AEW Name Believes Pay-Per-View Events Should Be ‘Three Hours Long’

AEW

An AEW name has spoken about the ideal length for a pay-per-view event amid WWE and AEW fan discussions online.

The length of an ideal professional wrestling pay-per-view event has been a big talking point online in recent weeks, with both WWE and AEW having contrasting card lengths.

The card for tomorrow night’s Money In The Bank event features five matches, which has become the normal for any non-WrestleMania event in WWE since Triple H took over creative.

While some fans enjoy the smaller cards, as it gives each match time, others believe that an event should feature more than five matches to make it worth while.

On the flip side, AEW’s Forbidden Door show featured 15 matches across the Zero Hour pre-show and the main card, which some believe to be too many matches, while others prefer it due to more wrestling being featured on the show.

Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and current AEW announcer Jim Ross weighed in on the topic, noting that he believes three hours to be the ideal length for a pay-per-view.

He said:

“Somebody asked me that question on Sunday because the discussion was, are we serving too much barbecue? It’s hard for me to even equate that answer because I believe that…it’s a tough question.

“I believe that a pay-per-view should be three hours. Plenty of time. If you can’t conduct your business in three hours, you need to reevaluate your plan. At least, that’s my take on it. Those four and five-hour pay-per-views are daunting, to say the least. Somebody said, ‘Well, when you guys were down at WCW back in the day, how long were your pay-per-views?’ I said, ‘They were two hours and 50 minutes long.’ That’s a fact. So I think somewhere more in the two-hour and 50-minute range is better, or just say three hours, for simplicity’s sake, is more my wheelhouse. Now that I’m getting older, my attention span has been affected, so I think three hours is a nice starting point for a pay-per-view. That’s just me.

“You first gotta cater to your audience, and I think when you get past three, you’re gambling, and I don’t know if that’s a smart thing to do, gamble with your audience’s attention span. Because no matter what we say, the heavy shit is at the end. It’s called a main event, and I think that’s something that’s very important. You gotta cater to that audience, make sure they’re covered, make sure they like the order, and it’s just hard. It’s hard to figure that out, but I think somewhere in that three-hour range would be my preference.”

transcription via Fightful

Want a career in the professional wrestling industry but don’t know where to start? Enrolment is now open for the first-of-its-kind Wrestling Masterclass – click here for details! 

• AEW
• jim ross
• pay-per-view

Share this article with friends