Report: Potential AEW Major Show Plans Motivated Recent WWE Announcement

WWE

AEW potentially hosting a major show during WrestleMania 43 weekend is reportedly what motivated WWE’s decision to announce several new events.

As recently reported, a watch party is set to take place at Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden, with one night also seeing NXT Stand & Deliver, while the other gets AAA Eternal Glory.

The reason for the decision has seemingly been revealed in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, with Dave Meltzer indicating that it was motivated by Tony Khan’s potential plans.

Melter wrote:

“It was certainly thought based on Tony Khan’s reactions that AEW would be running a major event, perhaps a stadium event, in the U.S. over WrestleMania weekend with the idea of working with indie promotions and create the annual WrestleMania experience when WrestleMania takes place in Saudi Arabia.

“Khan has hinted about it for months, and while AEW and Khan have not said anything, those in WWE believed it would be in New York.

“So WWE booked the Infosys Theater inside Madison Square Garden with the idea of a major NXT show (Stand & Deliver, its traditional biggest show of the year) one day and an AAA show called Eternal Glory the other day. The shows would take place likely right after WrestleMania, which would air on the screens at the theater both days.”

At the time of writing, a date is yet to be revealed for WWE WrestleMania 43, with the two-night event taking place during Riyadh Season, which typically runs from October each year since its 2019 launch.

Riyadh Season saw WWE Royal Rumble take place in January of this year, marking the first time the main PLE had taken place in the region.

Will One Watch Party Be Enough?

For many fans, WrestleMania 43 will be accessible through their usual provider, be it ESPN, Netflix or a regional service. For some, however, a live experience on a massive screen with an immersive sound system while surrounded by legions of fans is the closest they can get to being in the venue.

There are clearly plans to run more than one such event, whenever WrestleMania 43 happens, with the initial release stating: “Additional details regarding official WrestleMania 43 watch parties in cities around the country, including major commercial venues and select COSM locations, will be announced soon.” The partnership with COSM has seen WWE screen PLEs in the “shared reality” space previously.

With Tony Khan hinting that he plans to run an AEW event in spring 2027, locking down major venues to screen a watch party is likely a strategy that WWE will pursue, although that leaves a lot of space that could be occupied for an actual live show across the United States; there is, after all, a difference between a venue such as Infosys Theater and a stadium.

For WWE, however, one strength they have for a show where the date is yet to be confirmed is that Riyadh Season sees a huge influx of visitors. In an official statement on the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia’s website, it was revealed that 14,000,000 (at the time of the announcement) had visited, with the 2023 period seeing a record 20,000,000, according to the Saudi Gazette.

Suffice to say, with those numbers, WWE will very much be aware that they can fill the venue, even if the fans in attendance aren’t necessarily the ones who would have otherwise attended the top PLE on the calendar.

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• wwe
• WrestleMania
• AEW

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