For the second straight year, AEW will be spending some of the holiday season in New York City at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
AEW announced today that it will return to the Hammerstein Ballroom for events on Saturday, December 20 and Sunday, December 21. The first date is a Dynamite taping named Dynamite on 34th Street. The second date is a taping for Christmas Collision.
🎄 THIS DECEMBER! AEW returns to the iconic Hammerstein Ballroom @ManhattanCenter in New York City, for an epic Holiday Celebration!
Air dates for these shows have not been announced yet. If Dynamite airs in its normal time slot, it would be broadcast on Christmas Eve (December 24). AEW’s Worlds End pay-per-view is happening on Saturday, December 27 — so Collision would air on Christmas night if it’s moved to Thursday that week.
WBD airs a 24-hour marathon of the movie “A Christmas Story” starting on Christmas Eve every year, which could potentially impact when or where Dynamite airs.
The Hammerstein Ballroom has become a legendary venue for pro wrestling, dating back to its days hosting shows for ECW. AEW debuted there in December 2024 with events that included key matchups in that year’s Continental Classic tournament. That will likely be the case this year as well leading into the finals taking place at Worlds End.
Tickets for the Hammerstein shows are going on sale to the general public next Monday (November 24). Kris Statlander, Mercedes Mone, Darby Allin, Ricochet, and Willow Nightingale are featured on AEW’s graphic promoting the events.
While there are no firm plans in place, Game Changer Wrestling would like to return to the Hammerstein Ballroom one day.
GCW ran the legendary New York City venue for the second time with The People vs. GCW taking place this past Sunday. After the show, GCW owner Brett Lauderdale appeared on Game Changer Weekly and addressed whether his promotion will be returning to the Hammerstein in the future.
“Are there plans to go back to Hammerstein? I don’t have a contract right now for another date, but there’s no plan not to go back to Hammerstein,” he responded. “I think it’s just going to be a matter of if there’s a right time, right moment scenario that pops up again. You know, I still really love that place. It’s a special place for me. It’s a special place in wrestling, in my mind anyways. And, yeah, I don’t know. I would like to go back there someday, but whatever. We’ll see what the future holds.”
The Hammerstein Ballroom earned its reputation as a historic wrestling venue by hosting events from promotions like ECW and ROH. It was the location for the first two ECW One Night Stand shows in 2005 and 2006. In December 2024, AEW made its Hammerstein debut with three nights of action.
Sunday’s event was GCW’s first time back at the Hammerstein since 2022. The theme was that GCW was looking for redemption after that first show received mixed-to-negative reviews.
The promotion encountered some bad luck with Allie Katch suffering a broken leg in the second match of Sunday’s show, which affected the story for the rest of the night. Effy defeated Katch by referee stoppage and advanced to the main event, defeating Mance Warner to become the new GCW World Champion.
Lauderdale said he thought this was a good show overall but not perfect. He would rate it a 7 or 7.5 out of 10.
Three ECW legends are teaming up for Game Changer Wrestling’s Hammerstein Ballroom event.
GCW has announced that Super Crazy, Tajiri & Little Guido (Nunzio) vs. Arez, Gringo Loco & Jack Cartwheel will take place at the Sunday, January 19 show. It’s streaming live on TrillerTV+ and marks the second time GCW has ever held an event at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
The storied venue’s wrestling history includes playing host to ECW cards in the past. It was also the site of WWE’s ECW One Night Stand shows in both 2005 and 2006. Super Crazy defeated Tajiri and Little Guido in a three-way dance the first year. The second year then saw Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke defeat Super Crazy & Tajiri.
GCW first ran the Hammerstein Ballroom in January 2022. After that show received mixed-to-negative reviews, the theme this time is that GCW has a chance at redemption.
The People vs. GCW is the name of this event. Here’s everything that has been announced so far:
GCW World Champion Mance Warner defends against Effy or Allie Katch
Effy vs. Allie Katch (winner challenges Mance Warner later in the night)
GCW Tag Team Champions Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku defend against Cole Radrick & Alec Price
Doors, Ladders & Chairs match for the vacant GCW Ultraviolent Championship: Matt Tremont vs. Brandon Kirk vs. Drew Parker vs. John Wayne Murdoch vs. Matthew Justice vs. TBA
Super Crazy, Tajiri & Little Guido vs. Arez, Gringo Loco & Jack Cartwheel
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Sidney Akeem
Bloodsport match: Josh Barnett vs. TBA
Masato Tanaka, Maki Itoh, Homicide, Amazing Red, Ricky Morton, and more set to compete
A match has been announced for AEW’s debut at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
During AEW Rampage on Saturday, it was announced that Hook would be taking on Nick Wayne. It wasn’t made clear if the match would take place on Collision or Dynamite, as both shows will be taped at the venue on December 21 and 22 respectively.
