Even MJF Knows AEW PPVs Are Too Damn Long
FIrst off, relax! I’m an AEW fan. The wrestling is often awesome, the talent is stacked, and they consistently deliver matches that feel like they belong on a big stage. But there's one recurring problem that kills it for me every single time: those pay-per-views are marathons, not events.
Even World Champion MJF—the guy who thrives on being the biggest star in the building—recently called it out. In a recent interview, he straight-up told Tony Khan (in classic MJF fashion) that loading up cards with 10, 12, or more matches leaves the crowd dead by the time the main event rolls around.
He said he'd rather be on a tight card with six or eight matches than a bloated 15-match slog where fans are exhausted and checking their watches.
He's not wrong. AEW PPVs regularly push four to five hours on the main card (sometimes more with the pre-show), ending well past midnight on the East Coast.
That's longer than most blockbuster movies, and wrestling isn't exactly a passive sit-back experience.
You're hyped for spots, emotionally invested in storylines, and physically reacting to the action. After three solid hours, diminishing returns kick in hard.
By hour four or five? I'm tapping out, even if the in-ring work is great. It's not about skimping on quality—A lot of these matches slap.
But "more is better" isn't always true in entertainment. The best PPVs in wrestling history (think classic WrestleManias or even some of AEW's tighter shows) left fans wanting more, not wondering if they could fast-forward without missing anything.
Tony Khan has defended the length, citing contracts and wanting to give fans their money's worth, but when even the talent and plenty of die-hard fans are saying the same thing, it's worth listening.
For me personally? I simply can't get through them anymore.
I'll start strong, maybe make it to the halfway point, and then life (or fatigue) wins. A four-hour movie has to be an all-timer for me to commit; expecting that level of endurance for wrestling every PPV feels unrealistic for a lot of us with jobs, families, or just normal attention spans.
AEW has the roster depth and creativity to fix this. Trim the card to a focused 8-9 matches, tighten some runtimes, maybe start a bit earlier. Leave us buzzing and hungry for the next show instead of drained.
Quality over quantity—it's an old wrestling lesson that still holds up.
