With next month’s AEW Grand Slam event in Queens, New York, rapidly approaching, Tony Khan revealed during his Wrestling Observer Radio appearance that the Grand Slam edition of Rampage on TNT will again be two hours.
The event is set for Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday, September 21st with Rampage to be taped following the live Dynamite on TBS that night. The two taped hours will air on Friday, September 23rd on TNT.
Last year’s event sold out with more than 20,000 fans in the venue. Tickets are still available for this year’s show.
Last year’s event was headlined by then-AEW World Champion Kenny Omega against Bryan Danielson which ended in a 30-minute draw and also included Malakai Black vs. Cody Rhodes, then-Women’s Champion Britt Baker against Ruby Soho, and more.
The Rampage edition was headlined by CM Punk vs. Powerhouse Hobbs in Punk’s first match on cable in more than seven years. Adam Cole & the Young Bucks took on Christian Cage & Jurassic Express while Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer closed the show.
After Tony Khan confirmed the show would return at some point this year, AEW officially announced their second-ever Grand Slam Dynamite & Rampage Sunday night.
Their return to Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York, is set for Wednesday, September 21st for a live Dynamite with Rampage taped afterward.
Tickets go on sale Friday, July 22nd. Last year, more than 15,000 tickets were sold following the public on-sale with capacity then set for 17,000.
20,177 tickets were sold for last year’s debut Grand Slam on September 22nd, headlined by the first-ever meeting between then-AEW World Champion Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson. The match went to a 30-minute draw and is seen as one of the best matches in company history.
The number is their largest attendance to date and was the most for a non-WWE show in the U.S. since 1999. It was their first stadium show and also their debut in New York City.
History was made last year in NYC! Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY opens its gates once again for #AEWDynamite & #AEWRampage: #GrandSlam Wednesday September 21st for an experience of a lifetime!
Confirming his earlier nod to one of his most successful events returning, AEW head Tony Khan told Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite crowd that Grand Slam will indeed return.
After Dynamite and before Rampage, Khan came out to talk to the Long Island, New York, crowd at the UBS Arena and said AEW would “see them in a few months for AEW Grand Slam.”
Earlier in the day, Khan said in an interview that he was hopeful the event would return to Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. In their first-ever stadium show last September, AEW drew over 20,000 and what Khan said was their first-ever $1 million gate.
Khan didn’t announce when the second Grand Slam would take place.
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During Dynamite, AEW announced both a debut city and a return city that will round out their July schedule.
Dynamite/Rampage will return to Duluth, Georgia, on Wednesday, July 20th at the Gas South Arena for the first time since they debuted there last December.
In their first Massachussets show to not be held in Boston, AEW Dynamite/Rampage will debut at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, July 27th. The venue can hold up to 15,000 fans which is significantly larger than the Agganis Arena where they have held three shows before.
With the two new dates, AEW now is set through the end of July.
Tony Khan says he expects to run AEW Grand Slam Dynamite & Rampage from Arthur Ashe Stadium again in 2022.
While speaking with News 12, the AEW president touted the success of the first Grand Slam event in 2021 and his belief that a second show there will take place later this year.
“I expect we’ll be back to have AEW Grand Slam Dynamite and Rampage back in Queen’s at Arthur Ashe Stadium again. It was a huge success for everyone involved and it’s all thanks to this great partnership with the USTA. They were so kind and I think it resulted in a big partnership.”
The first AEW Grand Slam event took place on September 22, 2021. Over 20,000 fans were in attendance for the show.
“It was almost the first million dollar gate in AEW history, just came shy of that but it was real close.”
“We will be back and it will be another hopefully huge success going back to Queen’s for AEW Grand Slam Dynamite and Rampage later this year in 2022 again.”
Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson went to a 30:00 draw in what was among the best television matches in U.S. history and arguably the best bout ever on Dynamite in their dream match at the company’s debut in New York City on 9/22 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The non-title match presumably sets up a longer time limit championship match down the road. For Full Gear, the decision would seem to be Omega defending against either Danielson or Adam Page.
The show was a landmark event for the promotion, breaking both attendance and gate records and ended up as the second largest non-WWE gate for pro wrestling in U.S. history and the largest attended non-WWE pro wrestling event in the country in 22 years.
The most talked about aspect of the week was the ratings, and whether the show would beat Raw. Dynamite in its history had two episodes that beat Raw’s 0.49 (642,000) in 18-49, the very first episode and the show two weeks earlier coming off All Out and the debuts of Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole.
Homicide appeared at the end of tonight’s AEW Grand Slam event that was taped for Friday’s Rampage.
The main event of tonight’s event at Arthur Ashe Stadium was a Lights Out match, pitting Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley against Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki. At the end of the match, Homicide came out and helped Moxley and Kingston win the match.
Kingston introduced Homicide as his mentor after the match. Kingston told his mom that he loved her. He said before certain people came here, they sold this place (Arthur Ashe Stadium) out. But with those people’s arrival, the flag has been taken and put on cement, declaring that New York is now AEW’s town.
