How to play AEW GM Mode

AEW GM Mode is fantasy booking with consequences. Each week you build a card from your own roster, simulate it, and live with what happens: title changes, injuries, defections, fan chatter and a bank balance. There is no campaign to finish and no scripted card. The point is to build the best-running show you can, crown the champions you believe in, and keep the company profitable for as long as you can.

1. 1Draft your companyPick at least 10 superstars from the full AEW men's and women's roster, then choose a budget mode. That's day one of your promotion.
2. 2Book the showFill the card yourself: matches, match styles, a title on the line, promos and optional run-ins. Nothing is booked for you.
3. 3Simulate itRun the show to see star ratings, who won, who got hurt, how the crowd took it and what it cost you.
4. 4Manage the peopleRest tired stars, extend contracts before they defect, clear injuries and sign free agents all season long.
5. 5Answer the challengesTony Khan, talent emails and fan requests come with deadlines. Finish them for power points.
6. 6Spend the pointsRedeem power points for recovery, fresh legs, star pushes and title stripping on the Rewards page.

• WednesdayAEW DynamiteYour flagship TV show. Book the full card here.
• SaturdayAEW CollisionThe second TV show of the week. A pay-per-view takes this slot every sixth week.
• Every 6th weekPay-per-viewRevolution, Double or Nothing, All In, All Out, Full Gear and Worlds End. Bigger card, bigger gate, bigger risk.

Five TV weeks between pay-per-views, 52 weeks in a season. When the year rolls over, the calendar keeps going.

TV cards are five matches plus two promos; pay-per-views are six matches plus two promos. Every box tells you whether it is booked yet. You pick every name yourself, and a wrestler cannot be in two places on the same card. Each match has a format, a style, an optional championship, an optional run-in and an optional winner you can force.

Formats

Match styles

Styles stack on top of a format: better ratings, higher production cost, more injury risk. Some only fit certain formats, so the box only offers the ones that work.

• Standard
• Number One Contender
• Lights Out +$22,000
• Submission +$5,000
• Iron Man +$10,000
• Last Man Standing +$12,000
• Steel Cage +$17,000
• Ladder +$22,000
• Texas Deathmatch +$22,000
• Barbed Wire Rope +$20,000
• Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch +$60,000
• Casino Gauntlet +$18,000
• Anarchy in the Arena +$35,000
• Stadium Stampede +$50,000
• Casino Ladder +$22,000
• Casino Battle Royale +$25,000
• Clockwork Carnage +$30,000
• Blood and Guts +$45,000

• · Blood and Guts needs two full teams of five. Texas Deathmatch is one-on-one. Lights Out is singles or tag.
• · Casino styles need multi-person formats, and the Casino Battle Royale asks you to set the entry suits.
• · Number One Contender and Lights Out never put a championship on the line.
• · A title can only be defended by its reigning champion, and only vacant titles or a participant's own title appear in the box.
• · A run-in is a wrestler who is not in the match attacking someone in it. The attacked side cannot win, and it heats up a feud.

Promos

• MerchandisingTurns the wrestler's popularity into merch money.
• AdvertisingCosts you money but brings more viewers to the show.
• Self-PromotionThe wrestler talks about themselves: popularity and morale up. Injured stars can still do this.
• Slander RivalStarts or heats a rivalry and knocks the rival's morale down.
• Rivalry HypeBuilds the feud and lifts both wrestlers' popularity.

Budget mode

Pick this on Draft Day. It only sets your starting money.

• PopularityHow hot the wrestler is with the crowd. Wins, good matches, self-promotion and star pushes raise it; losses drag it down.
• MoraleHow happy they are. Working a show raises morale, sitting on the shelf lowers it, and being slandered by a rival hurts. Low morale with a short contract means defection warnings.
• FatigueThe wear-and-tear meter. A standard one-on-one match adds none at all. Bigger formats and wilder styles add more. Sitting out a week knocks 25 points off.
• InjuryWrestlers only get hurt once their fatigue climbs past 75, and the risk is higher in dangerous styles. Injured talent cannot be booked in matches, but they can still cut promos.
• ContractEvery star has a week count. When it hits zero they enter free agency and any titles they held go vacant. Free agent signings are one-off fees of ten times salary and run 26 weeks.

The single biggest lever is rest. A standard one-on-one match costs a wrestler no fatigue at all, so you can keep a main-eventer fresh with honest TV matches and only spend the big fatiguing spots when they are worth it.

Each week brings a Tony Khan request, and losers can demand a rematch by email. Both carry a deadline, usually that week or the next few. Fan requests are optional bonuses. Complete one and the points land in your account once, then you spend them on the Rewards page.

Power-ups

• Full recovery4 pointsClear all injuries and reset fatigue to 0.
• Fresh legs2 pointsReset fatigue to 0.
• Star push3 points+10 popularity, up to 100.
• Strip injured champion3 pointsVacate every title an injured champion holds so you can crown a new one.

The AEW Legends shop is still being built: locked Legend, Icon and Hall of Famer spots on the Rewards page until the roster and prices are settled.

Rivalries start from promos and grow when both names share a card and deliver a good match. The Rivalries page shows how long a feud has run and whether the crowd is into it, and the same strip sits on the Booking page so you can see it while you work. Stables let you save real AEW groups or build your own, then fill a team's slots from that saved lineup in one click.

• DashboardYour week, budget, average rating, every championship and its holder, hot rivalries and the latest news.
• BookingBuild the card: formats, styles, titles, run-ins, promos, plus this week's challenges and the rivalry strip.
• RosterEvery contract, salary, morale, fatigue and injury on your payroll, with extensions.
• StablesReal AEW groups and your own custom stables and tag teams, with saved members.
• Free AgentsThe open market, searchable and filterable, all season long.
• RivalriesWho is feuding, for how long, and whether the crowd is into it.
• ResultsEvery show you have run: ratings, viewers, gate, match results and challenge outcomes.
• RewardsSpend power points on recovery, fresh legs, star pushes and stripping injured champions.
• Draft DayWhere day one starts: pick your opening roster and budget mode.

Do I have to book every match?

No. A card can go ahead with fewer matches than the slots you have. Only the fan request is marked optional for points, and titles cannot be put on the line in a match nobody is fighting in.

Can I book anyone I like?

Yes, as long as they are healthy, signed and not already on the card. Rivalries auto-fill the opposing name when you pick a wrestler, and you can override it.

What happens if my budget runs out?

You keep playing with a negative budget, but you cannot sign free agents or extend contracts you cannot afford, so ratings and depth suffer.

How do I get a title shot set up?

Book a Number One Contender match and pick the championship. The winning side becomes that title's next challenger and shows up when you book the next title match.