In an interview, Wayne said that he didn’t appreciate Hook attacking him from behind and that is why he begged his father Christian Cage to let him have a match against Hook in his hometown. He promised to show everyone what the real future of professional wrestling looked like.
HOOK and Nick Wayne are set to face each other in HOOK’s backyard of New York City at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Is Nick Wayne prepared for HOOK?
Recent weeks have had Hook look for the culprits behind the attack on his father, Taz. Christian Cage eventually revealed himself as the person behind the attack, saying that he needed to take out Taz as he wanted someone like Hook as a part of The Patriarchy. Since then, Hook has targeted Patriarchy members, including Wayne, in an effort to gain revenge.
Game Changer Wrestling owner Brett Lauderdale feels AEW “maybe” violated some unwritten etiquette by running the Hammerstein Ballroom so close to GCW’s upcoming show there.
Having four wrestling events in such a short period could lead to some ticket buyers choosing the AEW events over GCW. While appearing on the Business of the Business podcast, Lauderdale was asked if he thinks AEW is running these shows because GCW booked the venue.
“Well, I don’t know Tony Khan personally and I don’t know enough of their people well enough to know or to speculate that they would particularly do something like that just to hurt us,” he responded. “Now, with that being said, you know, the traditional etiquette would be: there’s a window where you don’t go to the same buildings. Should that window exist? Often times, you can call it an unwritten rule — or in many cases it’s a written rule. And I’m sure most of the venues, when AEW goes to venues, they probably have a rule written in that no other wrestling show can go there within 30 days or 60 days. It’s a pretty standard practice in the wrestling business — and a lot of entertainment industries there’s rules like that, both written and unwritten.
“Do I think that they literally set out to look for a way to hurt GCW? I’m not ready to go that far with it. But do I think that maybe it wasn’t the most polite thing to do? Maybe. I mean, they are a billionaire company with endless resources and they run multiple television shows every week, so they could run an event there anytime they wanted. They don’t have to do it in December or January or whatever. They can do it in February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September. They could do it every month if they wanted to. But they chose to do it in late December, which happens to be less than 30 days before we’re there. So, I mean, it’s not the greatest of circumstances for us.”
This is GCW’s second time ever running the Hammerstein Ballroom. Named “The People vs. GCW,” the theme of the show is that GCW has unfinished business after their first event at the Hammerstein in January 2022 received negative to mixed reviews from a sizable portion of fans.
With this being GCW’s second time at the Hammerstein — and with the three AEW shows happening there — Lauderdale knows that it’s even more important for him to deliver a card people want to see.
“People going to our show just because it’s a wrestling show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, that’s off the table now,” he told the Business of the Business. “So, yes, we do have to win people over. We do have to sell our card. And, yeah, of course, we have to give a card worthy of the attention and worthy of the prestige of being there. And we have to make people buy tickets. Yeah, that’s the game plan. We’re working on it. We’ve got ideas. I think we’ll start to see some of the picture start to come clear this weekend, and we’re working on it and trying to make the rest of it come together.”
Lauderdale said the goal is to sell out the Hammerstein Ballroom or sell as many tickets as possible. He’s going to take advantage of every opportunity to get people’s attention, put flyers in their hands, and make them want to come to the show.
The AEW events will be the promotion’s Hammerstein debut, though ROH held shows there in the pre-Tony Khan era. The ballroom is located in the Manhattan Center and played host to ECW events in the past, along with WWE’s first two ECW One Night Stand PPVs.
Khan told SportsGrid this summer that he thought AEW/ROH running the Hammerstein Ballroom was a “great idea,” but it wasn’t something he had thought about much before that point.
ROH Final Battle isn’t the only show Tony Khan is planning to bring to the Hammerstein Ballroom.
Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast reports that AEW Collision will air live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Saturday, December 21, the day after the venue is reportedly slated to host Ring of Honor Final Battle 2024. If the report comes to fruition, this will be the first AEW event to ever take place from the Hammerstein.
AEW Collison will be live from the Manhatten Center (Hammerstein) on 12/21
The Hammerstein Ballroom has hosted ROH events in previous eras of the promotion and has been a popular venue for pro wrestling in Manhattan dating back to when ECW ran shows there. Game Changer Wrestling also has an upcoming event slated for the Hammerstein, taking place in January 2025.
