AEW looks set to add one major show to its calendar.
All Elite Wrestling has expanded from the 4 big shows a year model from 2021. First adding Forbidden Door in 2022 the promotion has gone one step further in 2023 with All In and WrestleDream making their debuts and confirmed to be a part of the 2024 schedule by Tony Khan. Including the upcoming Full Gear pay-per-view on November 18th. With 7 shows confirmed in 2023, it is now being reported that there will be an 8th between Christmas and New Year, which appears to be why another upcoming show will be effectively given away for free.
Ring of Honor, which is also owned by Tony Khan, will present Final Battle on Friday, December 15th. However, unlike previous big shows under the Khan banner, this will be included in the Honor Club subscription and will not cost any extra.
Untitled AEW PPV Scheduled In December
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer described the idea as an experiment to see if offering a PPV a no extra charge would drive Honor Club subscriptions:
I believe there’s a pay-per-view on [December] 30th. It might be the 29th. But there’s gonna be one at the end. So the Ring of Honor [show] will not be on [pay-per-view]. It won’t be on Bleacher Report, it won’t be available on television, it won’t be available on PPV.com, won’t be available on YouTube, won’t be available anywhere, except for on Honor Club, it will not be an extra charge for Honor Club. The Ring of Honor subscription will include the pay-per-view. So basically, the idea is for pay-per-views there to drive subscriptions to Honor Club as an experiment.
The experiment of providing Final Battle at no extra charge follows the model that WWE have been utilising ever since WrestleMania 30. While AEW has always stuck to the traditional format of having their biggest shows on pay-per-view, WWE has included all of their major shows within the cost of a WWE Network subscription since February 2014.
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