Homicide has been regularly appearing on ROH television as part of the Violence Unlimited stable with Brody King, Chris Dickinson, and Tony Deppen. He and Dickinson most recently held the ROH World Tag Team titles, losing them to Dragon Lee and Kenny King on an episode of ROH TV that aired on September 11.
This story was updated at 12:30 PM Eastern Wednesday.
In an interview with Barstool Sports, AEW’s Bryan Danielson said he wants to respect’s WWE’s intellectual property in his post-WWE career.
In an interview on Rasslin with Brandon Walker, Danielson said that respect is why he hasn’t led AEW fans in doing the “Yes!” chant while adding he hasn’t been threatened legally in any way for doing it.
“I’m not doing it myself because I respect WWE’s intellectual property,” Danielson said. “I don’t think anything legally…they haven’t threatened anything legally. So I had a great conversation with Kevin Dunn with WWE before I debuted with AEW. I was very upfront with WWE about, ‘Okay, I want to let you guys know I’m leaving. This is my debut date’ and all that kind of stuff. They asked me, politely, to respect their intellectual property, even some of the things that couldn’t be legally enforced. I’m trying my best to do that.”
He later clarified to Dave Meltzer that the conversation was mainly about music and not the chant.
Prior to his in-ring AEW debut Wednesday at Dynamite: Grand Slam, Danielson wrote an article that was posted on Player’s Tribune thanking WWE.
Big E cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on the 9/13 Raw to win the WWE championship from Bobby Lashley, signifying his switching brands and reuniting The New Day.
Born Ettore Ewen, the 35-year-old Tampa product was a state heavyweight champion wrestler at Wharton High School and football player, who went to the University of Iowa, and after college, became a powerlifter.
A mutual friend contacted Jim Ross, and he was given a WWE tryout in 2009 and WWE signed him to a deal at that time. He started as Big E Langston in Florida Championship Wrestling, which was shortened to Big E. He was popular due to his personality and those in developmental thought he could be a groundbreaking performer with his leaping ability and agility and power combination.
In 2012, he was brought up to the main roster, and on November 18, 2013, won the IC title from Curtis Axel. But his career took off in 2014 as part of the New Day tag team. The idea started out silly but ended up being tweaked by the three guys in it and the group held the Raw tag team titles twice and Smackdown version of the titles six times.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio covering Raw, previewing the rest of the week and covering the rest of the news. You can also send questions to the show to [email protected]
Due to a case of COVID at our printers, it was shut down for several days so this past week’s Observer mailing has been delayed. We’ll update when we get more info.
WWE has most of the Smackdown crew, except for Roman Reigns, The Usos and Big E, in Europe. We’re looking for reports on the shows today in London at the O2 ARena tomorrow in Cardiff, Wales at the Motorpoint Arena and Wednesday in Glasgow, Scotland at the SSE Hydro to [email protected] We’re also doing our G-1 polls for the first two nights from Osaka looking for a thumbs up, down or middle and best and worst matches from each show also to [email protected] Tonight’s London show is expected to be the largest WWE crowd so far this year except for WrestleMania and SummerSlam.
Raw tonight goes against the Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions game. The big counter is Roman Reigns being on the show, teaming with the Usos against The New Day with Big E. Also scheduled is the Big E title win celebration, Natalya & Tamina defending the women’s tag titles against Nikki ASH & Rhea Ripley, Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler, Sheamus vs. Jeff Hardy and if Hardy wins, he gets added to the U.S. title match at Extreme Rules, and a Playground segment with Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair.
AEW’s show on Wednesday will be the largest crowd for a non-WWE pro wrestling event in North America since the January 4, 1999, WCW show at the Georgia Dome. Currently they are at 18,675 tickets out of 19,428. I’d have thought the announcement of Danielson vs Omega would have instantly sold the rest of the tickets but that wasn’t the case.
This is probably the most important television week as far as both WWE and AEW is concerned since October 1999.
The Miz debuts tonight on the new season of Dancing with the Stars on ABC at 8 p.m.
There have been questions about whether having a thick beard helps in dissipating the power of punches in fighting spots.This study says it does. Here’s part of the end discussion:
“Our results show that on average the furred samples absorbed nearly 30% more energy than the sheared and plucked samples. Furred samples experienced lower peak impact forces and were loaded more slowly. These factors contributed to a reduced rate of furred sample failure as compared to sheared and plucked samples. Thus, the results of this study indicate that hair is indeed capable of significantly reducing the force of impact from a blunt strike and absorbing energy, thereby reducing the incidence of failure. If the same is true for human facial hair, then having a full beard may help protect vulnerable regions of the facial skeleton from damaging strikes, such as the jaw. Presumably, full beards also reduce injury, laceration, and contusion, to the skin and muscle of the face. Although not tested in this study, it is also likely that the hair of beards helps deflect an oblique blow by reducing friction between the face and the object striking it.” (thanks to Brendan Faherty)
It was a great move by AEW to open up a relationship with the Owen Hart Foundation and Martha Hart, which will include an annual Owen Hart Cup tournament. Some months back we had talked with Tony Khan about the idea of an annual title contenders tournament and he said he was working on an idea, which evidently this was it. We don’t know that this is a title contenders tournament just to make that clear.
