Residencies of Honor
With the Arlington residency wrapped up, we look back on it and propose something for the future
With Tony Khan’s promotions having wrapped up their residency at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, TX, last month with a live AEW Collision + AEW Rampage taping, now is a good time to review it. We’ll look at how it went from a numbers perspective (so if you don’t like numbers you can just skip that part), a breakdown of a few proposals for more residencies, and then a few of the other WrestleWatch contributors will hop in for a roundtable on how they felt the residency went and what they’d like to see in the future.
Background and Numbers
To some, it seemed like a bonkers idea when it was first announced: an entire month of All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor emanating from a single venue in the Dallas Metroplex. Located in a sports stadium and arena complex in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, the Esports Stadium opened in 2018 and is owned by the City of Arlington. As reported by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, the deal with Arlington allowed AEW to rent the 2,500-capacity facility for a 50% reduced fee of $232,000 for eight days of events (five Collision shows, two Ring of Honor tapings, and the ROH pay-per-view Death Before Dishonor), of which $112,000 was for room rental and $120,000 was for the use of the venue’s broadcast suite and equipment. Although AEW would not have usage of the space during non-taping days, the agreement allowed AEW to keep all equipment set up when they were out (AEW & ROH appear to have been the only things booked for the space during this timeframe, so actually striking production would have been unnecessary).
The rental costs as compared to a typical touring event put into focus why this was advantageous for AEW. Per the public records request related to AEW applying for a tax credit for Collision & Double or Nothing at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas this year, the room rental was $110,000 for two days of events in a room of at least 15,000 capacity. When we compare the room rental cost per capacity, a touring arena like the MGM costs $3.67/cap while Arlington cost $5.60/cap for the reduced fee. That doesn’t sound too great for the Arlington residency, but when bringing in the $120,000 AEW paid for the Arlington broadcast suite and equipment and the equivalent payments for equipment in Las Vegas (over $200,000 per show for such, not including labor), the cost savings become more obvious; the touring arena costs $17/cap for rental, broadcast, and equipment whereas Arlington cost $11.60/cap at the reduced fee. This is due to the Esports Stadium having an installed tech package of staging, rigging, lights, and audio equipment that AEW used, whereas a touring arena like the MGM Grand Garden Arena does not have as many of these pre-installed and thus AEW would need to rent or provide all that equipment themselves (and pay for all of the transport of said equipment as well, either from local production warehouses or on their own trucks - and again, all of the labor involved in transport and rigging of the equipment that’s not included in the above estimate).
The Esports Stadium having a tech package already installed is a feature common between it and many concert venues, especially the new breed of recently-opened venues that take after New York’s famed Hammerstein Ballroom with seated balconies and open floors like DC’s The Anthem, Atlanta’s Eastern, Cincinnati’s Brady, Chicago’s indoor side of the Salt Shed, and Boston’s Roadrunner and MGM Fenway. This significantly would reduce the cost to produce events in such spaces as opposed to touring arenas, and given the right time of year when bookings are slower for those indoor venues (summer and the dead of winter are not the busiest times for indoor venues of their capacity) it’s possible these venues could do similar as Arlington and offer a reduced fee for an extended residency. And by using the house’s tech package, the venues having additional bookings inbetween would be far less of an issue for AEW in breaking down and setting back up in those scenarios, with the ring and entrance ramp being the biggest factors rather than the time-consuming rigging.
It should also be mentiond that the residency has been successful from a tickets standpoint. All shows have averaged over 1,000 tickets sold for a 1,290 configuration in a single market over the course of a month. Tickets were priced between $20 to $55, meaning AEW easily made back the money for room rental and had tickets at a price far below what they normally price them for touring (the upcoming Champaign Dynamite has prices ranging from $15 for the upper deck seats, but the seats on the floor equivalent to the experience of the Esports Stadium range from $81.25 to $198.75, with some other upcoming tapings have floor seats like Pittsburgh’s Dynamite 5th Anniversary at over $300. This was an affordable experience for the fans in Arlington to see weekly AEW, and AEW seems to have profited off the endeavor.
