AEW Grand Slam | |
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![]() The original AEW Grand Slam logo for Dynamite with the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the background. | |
Promotions | All Elite Wrestling |
Other name | Grand Slam Australia (2025) |
First event | 2021 |
AEW Grand Slam is an annual professional wrestling television special produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event was established in 2021 and originally aired as a two-part special, encompassing the broadcasts of Wednesday Night Dynamite and Friday Night Rampage from 2021 to 2023, and then Dynamite and Saturday Night Collision in 2024. The event was also originally held annually in late September. The 2025 event, however, moved Grand Slam up to February as a one-night standalone special.
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 was instead held at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, which was AEW's first event in Australia.
Due 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 Wednesday Night 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 part was announced to air on tape delay as the September 24 episode of Friday Night Rampage , which also aired for two hours instead of its usual one-hour. Additionally, three dark matches were taped to be shown as 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 show would continue forward as an annual event at the same venue. [7] During the Forbidden Door pay-per-view (PPV) 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 the prior three years, the 2024 event was announced to air as Dynamite on TBS and Saturday Night Collision , which premiered in June 2023 on TNT. Collision was taped the same night as Dynamite to 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 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 special at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in late September. The event was also reduced to one night, and was AEW's first event to be held in Australia, with the event branded as Grand Slam Australia. [10] Reportedly due to low ticket sales, however, the event was relocated to the smaller Brisbane Entertainment Centre. [11] Although it was never announced as such, it was originally believed that Grand Slam Australia would be broadcast as a PPV event. However, during the January 15, 2025, episode of Dynamite, it was confirmed that the event would again be a television special, simulcast on TNT and Max, airing on tape delay that night in place of Collision. [12]