Backstage Update On AEW Revolution Announcement, Venue Exclusivity
All Elite Wrestling has officially announced that one of its biggest events of the year, Revolution, will be returning to California in 2025 as their annual pay-per-view will take place at the Crypto.com Arena, formerly known as the Staples Center, on March 9. The arena has played host to some of the biggest events in wrestling history, and a new report from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select has revealed some details about how the announcement came about.
The announcement caught some fans off guard as the building has been synonymous with WWE since it opened in 1999, to the point where the arena had an exclusivity agreement with WWE. However, the recent announcement that WWE would be running the brand new Intuit Dome in Inglewood for the company's debut on Netflix on January 6 not only broke that agreement, but according to one source at the venue, WWE opting to go for another venue rubbed them the wrong way. The last time WWE was in the arena was over WrestleMania weekend in 2023, where the company held "WWE SmackDown," the 2023 Hall of Fame ceremony, NXT Stand and Deliver, and the "Raw" after WrestleMania.
A long-time source close to the building noted that they threw WWE a lifeline back in 2009 when the company was forced to move out of the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado on short notice due to a playoff game by offering the building to them for the event that would eventually become the May 25, 2009 episode of "WWE Raw." This trust seems to have been lost between the two parties, and while this event has been confirmed behind the scenes for well over a month, the arena were very happy that AEW announced the event so soon after "Raw's" debut on Netflix.
Some Details About Other AEW Events Have Been Revealed
AEW's debut in the former Staples Center wasn't the only noteworthy event announcement as the company officially revealed the majority of the touring schedule from December 2024 to March 2025.
The most significant being that AEW officially confirmed they will be running three consecutive nights at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. Fans in Manhattan will see the 2024 ROH Final Battle pay-per-view, a live episode of "AEW Collision" on December 21, and a taped episode of "AEW Dynamite" on December 22. Fightful confirmed with AEW that the reason for "Dynamite" being taped on the Sunday is so that the company's talent and staff would be able to spend more time with their families over Christmas as the episode of "Dynamite" being taped is likely to air on Christmas Day.
The Hammerstein Ballroom isn't the only intimate venue that AEW will be running, with the Broadbent Arena in Louisville, Kentucky and the Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona being used in 2025 to provide a different atmosphere. However, this isn't going to be the norm for AEW as the company has confirmed they will be going to the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tennessee, the Knoxville Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California, with Fightful confirming that AEW are making a conscious effort to hit new arenas and markets in 2025. This trend will actually begin before the end of the year as AEW will be the first wrestling company to host an event at the new Fishers Event Center in Indiana.
Fightful also noted that "AEW Rampage" is effectively off AEW's filming slate as there was no mention of the show in the announcement, with the company opting to tape episodes of "Dynamite," and "Collision" instead.