Both Tony Khan and the City of Arlington have spoken to the success of working together, and the relationship has blossomed into All In Texas coming in 2025 (or as it shall affectionately now be known: Y’all In).
Roundtable #1: Fan Perspective
What have you thought about the Arlington residency with regards to Collision?
Marlowe: I think that Collision is a show that often struggles with identity. Dynamite is the clear A show, Rampage is for the sickos and Collision has been at times: CM Punk’s show, Danielson’s show, and now mostly just…not Dynamite? I think the residency has really provided that identity to some degree. It has become a place for trios and tag matches which traditionally struggle to find a spot in AEW. It has also become the home of immediate fan favorite Hologram, wrestlers like The Beast Mortos, and the summer vacationing Ishii.
In addition, every week has had fights that featured some title implications. Some were eliminators but we also saw a few title changes. A particularly good piece of synergy was having the ROH Trio title shot decided on PPV and then the title won the next night on Battle of the Belts, which brought back some excitement to a show that has struggled for a while.
Luke “Feels”: It’s hard for me to see this residency as anything other than a major success. Aside from the financial aspect (which, as stated above, the available information we have also indicates that the residency was a success), the energy in both look and sound for each episode noticeably enhanced the product.
I can understand the observation that Collision seems like a show without an identity. For myself personally, I’ve chosen to view Collision as a comfort show. We still get major story implications through its runtime, but it’s a show primarily focused on providing high quality matches with good workers and just a stronger emphasis on in-ring action overall, which is something I enjoy as weekend viewing. With the Arlington residency, the engaged crowds and smaller intimate environment really hammered home how exciting AEW’s in-ring product is all the way down from the title contenders to the midcard. That’s something to build on for the future.
Focusing on Ring of Honor specifically, what have you thought about the residency?
Marlowe: I have been a fan of ROH under Tony Khan’s ownership and have enjoyed the weekly product despite its sometimes janky presentation and confusing relationship with AEW’s main roster. In general it has felt like a better, more cohesive product. We have gotten major star returns in Sammy Guevara, the Texas related and wrestling history powerhouse trio of Dustin Rhodes and the Von Erichs, and more appearances by guys like Wheeler Yuta (someone who is an ideal fit to be a ROH star and an AEW mid card guy). The residency also gave me the one thing I had most felt was missing during the last few months which was Champion Mark Briscoe regularly defending his title. He has defended twice since it began and goes up against The Beast Mortos next week.
I can’t say enough about how good the residency PPV, Death Before Dishonor, was. Multiple title changes, a mind blowing Mortos/Komander fight, and multiple incredible women’s matches including one of the highest rated Meltzer matches for American women’s wrestling. ROH has been a place that has truly highlighted female fighters as stars and that was shown fully at DBD.
Luke “Feels”: ROH is admittedly when-I-have-time-to-watch viewing for me. But I made sure to catch the episodes that featured Arlington tapings because I was curious about what the weekly product looked and sounded like with a paying audience (there were two ROH-only dedicated tapings as part of the residency). The difference in energy was incredible; like Collision, the product felt energized with an intimate, engaged audience which in turn seemed to enhance the workers. AR Fox vs. Beast Mortos could hold its ground in a conversation of the best matches among the AEW/ROH-verse this year. The energy was akin to an ROH PPV under Tony Khan, which have all been excellent. The chants for all the different talent in ROH, which even included chants for local talent, once again reminded me an audience is there for ROH, and that ROH is a product that I believe can model itself as a TNA-style touring-taping show.
Proposals for the Future
Well that’s a nice transition from Luke there into the next portion of this: looking at different models they could go with.
