As good as Double or Nothing was as AEW’s debut event, there were a couple of issues some fans seemed to have with the show: it was long, running for just under five hours, and it cost $50, at least, to watch it on pay-per-view (PPV). The former is an issue those same fans have long had with WWE shows, and the latter is an issue precisely because WWE only charges $10 a month for a subscription to the Network, where every PPV is included.
There is good news on that front, however.
During his post-show media scrum, Cody Rhodes revealed you won’t be asked to pay that every month:
”So I think we’ll probably look at Double or Nothing and All Out as tentpole events. And there may be another one. We’re not going to do a pay-per-view every month. I realize it was $50 and to ask people to part with their money you gotta make sure it’s worth it. So we’re going to be... not every show is going to be four or five hours either. TV, I’ve kind of indicated with you, is a two hour TV broadcast.”
If AEW is going to be an alternative to WWE, avoiding long run times for PPV events is a great start. Double or Nothing was the promotion’s debut show, and everyone was given time to put forth their best effort. There’s no reason to think they can’t trim that down a bit for the next outing.
Then again, if they’re only going to do three or four PPV’s a year, that run time doesn’t seem so bad.