Huge protest begins outside AEW venue before residency shows

Following the success of Forbidden Door in London, AEW returns to the United States this week. Tony Khan is set to host residency shows at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, starting with this week's episode of Dynamite and lasting till the September 11 edition of Collision.

AEW and its sister promotion, ROH, are set to host seven successive events at the Philadelphia venue. In addition to regular episodes of Dynamite and Collision, ROH's Death before Dishonour is also set to emanate from the 2300 Arena this Friday.

However, the Tony Khan-led promotions are facing troubles as IATSE Local 8 has begun a huge protest outside the venue, hours before the start of this week's Dynamite. The local union is protesting because the venue and AEW don't meet the standards of the area, as they pay substandard wages to the workers.

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The 2300 Arena is a non-union venue, and IATSE Local 8 claims in their post on Facebook that the labor being used for these events is receiving substandard wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Major AEW stars in action on this week's Dynamite

With this week's edition of Dynamite, the promotion kicks off its Arena 2300 residency. This will be the first episode of Dynamite to take place at the venue, and some major stars are set to be in action on the show. Three matches have been announced so far.

Death Riders' leader, Jon Moxley, is set to go one-on-one with Daniel Garcia. Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford team up to take on Harley Cameron and Kris Statlander while Claudio Castagnoli battles it out with Darby Allin in a Falls Count Anywhere Match.

Moreover, the fallout from Forbidden Door is expected to be featured on the show as well. Ricochet and the Gates of Agony cost the Hurt Syndicate their World Tag Team Titles, and there is sure to be a follow-up to that storyline as well.

About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Faiz Ahmed