The residency seems to have been a success from a business perspective, and we’ve now chatted about how viewers perceived the residency both for AEW Collision and Ring of Honor. Now we’ll be looking at what Tony Khan could do in the future, then get the roundtable back together to consider which strategy could be best.
Proposal #1: NXT
First up on the list is something that’s kind of the maximalist approach: a permanent studio model, every week in the same location. Tony Khan has had some experience with this before during the pandemic era, when AEW filmed every other week at the Daily’s Place concert amphitheater in Jacksonville, FL (which adjoins to Everbank Stadium, home to the Khan’s Jacksonville Jaguars). Of course when AEW was doing it there weren’t fans present for most of that time, whereas productions like NXT or the old WCW studio show have/had a dedicated pool of local fans attending every week.
Pros:
A dedicated location allows for performers to relocate there if they so wish, cutting down both their travel time and travel costs
The set would serve as a back-up in case a touring show needs to be relocated for any reason
Production equipment will stay in location (and potentially always set up)
Local fans will become very familiar with performers
Being live every week allows for changes based on fan reaction, chemistry, and organic developments
Cons:
Potential to box in the product and not allow it to evolve
Potential for local fans to hijack the show
Market burnout
Proposal #2: TNA
Our next proposal also takes from another promotion: monthly taping blocks on the road. TNA has been doing this model for some time now, moving to different cities every month to tape that month’s slate of Impact TV shows and usually capping with either a PPV or TNA+ Special. Tony Khan also has a bit of experience with this, albeit at a single locale: again the above pandemic scenario where AEW filmed every other week, but also their relationship with Universal Studios Florida where they filmed AEW Dark and Ring of Honor for a number of months. That allowed for talent such as Zack Sabre Jr to fly in for a single weekend and be featured for over a month on TV.
Pros:
Filming for a single weekend cuts down on travel costs and allows talent to book other shows throughout the month
A single weekend allows for high profile or international talent to appear for an extended period of TV episodes easily
Touring the show allows for the booking of local talent who local fans may be familiar with
Filming in a block rather than weekly cuts down on production costs
Not as much potential of market burnout
Opens the door to a variety of unique venues, as Khan would only be booking them for a day or two rather than weeks
Cons:
Inability to adapt storylines based on fan reaction, chemistry, or organic developments
Taped shows historically have lower television viewership, and if done with Collision could give it a prestige more similar to Rampage than Dynamite
Proposal #3: Arlington
Next up is just doing what they just did in Arlington. This combines elements from the NXT and TNA models: on one hand Collision for the course of a month would be live but in a single location akin to NXT, while ROH would be filmed over the course of a month in a single location (but unlike TNA, it would be filmed over the course of a month rather than in a single block).
Pros:
A dedicated location for a month allows for potential discounts on travel and produciton
Touring the show allows for the booking of local talent who local fans may be familiar with
Local fans will become very familiar with performers
Being live or filmed every week allows for changes based on fan reaction, chemistry, and organic developments
Opens the door for a variety of unique venues throughout the country
Cons:
Potential for local fans to hijack the show
Potential for market burnout if market and venue aren’t selected carefully
Proposal #4: Traditional
This one is simple: just go back to the way things used to be! Collision touring every Saturday and ROH filmed before/after Collision.