Khan told SportsGrid this July that he thought AEW or ROH running the Hammerstein Ballroom was a “very interesting idea.” While Khan had never been to the venue personally, he’s watched shows from there on television and thinks it’s a really cool looking room.
AEW has not officially announced this Collision episode or the Final Battle PPV yet.
For the first time since 2019, Ring of Honor is headed back to The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.
Andrew Zarian and Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp report that ROH Final Battle 2024 is being planned for the venue, although a specific date for the show has yet to be confirmed.
The last time ROH ran an event from Hammerstein was on July 20, 2019, for Manhattan Mayhem. The show was headlined by The Briscoes defeating The Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) for the ROH Tag Team titles in a street fight.
GCW ran “The WRLD on GCW” there in January 2022 and is scheduled to return to the venue in January 2025.
NJPW also ran Fighting Spirit Unleashed New York at the Hammerstein Ballroom in September 2019.
Earlier this year, Tony Khan told Sports Grid that he’s interested in running a show from Hammerstein. However, he also noted that it’s a smaller venue, and tickets would likely sell out fast.
“Yes. I think that’s a very interesting idea. I’ve never been to the Hammerstein Ballroom. I’d love to do it. I’ve seen great shows there. I think it’s a great venue. We also have these amazing relationships around New York. For the right event, on the right night, it could make a lot of sense. I’d imagine it would sell out very quickly because it’s not the biggest room, but it’s a fascinating setup and a cool-looking room. It has great acoustics and is a lot of fun from everything I’ve seen on television. I’d love to check it out in person. It’s a great idea.”
Three years after debuting at the venue, Game Changer Wrestling is returning to the Hammerstein Ballroom.
The promotion confirmed today that “The People vs. GCW” will take place from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Sunday, January 19, 2025. Plans for the event were first reported by Dave Meltzer last week in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
When GCW first ran the Hammerstein Ballroom in January 2022, the show received mixed-to-negative reviews, in part because outsiders like Jeff Jarrett and Ruby Soho defeated established GCW talent in Effy and Allie Katch. Those negative reviews — with a theme of wanting to re-write history — were referenced in GCW’s announcement video for this event.
A ticket pre-sale begins on GCW’s Patreon at 5 p.m. Eastern time tonight with tickets then going on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. tomorrow (October 18). No matches for the show have been announced yet.
Starting with ECW holding shows at the venue, the Hammerstein Ballroom has been a popular destination for pro wrestling in New York City over the past couple of decades. It’s also hosted ROH events and was the venue for WWE’s ECW One Night Stand pay-per-views in both 2005 and 2006.
Join on-air personality Denise Salcedo and her special guest, ESPN’s very own Marc Raimondi as they review Game Changer Wrestling’s The WRLD on GCW! A lot of crazy stuff happened on the show, hear all about it!
Topics Rundown:
Overall thoughts
A crazy grab the brass ring ladder match
Match of the night: Team Gringo vs. Team Bandido
Lio Rush wrestles Blake Christian
A LOT happened During Matt Cardona vs. Joey Janela– multiple appearances
Eddie Kingston will be returning to GCW for The Wrld On GCW event at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Sunday, January 23.
GCW made the announcement today. Kingston has not wrestled for GCW since November 2019 at the Slime Language event, where he lost to Effy.
Less than 100 tickets remain available for the Hammerstein Ballroom show. GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale tweeted:
After signing the contract for #TheWrldOnGCW, I told MC mgmt that GCW was going to make history.
“We tore up previously used floor plans & added MORE seats w/ the intent of passing 2000 & setting a Hammerstein Ballroom RECORD.
We’re now less than 100 tickets away from history.”
Kingston joins a talent lineup that includes Matt Cardona, Joey Janela, Gringo Loco, Ninja Mack, Tony Deppen, Nick Wayne, Jordan Oliver, Jimmy Lloyd, Effy, Alex Zayne, ASF, Big Vin, Blake Christian, Atticus Cogar, Alex Colon and Allie Katch.
Game Changer Wrestling is running a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in January.
The company’s owner, Brett Lauderdale, appeared prior to the main event of tonight’s Fight Club event and showed a video of some of the company’s top stars, such as Joey Janela, Nick Gage, Matt Cardona, Allie Catch, and Effy talking about criticisms that have been thrown at them throughout their careers. The video then ended with the wrestlers standing in the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, with a January 23, 2022 date being announced.
Lauderdale appeared earlier on the show to make the announcement, but Cardona arrived and told him to go away, as he was here to ruin the announcement. He then proceeded to win back the Internet title in a match where he put his GCW career on the line, defeating Effy.
GCW’s next show will take place tomorrow night at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Minoru Suzuki will face Joey Janela in the main event.
