Returning home to Australia to wrestle for AEW is a dream come true for Kyle Fletcher.
AEW is making its Australia debut with Grand Slam Australia happening this weekend. The card includes a tag team match with Fletcher & Konosuke Takeshita taking on the duo of Kenny Omega & Will Ospreay. It’s the first time Fletcher has wrestled in his home country since 2023.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia ahead of the event, the former ROH Television Champion said this is a moment he’s dreamt of his entire life. Fletcher said everything about this match feels surreal, including sharing the ring with three wrestlers as great as Omega, Ospreay, and Takeshita.
“It’s so surreal in a lot of ways, I don’t think it will probably feel real until I’m in the arena, until it’s actually happening,” Fletcher said. “I remember my mum saying to me years ago, that it will sink in for her when I get to come back to Australia and wrestle in an arena. And I don’t know if I completely agree with that, but it’s definitely a thing in my brain.
“And I’m getting to come back, getting to do all this kind of stuff, chat to all the media, and everyone just being excited, to be in the ring with three of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time – and for my name to be, to not look out of place next to that, and for everyone to just be so excited for it. Like all of it, just feels so surreal.
“This is what I dreamed of my whole life, this moment, this match, this opportunity.”
Grand Slam Australia is taking place from Brisbane on Saturday (February 15). After being taped earlier in the day, the show will be broadcast on TBS later that night as a special episode of Collision. It was originally slated to be a stadium show but is now being held at Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
A large group of Fletcher’s family and friends will be at the event to support him. He told Fox Sports Australia that he’s having so much fun in AEW and feels like he’s now hitting his stride as a performer.
“Before coming to AEW, I never really had to do promos, and never really had to do any of that side of stuff. So all of that is new to me, wrestling on TV, working with commercial breaks,” the 26-year-old Fletcher said. “It’s hard, but I’m now at the point where I’ve got it down pat, and I’m really starting to hit my stride with it – and I think it took a little bit of time, but when I’m out there with this whole new character, this new persona, I feel so comfortable.
“And I think part of that is just building this character that is me. And when I’m out there, I feel like I’m just myself. I can be myself, I can be a little prick, I can annoy people. That’s just me. That’s who I am in a nutshell.
“So when I’m out there, I’m just having so much fun, man. I’m really, really enjoying myself and I think that translates now and when I’m in the ring, you can tell I’m not stressed about it.”
