In 2019, when AEW's debut PPV, Double or Nothing, took place in Las Vegas, I assumed that AEW was going to be coming to the Bay Area often. Going back 40 years, WWE would run at the Oakland Arena where the Warriors played and then the comeback show would be at the historical Cow Palace. San Jose might get a C show at the Civic Auditorium. In the early 90s, when the San Jose Sharks were born, San Jose had their hockey arena built and WWE would run San Jose frequently and still does. I wouldn't call the Bay Area one of the hottest pro wrestling markets, but there are tickets to be sold here.
I've seen WWE several PPVs at what local folks still affectionally call the Shark Tank. There have been many memorable wrestling moments here such as when Stone Cold Steve Austin won the 1998 Royal Rumble.
When AEW finally made their Bay Area debut with AEW Dynamite in March of 2023, they decided to run the show at the Cow Palace for historical reasons. But it wasn't the best place to run a show in this market, especially in 2023. The building is old and it's actually in Daly City rather than in one of the three big cities that make up the Bay Area. It was also the go home show for AEW's Revolution PPV which was in San Francisco at the Chase Center. It made some sense if the draw for that show was somewhat based on the romanticism of the area. But that romanticism no longer exists here, especially not in a place called the Silicon Valley. The Bay Area will support pro wrestling, but it's not starved for pro wrestling. If you have something must-see, people will come. If you give them something ho-hum, they'll find something else to do.
While the market didn't come out in droves for AEW like I'm sure Tony Khan thought it would, some of that was AEW's fault. Had Dynamite been at the San Jose State Event Center, the building that housed the famed NXT show during WrestleMania 31 weekend, they may have sold out and if they didn't, it would've been close to full just based on the amount of tickets they sold at the Cow Palace. And it's just a better building for live shows.
As for the Chase Center, it was a risky proposition from the get-go. WWE ran RAW twice at the building since it opened and didn't come anywhere near close to selling out even half the building. Had Revolution been at the Shark Tank rather than the Chase Center, I'm almost sure they would've filled the building up more. But they still did pretty well by selling around 9,000 tickets. For vacationers, San Francisco is the city to go to in the Bay Area. But for wrestling fans? San Jose is the better wrestling city.
All that being said, the PPV was strong and people leaving thought they'd seen a great show with a great main event between MJF and Bryan Danielson. The footprint was there. It was something to build upon.
Last November, AEW came back to the Bay Area by running Oakland for a double Rampage/Collision show and drew barely over 4,000 fans for what would be Sting's last time in the market. It was poorly marketed and fans waited until the last minute to buy tickets. The show was fine, but on a Friday night, it didn't feel like the thing to do. Many people left before the show was over.
About 11 months later, AEW came back to the Bay Area with their first show in San Jose last night. Now, based on what I've stated above, you'd think that if they were coming back to a place they did just okay business in the first time, they would hit it pretty hard marketing-wise and make a big splash in their San Jose debut, and Bay Area re-debut. But that wasn't the case.
There wasn't a single match announced for the show until last Saturday and then they did what they've been doing a lot of late, which is announce everything through their Twitter page at the last minute. The result was just over 3,000 tickets distributed for the show, or over 9,000 less than when WWE RAW was here earlier this year.
AEW Dynamite & Rampage
— WrestleTix (@WrestleTix) October 16, 2024
Wed • Oct 16 • 4:30 PM
SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose, CA
Available Tickets: 513
Current Setup: 3,570
Tickets Distributed: 3,057
🌅 | Morning update
⏮ | Venue debut
🗒️ | Section 113 opened up. A few other nearby sections added some seats as well. pic.twitter.com/mHk8MuIWvQ
As a pro wrestling show, it was above average. There was good wrestling showcased, including my favorite match of the night which was Mercedes Mone, who had her coming out party in San Jose at that NXT show nine years prior, against Queen Aminata.
But as an event, and as the thing to do on a Wednesday night in the Bay Area, it was, as MJF would say, mid.
