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AEW IN 2300 ARENA NEWS AND NOTES

I attended last night’s AEW Dynamite taping at the 2300 Arena.  From a production standpoint, the venue never, ever looked better than it did under AEW’s production purview, and that’s dating back to the earliest days of the venue through WWE running there, etc.  The additional lighting and the set up was really something to see live.

The addition of the bleachers across from the hard camera, which was something AEW commissioned for the residency, brought back a spark of the old feel and electricity of the ECW era and made the venue look so much better on television than it has in forever.  The bleachers were something designed and built for the AEW events and will not be a permanent fixture going forward.  The Arena usually has only floor seating in its modern incarnation.

The entrance was placed to be as close to where the old entrance way was for ECW back in the day as well.  There was absolutely an eye towards playing into the history of the venerated venue.

All of the AEW events in the Arena are sold out in advance to the area of 900+ per night.  From my vantage point, there were very few of the old ECW-era fans in attendance and it was mostly a newer, younger audience that had come to see AEW.

The Arena management itself absolutely loved having AEW in the house and we were told by several Arena staff that out of everyone who has been in the building in recent years, AEW’s management and staff were by far the most respectful and collaborative to everyone at the 2300.

AEW pretty much took over every single square foot of the building and even the outside space.  The usual parking lot in the back was shut down and turned into a trailer city for AEW production and management offices, as well as locker rooms and catering spaces for talents and staff to eat.  AEW had production setups behind the bleachers and to the side of the venue, working on different aspects of the show.  Portions of the parking lot were also used for promos and vignettes.   Rooms that are usually utilized for Arena management offices were used as locker rooms.  The upstairs balcony was used for promos and still photography.  The entrance to the venue and the bar up front was used for merchandise and for vignettes, including The Young Bucks being forced to sign their lives away to “pay back AEW.”   The Arena was very much treated like it was a character on the show, the same way ECW used to use it.  I thought that was a nice touch.

The Taz Hardcore Hall of Fame banner induction took place off camera before the show at Taz’s request as he didn’t want to take time away from current talents and felt that as a retired star, he should not be the focus of AEW programming.  There were a LOT of Taz-centric signs in the crowd last night and he had family members in attendance.  There was also a big ECW chant for Taz.  Tony Khan posted a video before the show went on the air backstage paying tribute to Taz:

Ian Riccaboni was at the taping in case he might be needed.

There was a big pop live in the building when a graphic announcing the AEW PPVs were coming to HBO Max appeared before the taping began.

LSG, CPA, The Blue Meanie (and his lovely wife) and Veda Scott were at the taping last night.

AEW had Philly-centric merchandise and had exclusive designs for each week of the residency. 

Hologram appeared to be limping a little after his match for the ROH taping last night. 

Lots of Philadelphia Eagles chants in the venue.

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