Scout Comics has removed all references to Ric Flair from the New York ComicCon next month. They had announced Flair coming for a new comic book launch.
Kushida vs. Roderick Strong for the cruiserweight title takes place on NXT tomorrow night.
Impact Bound for Glory tickets go on sale Friday from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas.
In the Cincinnati market for Raw next week they are advertising Big E & Riddle & Randy Orton vs. A.J. Styles & Omos & Bobby Lashley for a dark match main event.
AEW
Max Caster challenged Tony Khan to a rap battle on Wednesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
UFC
Dan Hooker told Submission Radio that the UFC wasn’t able to get him a visa to come in for Saturday’s show that he got his visa because UFC fans on Twitter bombarded the New Zealand/US consulate. He said he’s got no issues with cutting after after 20 hours of travel at the last minute saying he’ll have 12 hours after getting into Las Vegas and he’s not even worried about it.
OTHER NOTES
Triller promoter Ryan Kavanaugh told ESPN that they are looking at moving the 10/4 show at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden with Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos to 10/16 at the Barclays Center. The show has already had four date changes.
Shine from yesterday in Clearwater, FL: Amber Nova b Kaci Lennox, Myka Madrid b Kelsey Heather, Tracy Nyxx b Alya Sky, WOAD b Natalia Markova in a street fight,ACR b Katalina Perez, Erica Torres & Chelsea Durden b Kelsey Raegan & shara Seven, Marti Belle b Stormie Lee, Ivelisse Velez b Allysin Kay to keep the Shine title in a cage match. Ivelisse did a tribute to Shannon Spruill after the match. Santana Garrett and Amber Nova both challenged WOAD for the Nova championship.
Battleground Wrestling sold out the 2300 Arena on Saturday night: Buddy Matthews (Murphy) b KC Navarro, Little Guido b Alec Odin with Raven, Bully Ray & Dave LaGreca inducted the Road Warriors & Paul Ellering into the Arena Hall of Fame (Ellering was there to accept), Enzo b Ricky Morton, Austin & Colten Gunn b Bear Country, Wrecking Ball Legurski b Stephen Gibki, Bobby Fish b Ray Jaz, Katie Forbes b MK Twins, Bully Ray & Rob Van Dam managed by Bill Alfonso b Matt Hardy & Marc Quen. Sandman did the beer celebration after the match. Next show is 12/18 with Rhino, PCO, Tony Nese and Laredo Kid. Psycho Clown and Kevin Sullivan will be coming soon.
GOUGE from yesterday in Raleigh,NC: Waylon Maze b Caribbean Tiger, Snooty Fox b Chet Sterling, Air Time Rockers b Cowboy Kool Jay and Zane Riley, Kaitlyn Marie Eve Levine, Seymour Snott b T.I.M. to win Gouge title. Next show is 10/9 in Raleigh with Snott vs Caribbean Tiger.
AAW on 10/1 in Merrionette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street has Allysin Kay vs. Christi Jaynes vs. Skye Blue for the women’s title, Joeasa & Robin Steele vs Mance Warner & Manders in a double dog collar match, Davey Vega vs. Jigsaw and Gringo Loco & Arez vs. Laredo Kid & Aramis.
AEW announced Wednesday that in order to attend Dynamite: Grand Slam later this month at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York, fans must show proof of at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19.
Additionally, masks will also be required if the roof of the stadium is closed.
The mandate comes after similar proof is needed to attend the US Open, currently taking place at the venue. Nearly a month ago, city officials announced they would be issuing a vaccine mandate for bars, restaurants and indoor entertainment venues. It was unclear at the time if the stadium was considered an indoor venue due to their retractable roof.
In the announcement, AEW stated that if a fan refuses to provide proof of vaccination, they can seek a refund through Ticketmaster.
As for this week’s Dynamite, Rampage and All Out that AEW is holding at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, proof of vaccination isn’t required but masks are.
Following the public on-sale for their first-ever stadium show, AEW is in good shape for a sellout.
According to Dave Meltzer, the September 22nd Dynamite show set for Arthur Ashe Stadium show in Queens, NY, has sold more than 15,000 tickets as of now. Capacity was originally set at 17,000.
“It will be the largest crowd in company history and largest non-WWE crowd for U.S. pro wrestling since 1999,” Meltzer tweeted.
AEW announced the date in June as the venue will host their first-ever wrestling show. Tony Khan said at the time the show will be on par with Winter Is Coming, Blood & Guts and other bigger Dynamite shows they have run.
The show is part of a run of big events for the company that begins with All Out week in Chicago and continues with their rescheduled Newark, NJ, show the following Wednesday which has more than 10,000 tickets sold. AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam will then be the following Wednesday.
