WWE managed to pull off a successful edition of Elimination Chamber at Perth. The show pulled a live crowd of over 52,000 people along with millions of fans watching the show online. WWE closed the show with an emotional Rhea Ripley breaking character after her main event triumph against Nia Jax. However, there are a few fans who did not enjoy the show, not because of the matches, but because of WWE’s match schedules.
Elimination Chamber is criticized for lesser wrestling run-time
A wrestling fan took to X on February 24th to share a stat from the recently concluded Elimination Chamber at Optus Stadium, Perth. As per the stat, Elimination Chamber had a total of only 110 minutes and 13 seconds of wrestling despite the show running for over 4 hours and 30 minutes. The PLE match card consisted of just 5 matches and a talk show, including the kick-off show that was shown on YouTube.
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This is preposterous, LMAO. pic.twitter.com/376QFLZMOr
— Drainmaker 🌧️ 💵 (@DrainBamager) February 24, 2024
Now, fans may wonder how could WWE run a show that was less than 50% of wrestling in comparison to its run time. Well, WWE filled up the remaining part of the show with video packages, TV ads, and Australia Tourism endorsement. This has been a staple format for WWE for decades when it comes to PLE. The fans watching the show on TV could excuse themselves by turning to other channels, but what about the live crowd?
Well, the show was criticized by fans because of the long run time given to non-wrestling moments. Interestingly, there was a 55-minute gap between the tag team match featuring Tyler Bate-Pete Dunne vs The Judgment Day match and the Men’s Elimination Chamber match. Also, the Grayson Waller Effect show was a 22-minute affair.
Though the show was liked by fans, it was criticized by several on social media for not prioritizing the main portion of the PPV.
Fans compare and state that AEW shows are better than WWE PPVs
Some fans called out WWE PPVs, making a comparison to the state of AEW shows, which they deemed to be better.
Meanwhile when I attended an AEW show, I got damn near 6 HOURS of WRESTLING. It was amazing.
— Seth Konstantine (@Konstantine72) February 24, 2024
While the matches themselves were lauded, many had issue with the fact that a major portion of the runtime went to advertisements, with one fan stating that AEW shows were run better.
Aew does a PLE 10 times better than this total nonsense
— mick Dee (@mickDee62188977) February 24, 2024
Some fans called out WWE for putting up a below-par PLE, stating that it was no different from one of WWE’s weekly shows for one of the biggest PLEs in the year.
They basically gave them an episode of RAW
— CaliLyon (@lyon_cali) February 24, 2024
One fan decided to take a jab at fans of the promotion, implying that they had signed up for everything but the wrestling in a PPV.
WWE fans don’t like wrestling, they love this shit.
— TC Richards (@TCRichards5) February 24, 2024
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Another went further, stating that WWE fans would argue for more time spent on segments and other add-ons rather than the matches themselves.
And there are people who will argue that that’s how it’s supposed to be, less wrestling more segments. Not for me, no thanks.
— Anthony Cogo (@T_Cogo) February 24, 2024
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While it seemed like many AEW fans flocked to pour in criticism against the promotion, the underlying sentiment seemed to be that the nature of WWE’s PLEs seemed to be changing. Considering the actual time spent wrestling during Elimination Chamber, let’s hope that the same doesn’t apply to WrestleMania 40 coming up in April.