The event was originally scheduled to air on pay-per-view from the Wembley Arena in London, England in June and be AEW's United Kingdom debut, but had to change locations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As with many of AEW's other programs since the pandemic began, the show was moved to Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida and split into a two-night event. AEW invited sixty sponsors from other corporate brands (Jacksonville Jaguars and Daily's Place) to attend the event in the upper deck as a test of allowing spectators, which began a test of allowing spectators that led by the end of August to live spectators returning.[2]
On June 29, 2019, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held an event titled Fyter Fest. The show was a follow-up to the Community Effort Orlando (CEO) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) co-promoted CEO⨯NJPW: When Worlds Collide event, which was organized by then-NJPW wrestler Kenny Omega, who became an Executive Vice President and wrestler for AEW and was also key in organizing the first Fyter Fest.[3][4] While AEW President and Chief Executive OfficerTony Khan had stated that there would be a second Fyter Fest event, it was not officially announced until May 2020's Double or Nothing, thus establishing Fyter Fest as an annual event for AEW, though this second event was produced by AEW alone and not in partnership with CEO like the previous year.[5]
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
During the media scrum following Double or Nothing's broadcast, Tony Khan revealed that the 2020 Fyter Fest was initially scheduled to take place at Wembley Arena in London, England in June and be AEW's United Kingdom debut, but had to change locations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] On June 3, it was announced that instead of airing on pay-per-view like originally planned, the event would be broadcast as a two-part special of AEW's weekly television program Dynamite, on July 1 and 8. The first night aired live on July 1 while the second night was pre-recorded on July 2 and aired on tape delay on July 8. Both episodes were held behind closed doors at AEW's home venue of Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, where AEW held the majority of their shows since the pandemic began in mid-March.[7]
At Double or Nothing on May 23, Cody defeated Lance Archer in the tournament final to be crowned the inaugural TNT Champion.[5] On the following episode of Dynamite, Cody announced an open challenge in which he would defend the title every week.[9] After defending the title against Marq Quen on the June 10 episode, Jake Hager attacked Cody, signaling that he wanted a shot at the title, which Cody granted him to occur at Fyter Fest.[10]
After Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent) and Orange Cassidy defeated The Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz) on the June 10 episode of Dynamite, Chris Jericho and his stable beat down Best Friends and bloodied Cassidy with blood oranges. Best Friends put their number one contendership for the AEW World Tag Team Championship on the line to get a match with Le Sex Gods (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara).[10] On the June 17 episode, Best Friends defeated Le Sex Gods to retain their title opportunity after Cassidy, disguised as a ringside cameraman, tripped Guevara and allowed Trent to score the pinfall. After the conclusion of the match, Cassidy attacked Jericho, and a match between the two was also scheduled for Fyter Fest.[11]
At Double or Nothing, the debuting Brian Cage won the nine-man Casino Ladder Match to earn a future AEW World Championship opportunity.[5] During the media scrum following Double or Nothing's broadcast, Tony Khan announced that Cage's championship match against Jon Moxley, who successfully defended the title against Mr. Brodie Lee that night, would occur at Fyter Fest.[5][12] However, during night one of Fyter Fest, it was announced that the match had been rescheduled to take place at Fight for The Fallen, due to Moxley being subject to secondary exposure to COVID-19 after his wife, Renee Young, tested positive for the virus.[13]
Reception
Television ratings
The first night of Fyter Fest averaged 782,000 television viewers on TNT and a 0.29 rating in AEW's key demographic.[14] The second night of Fyter Fest drew 715,000 viewers, and drew a 0.28 rating in the key demographic.[15]
^The event was held without a paying audience due to the ongoing pandemic. AEW invited Daily's Place and Jacksonville Jaguars sponsors to attend the event as an initial test of allowing spectators back. About sixty invited guests were admitted.