Pros:
New locales every week allow not to burn out a specific market
The perceived prestige of arena shows
Being live or filmed every week allows for changes based on fan reaction, chemistry, and organic developments
Cons:
Higher production costs
ROH being the pre-show to Collision means fans might not be as familiar with the talent and storylines
Increases the number of shows per market per year, possibly deflating per-show ticket sales
An additional note is that all these models would allow Tony Khan to book the shows in a studio-like environment if he so chose, locations that feel like NXT’s Capitol Wrestling Center, Arlington’s Esports Stadium, or the Nightmare Factory locale which AEW used at the beginning of the pandemic. The TNA and Arlington proposals, though, allow Khan to book more unique venues throughout the country, as he wouldn’t be booking it permanently every week. This of course includes historic spaces such as New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center or Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena fka ECW Arena, but it also includes that class of venue which were mentioned earlier with seated balconies and open floors like DC’s The Anthem, Atlanta’s Eastern, Cincinnati’s Brady, Chicago’s indoor side of the Salt Shed, and Boston’s Roadrunner and MGM Fenway. TNA has previously done this in such a venue, taping the 2022 Under Siege PPV and this year a batch of episodes at the Megacorp Pavilion’s indoor side in the Cincinnati suburb of Newport, KY. AEW also has experience filming in a concert venue from their years of using Daily’s Place in Jacksonville; Khan could duplicate that throughout the country by booking warm-weather cities’ amphitheaters in winter months when they are not hosting concerts, and similarly booking those above indoor concert venues in summer months when business is slower due to the outdoor touring season.
It should also be noted that with the TNA and Arlington models that Collision & ROH are not just boxed into being in one locale, but they’re also not boxed into the model: both models allow for Khan to pick either model up at any time or take either show on the road to traditional touring arenas. This is essentially how the current Arlington residency has been presented, as a special series building to All In 2024 with Collision impendingly returning to traditional touring.
Roundtable #2: Das Model
Of all the pros & cons listed, which factor do you give the most weight when judging your ideal model?
Luke “Feels”: There are 3 main factors I’m most concerned about as a fan of the product when taking the residency model into account: 1) The identity of the product, 2) working and travel conditions for the talent, and 3) how the finished product comes off on TV.
From a fan perspective, the factor I’m most interested in is what the finished product looks like after taping and editing is complete. It can’t be overstated how drastic a difference the viewing experience was going from the crowd that was typical of Collision/ROH tapings on the road vs. the enthusiastic dedicated fans that showed up to the Arlington residency. When the product feels engaging, it’s easier to invite viewers back, which is an issue that ROH has for me.
Marlowe: I agree with Luke here that my biggest priority is a good finished product. I don’t mind that ROH has a malleable roster with AEW, I think it is a benefit, but I do want the show to have it’s own clear identity with storylines and characters we can easily follow and a production value that feels polished and clean.
Which model do you prefer most?
Luke “Feels”: Of the available options, the TNA model would be my preferred method for ROH tapings. Filming matches for a paying audience there specifically for ROH will help rebuild some of ROH’s standing one batch of tapings at a time, while keeping storyline building cohesive and less fragmented as is typical for the average ROH episode.
If we’re factoring Collision into this too (since the ROH and Collision rosters seem tied together), I would stick with the Arlington residency model. This model allows not only dedicated ROH tapings, but I would propose you can utilize the limited number of tapings to build residency long story arcs. I think some experimentation with its format could help formulate an identity to distinguish Collision from the A-show Dynamite, even if it means cementing a relegation for Collision into a B-show.
Marlowe: I like option 3 here. I think having the production do monthly residencies would be a ton of fun and really be something to look forward to. I like that the show had a slightly more Texas feel with the Von Erich’s and more Lucha. They could easily do something similar in Southern Cal with a PWG throwback or the old ECW Arena with more death matches or infinite possibilities for a Canada, Mexico or Japan month. As a fan I would love to be able to see a month of ROH live in my market.
As for myself, I feel that there is great potential in pursuing both the TNA and Arlington models; have a weekly live residency when possible, but tour tapings when necessary. This keeps ROH as having its own identity distinct and allows it to develop talent over time. The energy in Arlington not just for ROH but also for locals on AEW such as Dustin Rhodes, Sammy Guevara, and the Von Erichs - plus the success of debuting Hologram - leads me to feel that this will be the best route to growing ROH as a promotion, developing talent, and giving something unique to fans.
With AEW media rights in the midst of renegotiating and Tony Khan reaching out to add partners to the slate beyond WBD in the United States (including the rumor of a program for the Fox Corporation), there’s more potential and opportunity than ever for Ring of Honor.