AEW's Maine tapings highlight the flaws of secondary wrestling programming

The Reality of the B-Show Grind

The recent AEW and Ring of Honor television tapings from Maine tell a familiar story about modern professional wrestling. Tony Khan has assembled one of the deepest rosters in the history of the sport, making television time for that massive roster a mathematical impossibility if you only rely on Dynamite and Collision broadcasts. That is exactly why these secondary tapings exist as necessary repetitions for the talent and reliable content for streaming distribution deals.

But for the viewer sitting at home, the actual utility of these shows remains highly questionable. The Maine tapings are just the latest example of a format that desperately needs a complete structural overhaul before the upcoming AEW Double or Nothing on May 24. Instead of the sheer urgency of a pay-per-view week bleeding into every single piece of company programming, these secondary shows often feel completely divorced from the main narrative arcs that drive the product.

The live audience in Maine certainly got their money's worth in terms of sheer volume. These tapings routinely feature multiple hours of continuous, hard-hitting in-ring action that takes a substantial physical toll on the performers. Yet, the translation from a fun live event to a compelling television broadcast is where the current model completely fails.

The Predictability Problem

The single biggest flaw in the AEW Dark and modern ROH format is the absolute lack of genuine suspense. When an established television star steps into the ring against local talent or lower-card regulars, the outcome is mathematically certain. You are left watching a pre-determined exhibition rather than a dramatic competition, and the Maine tapings suffer heavily from this exact same inherent predictability.

This is where the ongoing criticism of Tony Khan's booking methodology becomes impossible to ignore, as a professional wrestling match without stakes is merely athletic choreography. If the audience knows exactly who will win before the bell even rings, they have absolutely no reason to invest emotionally in the near-falls. The workers bump incredibly hard and hit spectacular high-risk moves, but they are fighting an uphill battle against the formatting itself to avoid a sterile viewing experience.

There are proven ways to fix this structural issue, much like how WWE handled similar problems a decade ago with shows like Main Event and Superstars by creating self-contained storylines. If a heated mid-card feud is entirely exclusive to ROH or Dark, those specific matches suddenly matter to the fans. However, the Maine results indicate that we are still seeing a heavy reliance on random squash matches and isolated tag team exhibitions.

Ring of Honor's Continuing Limbo

Ring of Honor carries an incredible, undeniable legacy in the professional wrestling industry, having essentially birthed the fast-paced modern style that AEW relies on so heavily today. However, attaching ROH tapings to the end of AEW events like the one in Maine continues to severely dilute that proud legacy. ROH is effectively functioning as AEW's developmental system right now, regardless of whether the company actually wants to admit it publicly.

There is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with operating a developmental territory, but the core issue lies entirely in the presentation. ROH is still heavily billed as a prestigious, standalone promotion complete with major world championships, yet defending those supposed top-tier titles in front of an exhausted crowd completely undermines their perceived value. The Maine audience was unfairly asked to invest in intricate ROH storylines after already sitting through extensive, exhausting AEW action.

The incredibly talented individuals working the ROH brand deserve a much better platform than being trapped in a booking structure that actively minimizes their overall impact. Until Tony Khan finally decides to tape ROH completely separate from the main AEW touring schedule, the brand will remain stuck in this frustrating holding pattern. The event results coming out of Maine simply reinforce the current, flawed status quo.

Looking Ahead to Double or Nothing

As we rapidly approach Double or Nothing this weekend, the entire focus of the company is fully on the major pay-per-view angles, making the Maine tapings a total afterthought. This directly highlights the disposable nature of the secondary programming block. If the events of a weekly show do not impact the upcoming pay-per-view in any meaningful way, there is absolutely no reason for a casual fan to care enough to watch.

This remains the central, defining dilemma for AEW's content strategy moving forward. Creating hours of wrestling matches every single week is relatively easy, but making those specific hours feel essential to the viewer is the hardest job in the television industry. The Maine event offers a crystal-clear snapshot of a company that excels at the former but continues to struggle mightily with the narrative glue needed to hold those impressive matches together.

Tony Khan absolutely has the necessary resources, television time, and elite talent roster to fix this glaring problem. What he desperately needs right now is a ruthless editor to objectively look at a massive taping script and aggressively cut the fat. Until that structural shift happens, shows like the ones filmed recently in Maine will remain an endurance test for both the live crowd and the audience at home.

The Live Event Experience vs. Television Production

We must also carefully consider the live event economics behind these massive tapings, as running a large building in Maine requires significant, undeniable logistical expense. Packing multiple different shows into a single night makes complete financial sense for the promoter, with the combined gate receipts helping directly justify the massive travel costs. Tony Khan is running a business, and maximizing building usage is a fundamental promoter tactic.

But the television viewer watching on a screen does not care about building logistics or travel costs, focusing only on the final, edited cut airing on their devices. When a match is taped late in the evening, the live crowd noise inevitably drops, and you can visibly see the genuine fatigue in the background crowd shots. This completely deadens the emotional impact of the action in the ring, no matter how hard the wrestlers are working to get a reaction.

This dynamic creates a bizarre, dangerous feedback loop where the wrestlers logically take bigger, crazier risks to wake up the tired, quiet crowd. This significantly increases the chance of serious injury without necessarily improving the fundamental match psychology. The Maine tapings likely suffered heavily from this exact dynamic, where a red-hot opener in hour one inevitably turns into a polite, quiet golf clap by hour four.

The Road Forward for Tony Khan

If AEW truly wants to maximize the long-term value of these secondary tapings, the fundamental formatting simply must change. The current approach is actively burning out live crowds and slowly diluting the overall brand value. The Maine tapings should ideally serve as a loud wake-up call rather than a continued blueprint for the future.

There are viable, realistic alternatives available, such as AEW moving to smaller, more intimate venues specifically designed for ROH and Dark. Filming in a packed 1,000-seat building creates a completely different, better atmosphere than a half-empty, massive arena, perfectly fitting the original Ring of Honor ethos. It also entirely removes the crushing pressure of filling a massive television setup for secondary, less important matches.

Ultimately, the match results from Maine will fade entirely into the background as soon as the Double or Nothing pre-show officially begins, but the deep, systemic issues these tapings represent will absolutely remain. Tony Khan has impressively built an incredible wrestling empire in a very short amount of time. Now comes the truly hard part of refining the massive machine he has created so that every single piece of programming actually serves a clear, defined purpose.