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The President and CEO of AEW, Tony Khan is probably making the same mistake as the former WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon, with his recent decision regarding his weekly shows.
Tony Khan is in charge of the AEW creative and is responsible for all the major shows. After the inception of the promotion in 2019, the Jacksonville-based company introduced a two-hour weekly show, 'Dynamite,' on Wednesday, and two years later in 2021, the company announced a 1-hour show Rampage airing every Friday.
Last year, AEW announced a Saturday show, 'Collision' as well with a two-hour runtime. However, Khan seems to be repeating a pattern lately by airing Rampage after either Dynamite or Collision to make it a three-hour live program.
Last Saturday, Rampage aired after Collision as well. Meanwhile, the company yet again announced a three-hour block of programming with Rampage to air right after Dynamite this Wednesday.
Tony Khan's business decision could affect weekly AEW programming
While it is being said that AEW is often doing three-hour blocks due to the ongoing NBA playoffs every night, making this a permanent thing could be a huge mistake in terms of weekly programming.
Similar to what Vince McMahon did with RAW over a decade ago by making it a three-hour show despite having SmackDown every week as well. While it was great for WWE in terms of business, it adversely affected weekly programming.
Many fans are still against Vince McMahon's decision to make RAW a 3-hour show
Vince McMahon, during his tenure as the WWE Chairman back in 2012, decided to extend RAW to three hours from two. While it's been over a decade since the decision was implemented and Vince is no longer in charge, many fans still hate the idea of a weekly wrestling show being three hours long.
Similarly, AEW potentially making this three-hour programming a permanent thing could largely backfire, as it could be repeating the same mistake as Vince McMahon. Furthermore, many fans could go against Tony Khan for making the shows longer despite having three weekly shows.
AEW could lose its original style by having 3-hour weekly programming
Ever since its inception, AEW has managed to become a viable alternative to the WWE by having its own fast-paced style of programming with more in-ring and fewer non-wrestling programs. Furthermore, the concept of the Friday show only being an hour long was widely welcomed among the fans as well.
Therefore, in case Tony Khan decides to move to three-hour programming permanently, it could hurt the promotion's original style and would no longer be an alternative to the WWE. Only time will tell if the decision will be implemented permanently or just sporadically.
