AEW’s Internal Reaction to WWE Pitting Live Event Against Worlds End Pay-Per-View

AEW has made significant strides in the past five years, emerging as a strong competitor to WWE. Notably, WWE is scheduled to hold a special live event on the same day and in the same city as AEW Worlds End. AEW’s internal reaction to this development has now been revealed.

On August 16, 2024, WWE SmackDown was held at the Kia Center in Orlando, FL. During the show, WWE revealed plans to return to the venue for a “Holiday Tour” live event on Saturday, December 28th.

At the same time, AEW’s World’s End 2024 pay-per-view is scheduled to take place in Orlando at the Addition Financial Arena on the same date. Tickets for World’s End, initially announced for Orlando on April 11th, have yet to be released.

Sean Ross Sapp reported during a Fightful Select Q&A that the response from AEW for WWE pitting a Live Event against Worlds End has been one of casual acceptance, suggesting they weren’t surprised by WWE’s move.

Sapp mentioned that WWE’s house show, part of their holiday tour, will probably affect ticket sales for AEW’s event because WWE is very popular right now. He sees this as a deliberate competitive move, which is just part of how the industry operates.

“Based on the reactions that I’ve got, just a ‘Well of course they are’ type of thing. Yes, it will affect ticket sales. WWE is a very, very hot ticket right now and it’s their holiday tour so that will do good. This is obviously intentional and a concentrated effort and it’s a part of competition. It’s the nature of competition and the way things work.”

It’s unclear whether WWE is intentionally scheduling their live event on the same day as AEW Worlds End on December 28th. However, this sets up a competitive scenario where Tony Khan will need to deliver a strong card for the pay-per-view to go head-to-head with WWE. It will be interesting to see how both events perform against each other.

Do you believe WWE’s strategy to pit a live event against AEW Worlds End will end up hurting AEW? Let us know in the comments section below!