AEW All Out nears a sellout despite WWE scheduling a rival show nearby

[One-One-Five]

AEW All Out is close to a full sellout at Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, with 8,914 of 8,976 tickets sold as of September 10th, just 62 tickets remaining, according to WrestleTix. The September 26th show lands the same night as WWE's own Worlds Collide event with Lucha Libre AAA at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, roughly 20 minutes away, marking the second time this year WWE has scheduled a competing show in the exact same market as one of AEW's marquee pay-per-views, after NXT and an AAA event ran against All In at Wembley Stadium on August 30th

AEW was first to announce its date back in July, with WWE confirming Worlds Collide shortly afterward, including a start time of 7:30pm CT that overlaps directly with All Out's 6pm CT bell time. Worlds Collide has reportedly sold just over 10,000 tickets against a venue setup of 12,793, also a strong number, with hometown star CM Punk announced for the card. AEW's show will be headlined by Will Ospreay defending the World Championship against Jon Moxley, fresh off Ospreay's win at All In, alongside a tag title ladder match between Christian Cage and Adam Copeland, the Young Bucks and FTR

AEW is also hosting a free afternoon block party near Now Arena before the show, featuring live music, talent Q&As and a fundraiser for Rebel Heart's ALS charity work. Curious what people think this pattern of direct scheduling conflicts actually accomplishes for either promotion, does going head-to-head in the same city genuinely hurt the smaller show's attendance and buzz, or does it mostly just force fans to choose without meaningfully damaging either promotion's overall numbers

AEW All Out 2026 On Course To Sell Out Despite Direct WWE Competition (AEW News)whatculture.com

[Arrow]

Both shows posting strong numbers despite the direct head-to-head timing suggests the wrestling audience has genuinely grown enough that these two promotions aren't purely cannibalizing each other's ticket sales anymore

[Lucky Dean]

CM Punk headlining in his literal hometown the same night as a major AEW show he used to be the face of adds a real personal edge to this specific scheduling clash beyond just pure business competition

[Mark7]

The free block party beforehand is a smart way to build extra buzz and goodwill around the actual ticketed event, giving fans a reason to show up early and turn the whole day into more of an occasion

[CodyRhodes99]

AEW announcing first and WWE deliberately following with a same-city, overlapping start time reads as a pretty clear intentional counter-programming move rather than a scheduling coincidence

[ShadowKernel]

62 tickets remaining out of nearly 9,000 is essentially a sellout at this point, that's a genuinely strong result for AEW specifically given they had to know this direct competition was coming months in advance