlers and overall stars, were going to go toe-to-toe on Collision for the AEW World Championship, it drew reaction from across the professional wrestling world.
To some, the match's announcement was met with nothing but praise, with fans celebrating the ability to watch two of the unquestioned best wrestlers in the game today mix it up in an incredible match worthy of a Pay-Per-View main event. And yet, there were others, from WWE stands to even some AEW fans, who questioned the decision to give up such a premium first-time-ever match on free television, even if it made sense from a storytelling perspective, as MJF was mere days away from breaking Omega's streak as the longest-reigning AEW World Champion in the promotion's history.
While the match ultimately delivered, with Omega and MJF recording the highest-rated match in Collision history according to Cagematch, in the end, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff still felt as though the decision was a mistake, as it didn't generate the ratings bump AEW was likely hoping for when the match was announced.
“With no advanced promotion, no story, just announce it and do it… I'm not going to be critical of putting it on live TV for obvious reasons, because AEW, Tony Khan, has to service their client. Their client, in addition to the audience, their client is the network,” Eric Bischoff said on Strickly Business via Wrestling Inc. “Here I just have questions, I'm not being critical – because I promised myself a couple of weeks ago I was going to refrain from being critical as much as I could – but if you're going to put MJF and Omega on free TV – number one on a Saturday night, when you're up to Game 2 of the World Series and college football, you know you're going to get your a** handed to you. And to make that match on a Saturday night against that kind of competition when you know no matter what you, you're going to get your a** handed to you, that makes me question it even more.”
Another Hall of Famer, Mark Henry, weighed in on the match too, noting that while he loved the match his company put together, it really felt more like a Pay-Per-View main event than something you give away for free on television, as he explained on Busted Open Radio.
“There's no way that should have been free. I would have charged everybody to see that [laughs],” Mark Henry said via 411 Mania. “That's a dream match. It had Pay-Per-View written all over it – unbelievable from beginning to end, and somebody like a Kenny Omega almost deserves the Pay-Per-View platform. Maxwell, as good as he is, I even see there's room for improvement – he's going to be so much better in the next two to three years. His psychology is tremendous, and his ability to captivate the audiences and pull people in… for a young guy, he's beyond his years. Absolutely incredible.”
Ultimately, should any fans make fun of Tony Khan and company for choosing to give away an incredible match when he could have easily charged money for it later this year, maybe at World End or at a 2024 PPV? If he wanted to leave those dollars on the table to acknowledge the history of his AEW World Championship, why not work the match, even if a flukier finish than 30 seconds of Don Callis could have set something interesting up for the future that would have drawn even bigger money?
Eric Bischoff weighs in on AEW's ticket sales during MJF's title reign.
While MJF's title reign in AEW has largely been viewed as a success, detractors have been rather vocal about the volume of tickets the promotion is selling on a weekly basis, with the numbers for non-Pay-Per-View attendance down almost across the board except for in a few choice markets.
Discussing this downtick in apparent popularity among the ticket-buying population, Eric Bischoff noted that, after years of riding off the novelty of being the hot new act in town, AEW might have lost some of its “new car smell.”
“The new car smell has worn off, right? When AEW first hit – and again, I've talked about this before. The very first episode of Dynamite, I watched in the writer's room in WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut along with several other writers and a couple producers. And I was excited, because I knew that competition makes everything better, so I was very optimistic like a lot of fans were. When AEW announced Arthur Ashe, I went online and just jumped in with both feet supporting it. Because again, it felt like there was momentum, it felt like there was going to be this competition and excitement surrounding it that would put pressure on WWE, which I knew would be a great thing ultimately for everybody,” Bischoff said via 411 Mania.
“But over the last couple of years, I think that new car smell has worn off. I think the fans' willingness to kind of forgive some of the things that consciously or subconsciously, they know were flaws because they're growing and it's a new company, and ‘We're still so excited about competition and an alternative!' All that is worn off. And now I think by adding Pay-Per-Views, you're definitely going to see less of that segment of the audience that is compelled to attend that event because it's an event. AEW's doing a big show, and you're part of this emerging new wrestling company and wanting to support it. I think we've lost a lot of that momentum and goodwill. And you're hearing and seeing a lot more critique of the AEW product, and you're also seeing a significant loss of live gate. Consistent now in most markets. You know, you look at AEW's TV shows, and they're they're producing their shows — they may be 10,000 senior arenas, but they're scaled for 4,000 seats. It's not a good sign. That doesn't tell me that the live audience are really enjoying the product to the extent that they were two years ago when it was the new kid in town.”
Why isn't AEW selling as many tickets as in years past? Is it because of TK's booking? Because WWE is hot again? Or because fans are having more fun watching the shows from home than in person? Whatever the reason, it's hard to pin it on any one person or on any one choice, but instead, a series of factors that may or may not rebound soon.
