— On a recent episode of his “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, Matt Hardy weighed in on the idea of AEW counter-programming with a major U.S.-based event now that WWE’s WrestleMania 43 will take place in Saudi Arabia.
Hardy shared his thoughts on how such a move could appeal to American fans eager for a major live wrestling show during WrestleMania weekend.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On AEW possibly holding a big event when WrestleMania 43 takes place in Saudi Arabia: “We’ve had this conversation already off-air, but I think that would be brilliant on AEW’s behalf. People have talked about how WWE was counter-programming AEW. It would be a way, in theory, for them to kind of counter-program them but also gain a lot of goodwill in the whole experience. And do just like you said: invite WrestleCon, and invite Michael from Highspots to come and bring all the talent. Invite indie shows to come and piggyback off of it. And maybe do a night or two nights of big wrestling action and try to make it a special weekend, and almost fill in the void for American fans and North American fans that love to travel out to WrestleMania each and every year. I feel that AEW could earn some goodwill from fans.”
On which city would he hold the AEW show: “When you think of great cities for AEW, the first city that really pops in mind is Chicago. Chicago is a big AEW city, but I don’t know. You could also do the stadium in Texas again, where they had that great turnout. You could do New York, Arthur Ashe, and do a couple of nights there. I feel you would need a big arena and try and make it as monumental as possible. Because I think the goal would be to create an event that seems like destination viewing. You have to go there. You have to see that this is something very special and put it on the level of what a WrestleMania would feel like. I think, go nuts. Make it your biggest show of the year.”
— Two AEW fans with floor seats at All Out 2025 were forced to relocate to a less desirable section due to the overpowering odor of another attendee.
Posting on Reddit, one of the fans explained that they and their girlfriend were seated in the NE2 section during “Zero Hour” when the smell became unbearable. He wrote,
“Me and my girlfriend had floor tickets at All Out in the NE2 section, during Zero Hour we were met with a pungent smell that became unbearable. She has slight sensory smell issues so I understand, I can usually put up with something slightly uncomfortable, but man, I had not smelled something that pungent at a venue EVER.
“It was so bad we had to go to fan services and request any possible alternative seating arrangement. We gave up our floor seats for worse seating with an obstructed view of the ring because an obstructed view was a better alternative than having to put up with whatever that smell was.”
The fan criticized poor hygiene at live events, noting that other hobbies enforce stricter rules. He added,
“Coming from a trading card game where players will get disqualified at events for bad hygiene, I really wish that was something that would be implemented into concerts and shows.
“There’s no excuse for anyone smelling that bad to the point we had to give up the good seats we paid money for so that we could have a bearable experience for the next 5-6 hours.”
AEW All Out 2025 took place last weekend at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, featuring 14 matches (including the pre-show) and five title bouts. The only championship change of the night saw Kris Statlander crowned the new AEW Women’s World Champion.
