AEW WrestleDream delivered big moments and memorable matches, but by the end of the night, the atmosphere inside the St. Louis arena had noticeably faded. The event stretched past five and a half hours, and although the crowd started strong, the long runtime seemed to sap the energy from fans as the show went on.

Dave Meltzer discussed the issue on Wrestling Observer Radio, pointing out that AEW’s late-night format continues to work against them, especially when compared to afternoon pay-per-views that tend to maintain better pacing and engagement.

“The crowd was really, really hot until they got tired because the show went too long. Which was, you know, the thing is, is like the one thing that like very early into the show, it’s like everything that we said before, AEW just needs to do shows in the afternoon or they need to do shows that are shorter because the show at night, the show was too long.”

Meltzer also noted that afternoon shows have another clear benefit, stronger international numbers, particularly from European viewers.

“They’ve done longer shows in the afternoon, significantly longer, that weren’t too long. And the difference is in the afternoon you don’t get tired. And in the evening… especially, I could just imagine Eastern time and Central time, but Eastern time in particular, because this thing ended at 12:30. And it doesn’t need to do that. Just do it in the afternoon.”

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