AEW Made Big Mistake At Grand Slam Australia
The AEW Grand Slam Australia event was a big success in some ways, but the company also made some mistakes.
At AEW Grand Slam Australia in Brisbane, “Timeless” Toni Storm defeated Mariah May to claim the Women’s World Championship in the country that Storm grew up in.
In the days leading up to the show, AEW’s owner Tony Khan touted the success of Grand Slam Australia as one of the most successful international events in company history.
There were several great matches at Grand Slam, but there were also issues. Some people complained about the audio of the show while the ring was also smaller than what AEW normally uses.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that AEW made a mistake by not bringing enough merchandise.
“I know that the negative, obviously, besides the sound, I think the other negative was, as far as the live event went… I mean, the big complaint that I heard is they did not bring enough merchandise. They sold out of everything long before the show even started.
I mean, they sold out of everything, period, probably by the first match of the show. I mean, like, every single thing. They didn’t bring anywhere near enough.
And it’s like, okay… I mean, I guess, you know, you should have enough merchandise. I mean, for a new market, I think that they did… If I remember, when they went to Wembley, it was $17 a head… Okay, so this is the first time in a new market, so they should have had at least enough merchandise for $17 a head. And maybe they did, and they just sold it all out so quickly that it didn’t matter.
But, I mean, I just heard a lot… you know, there was only one stand, and it sold out so quickly, and all these people wanted merchandise, and they couldn’t get any.”
Tony Khan Explained Why AEW Went To Brisbane For Grand Slam
While the AEW Grand Slam event in Australia was a success, fans were wondering why the company went to a city like Brisbane instead of a bigger market like Sydney or Melbourne. According to Khan, Brisbane wanted AEW, so that’s why the show was there.
“Brisbane wanted us. Brisbane came to us and said, ‘We really want you. We want you to do a show here. We think AEW would be a tremendous attraction.’ It’s been great.”
Before Grand Slam took place, Tony Khan was heavily booed while doing a promo in front of the fans. The fans were rude to the AEW boss, but when he said that AEW would be back in Australia again, that led to cheers from the fans.