Photo Credit-Wrestling Inc
On November 24, 2021, AEW Dynamite aired live from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago Illinois. The episode started with an incredible promo battle between MJF and CM Punk. It is common knowledge that Chicago is Punk’s hometown, which had a massive impact on the segment between Punk and MJF. The Chicago crowd absolutely adored punk, giving him the biggest pop of the night and throwing their support behind the hometown hero. MJF got a very different treatment, being showered with boos, the crowd not letting him speak.
However this dynamic was changed as the December 8th episode of Dynamite aired from Long Island, the hometown city for MJF. When Punk opened the show to call out MJF, he was met with a chorus of boos, the first time in his AEW run. This caused Punk to turn on the Long Island crowd, insulting them and their precious team, increasing their displeasure with the Second City Saint. The crowd changed their tune when MJF appeared, receiving a hero’s welcome and being cheered for the first time in his AEW run, probably his whole career. The excitement only grew when he won the Casino Battle Royal, including eliminating his bodyguard Wardlow. Despite continuing to act as a cowardly heel, the crowd couldn’t help but to cheer the hometown hero. This change in dynamic and awareness speaks to how All Elite uses the locations of their shows to their advantage to create the biggest reaction.
The most obvious way AEW does this is by having their wrestlers win in their hometown. Examples of this include Jon Moxley defeating Minoru Suzuki in his hometown of Cincinnati, and Lance Archer winning the IWGP U.S. Championship in his home state of Texas in a Texas Deathmatch. This treatment is not only reserved for matches, with Hangman Adam Page going to his state of Virginia for his celebration after winning the AEW Championship at Full Gear. This is used to have the crowd get extra invested in the match or segment by using a wrestler who they can have a personal connection with.
However AEW doesn’t only use this to generate a positive reaction, but also put heat on certain wrestlers as well. A small-scale example would be MJF squashing Bryce Donovan in his hometown of Boston Massachusetts. A more prominent example of this is Bryan Danielson defeating three members of the Dark Order in each of their hometowns. By beating these wrestlers in their hometowns it encourages the audiences to boo the wrestlers more and get more behind their future opponent.
The final factor is how AEW adds importance to certain locations and cities and gets the crowds involved. The most obvious example is AEW using Daily’s Place in Jacksonville as their home base, and leaning into this and making it a big deal every time they go back to Jacksonville. Tony Khan sat down on the Rasslin’ with Brandon F. Walker podcast and talked about how important certain locations are to the company, between touring Chicago before Thanksgiving and going to Greensboro North Carolina for their Christmas shows. Making these places and dates important builds anticipation for certain shows all by emphasizing the location of the show.