While a very good Jon Moxley produced interview kicked off the TV show, and I guess the live show, the first live wrestler we saw was Adam Cole. The San Jose fans saw him as a big star returning from injury, but I sensed that they didn't understand his promo at all, as he was speaking like a bitter ex-partner when he was the one who did the dumping of MJF. It was also a role reversal since the last time we saw him, he was the heel and MJF was the babyface. I also saw many hardcore fans say that they hope the program is a one and done because they blamed some of the current AEW coldness on the Cole/MJF program from last year.
But the misread by the promo to the live crowd was him not even mentioning what Moxley just said or what had happened at the end of AEW Dynamite. Based on Moxley's promo, what he hates about AEW and is the cause of his frustration and destruction is exactly stuff like the Brochachos. Maybe Cole didn't want to become a target. But it came across a bit tone deaf.
Throughout the show, the live crowd would get excited for certain things, like the chance to boo Don Callis, who had huge heat, but somewhat Dominick Mysterio heat in that people wanted to get in on the act rather than boo him because he's an insufferable person who they wanted to see get beat up. They were really into Shelton Benjamin's massacreing of Lio Rush.
But they also didn't see certain things positioned as big by the company. After WrestleDream, it was clear that Orange Cassidy was going to be positioned as one of the possible AEW saviors from the Big Bad BCC. But I didn't see a lot of kids in the audience and whatever the AEW audience is with children, I imagine OC would be one of their favorites. He, and Kyle O'Reilly, who looks to be getting a singles match with Kazuchika Okada soon, weren't seen as anything special. When the BCC appeared before the live crowd to beat up more poor babyfaces, it seemed important, but without the announcers explaining the scenario, it was just Jon Moxley who really is beloved by the AEW audience, beating up midcarders.
Somehow, someway, they really needed to hammer the story to the live crowd. Here's a guy who just won the big belt and put his former friend in the hospital all because he hates what his company has become. Who is going to stand up for AEW? This storyline is in the early stages so the group needs to keep beating up midcarders to establish the angle, but it would've been nice for a wrestler or two who aren't Action Andretti to mention the elephant in the room.
The main event had a major mistimed run-in so Hangman Page had to hang out on the floor and pretend like he wasn't there. Christian vs. Jay White wasn't necessarily seen as a big time main event by the live crowd, but it was really good, and not a bad way to end the show.
What hangman page doing 😭 #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/C4W47AuQzY
— The Real One ☄️ (@WWEREALONE) October 17, 2024
Being that I've been to the last three WWE RAW shows in San Jose, I think AEW can improve a lot in their live shows. The vibe at RAW is impressive these days and they run the show like a major entertainment event. There's barely any downtime during commercials. There's always something that engages the crowd on the big screen. The crowd has many opportunities to pop for nostalgia and do trivia.
AEW might not want as heavy of a "sports entertainment" feel to their show, but they could do things like play a countdown of the top 10 moments in AEW history during downtime, which would keep fans interested during every break because they want to see what number one is.
Before the show starts, they can play entrance music of current stars like a DJ at a hip hop concert spinning records before the concert starts. While Justin Roberts seems to enjoy doing crowd work, it doesn't seem cool when very few of the audience members outside of the floor section is paying attention.
But the most important thing AEW can do when they come back to the Bay Area is bring their best and market that they are bringing their best. Missing on this show live from top AEW stars who were seen at the WrestleDream PPV were MJF, Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, Mark Briscoe (though he was on Rampage for folks who stuck around), Chris Jericho, Darby Allin, Mariah May, Willow Nightingale, Ricochet, and any luchadors in an area that embraces lucha-style wrestling.
One of my friends bought tickets for he and his son when they went on sale. His son is a die-hard Orange Cassidy fan. However, we didn't know if OC was going to be on the show until only a few days beforehand. I don't imagine my buddy will buy tickets for AEW on the first sale date next time. He'll wait to see what the card is, but like what I imagine was the case for a lot of the no-shows last night, the longer you wait, the more your schedule gets tied up. Seems to be a fixable issue to me.
