AEW Grand Slam is an annual professional wrestling event produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event was established in 2021 and originally aired as a two-part television special, encompassing the broadcasts of Wednesday Night Dynamite and Friday Night Rampage, although in 2024, this was changed to Dynamite and Saturday Night Collision. The event was also originally held annually in late September. The 2025 event, however, will move Grand Slam up to February, which will also be the first Grand Slam to broadcast via pay-per-view (PPV), in turn reducing the event to one night.
| AEW Grand Slam | |
|---|---|
 The original AEW Grand Slam logo for Dynamite with the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the background. | |
| Promotions | All Elite Wrestling |
| First event | 2021 |
The inaugural event was AEW's first event to take place entirely within a stadium, which was the Arthur Ashe Stadium, as well as the promotion's first event held in New York City. Grand Slam would subsequently continue to be held at the Arthur Ashe Stadium until 2025. The 2025 event will instead be held as a pay-per-view event at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, marking AEW's first event in Australia.
History
editDue to the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in mid-March 2020, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held the majority of their professional wrestling programs from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida;[1] these events were originally held without fans, but the company began running shows at 10–15% capacity in August, before eventually running full capacity shows in May 2021.[2] In June, AEW announced that they would be returning to live touring, beginning with a special episode of Dynamite titled Road Rager on July 7.[3] Shortly after, AEW announced that their September 22 episode would be another special episode of Dynamite titled Grand Slam. The event was scheduled to be held in the New York City borough of Queens, New York at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Grand Slam marked AEW's first event held in New York City, which is primarily known as home territory for WWE, as well as their first full event to be held in a stadium.[4][5]
During the September 15 episode of Dynamite, AEW announced that Grand Slam was expanded to a two-part event. The second Grand Slam show was announced to air on tape delay as the September 24 episode of Rampage, which also aired for two hours instead of its usual one-hour. Additionally, three dark matches were taped to be shown on the September 27 episode of AEW's YouTube show, Elevation.[6]
On May 11, 2022, AEW president Tony Khan confirmed that Grand Slam would return to the Arthur Ashe Stadium later that year and the event would continue forward as an annual event at the same venue.[7] During the Forbidden Door pay-per-view on June 26, the 2022 Grand Slam's date was confirmed for September 21, with Dynamite airing live that night and Rampage airing on tape delay on September 23.[8]
The 2024 event was announced on June 30, 2024, and scheduled for September 25. Unlike prior years, the 2024 event was announced to air as Dynamite on TBS and AEW's Saturday night program, Collision, which premiered in June 2023 on TNT. Collision will be taped the same night as Dynamite but air on tape delay on September 28.[9]
During All In on August 25, 2024, AEW announced that the 2025 Grand Slam would be held as a pay-per-view (PPV) event on February 15, 2025, at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, breaking Grand Slam's tradition of being held as an annual two-part television special at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in late September. This in turn marks the first Grand Slam to air via pay-per-view, in turn reducing Grand Slam to one night, and the first AEW event to be held in Australia.[10]
Events
editSee also
editReferences
edit- ^ Mealey, Jason (March 13, 2020). "AEW moves show from Rochester to Jacksonville due to coronavirus". News4Jax.com. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Johnson, Mike (May 5, 2021). "Double or Nothing 2021 PPV notes". PWInsider. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
- ^ Nason, Josh (June 11, 2021). "AEW ANNOUNCES DATES FOR FYTER FEST, FIGHT FOR THE FALLEN, ROAD RAGER". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
- ^ AEW Staff (June 16, 2021). "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam Coming To NYC September 22nd". All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Casey, Connor (June 16, 2021). "AEW Announces AEW Dynamite Grand Slam for New York City". ComicBook. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Reneeo, Juan C. (September 27, 2021). "AEW Dark Elevation Results: Paul Wight, Dark Order, Thunder Rosa". Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
- ^ Wolstanholme, Danny (May 11, 2022). "Tony Khan Confirms Major AEW Event Will Become Yearly Tradition". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
- ^ Defelice, Robert (June 26, 2022). "Date Announced For AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam 2022". Fightful. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
- ^ a b c Valdez, Nick (June 30, 2024). "AEW Grand Slam 2024 Announced". ComicBook.com. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
- ^ Nason, Josh (August 25, 2024). "AEW making Australia debut with Grand Slam stadium show". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (September 22, 2021). "9/22 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of AEW Champion Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson in a non-title match, Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho for the AEW Women's Championship, Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black, Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston, FTR vs. Sting and Darby Allin". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
- ^ McGuire, Colin (September 24, 2021). "9/24 AEW Rampage results: McGuire's live review of CM Punk vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston vs. Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer, Adam Cole and Young Bucks vs. Christian Cage, Jungle Boy, and Luchasaurus, Penta, Rey Fenix, Santana, and Ortiz vs. The Butcher, The Blade, and Private Party, Anna Jay vs. Penelope Ford". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (September 21, 2022). "9/21 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Bryan Danielson for the vacant AEW World Championship, Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee vs. The Acclaimed for the AEW Tag Titles, Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Jericho for the ROH Title, Toni Storm vs. Athena vs. Britt Baker vs. Serena Deeb for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Pac vs. Orange Cassidy for the AEW All-Atlantic Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- ^ McGuire, Colin (September 23, 2022). "9/23 AEW Rampage results: McGuire's review of the Grand Slam Golden Ticket Battle Royal, Jade Cargill vs. Diamante for the TBS Title, Sting and Darby Allin vs. Brody King and Buddy Matthews in a No DQ match, Action Bronson and Hook vs. Matt Menard and Angelo Parker, Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks, Eddie Kingston vs. Sammy Guevara, Jungle Boy vs. Rey Fenix". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
- ^ Powell, Jason (September 20, 2023). "AEW Dynamite results (9/20): Powell's live review of MJF vs. Samoa Joe for the AEW World Title, Saraya vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women's Title, Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston in a title vs. title match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
- ^ Murphy, Don (September 22, 2023). "AEW Rampage results (9/22): Murphy's review of Sting and Darby Allin vs. Christian Cage and Luchasaurus, AEW Trios and ROH Six-Man Tag Titles matches, four-way tag for a shot at the ROH Tag Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (August 25, 2024). "AEW Grand Slam Australia Announced For February 15, 2025". Fightful. Retrieved August 25, 2024.