Paid Members tiger_rick Posted February 5, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 5, 2025 1 minute ago, Duke said: Did they ever say Grand Slam was a PPV? Previous years weren't. That seems to be the number one defence on the reddit thread. The problem is they've said fuck all. But they've sold a stadium show, now changed to a decent sized arena, on a Saturday and that seems to be on the premise that this would be a pretty big deal. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted February 5, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted February 5, 2025 (edited) Yeah they were never clear on it. In fact, they haven't been clear on anything regarding this show. Everything about it has been fucking confusing. Why they even attempted a stadium show in Australia (where they don't have much, if any, of a foothold) and in Brisbane (a bad location) was baffling. And with the venue move and the complete lack of clarity and build for this show I can only assume it's because the company don't really care about it and just want to get it out of the way. When they first announced it I just assumed that someone in Australia was paying for them to come out rather than it being an AEW idea. Edited February 5, 2025 by LaGoosh Quote
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted February 5, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 5, 2025 4 hours ago, tiger_rick said: That seems to be the number one defence on the reddit thread. The problem is they've said fuck all. But they've sold a stadium show, now changed to a decent sized arena, on a Saturday and that seems to be on the premise that this would be a pretty big deal. From what I understand it was never going to be a PPV (as Grand Slams never are) But I think there was some belief this was going to be an event that was going to be on Max before being shown on TV later. But I don't think the media rights deal ended up including any special Max events in the end. There was certainly some chatter about it last year. Quote
DavidB6937 Posted February 5, 2025 Posted February 5, 2025 I mean you're not booking a stadium for a random Collision show, so the quality intent was fairly obvious from the start even if it wasn't officially announced as a PPV. It's a shame for the fans over there that were excited. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted February 5, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 5, 2025 They only have two matches locked in, with Mercedes/Harley and Okada/Murphy looking likely from TV, but the build to those and all mentions of the show recently have suggested a big show. Now they clearly haven't said what it is and when it airs but they've never done anything to suggest this wasn't a PPV level show. I can't give them any sort of pass. It's clearly very misleading by design. Quote
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted February 5, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 5, 2025 (edited) 11 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: I mean you're not booking a stadium for a random Collision show, so the quality intent was fairly obvious from the start even if it wasn't officially announced as a PPV. It's a shame for the fans over there that were excited. Is Arthur Ashe not a stadium? Also @tiger_rick Grand Slams were usually double tapings with 2 hour Dynamites and Rampage (later Collision) sold as special shows usually with Marquee matches, like Danielson/Mox for the title and Soho/DMD for the women’s title. Edited February 5, 2025 by Hannibal Scorch Quote
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted February 5, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 5, 2025 3 minutes ago, Merzbow said: No, he's a tennis player. or rather was. Anyway, I was right https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ashe_Stadium Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted February 5, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 5, 2025 4 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said: Also @tiger_rick Grand Slams were usually double tapings with 2 hour Dynamites and Rampage (later Collision) sold as special shows usually with Marquee matches, like Danielson/Mox for the title and Soho/DMD for the women’s title. I know what they are. They were advertised as that too on TV. This one is a week away, it's got two very high profile matches and they've never said what it is or (most importantly) isn't. It's very, very poor on their part. Quote
Merzbow Posted February 5, 2025 Posted February 5, 2025 2 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said: or rather was. Anyway, I was right https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ashe_Stadium I'm just making a rubbish joke. But seriously it's just bad on AEW to never actually advertise properly what the show is, maybe if they did they wouldn't have had to downgrade in the first place. I want them to sell out these big venues but they rarely make it easy for themselves. Quote
Infinity Land Posted February 5, 2025 Posted February 5, 2025 Remember we've had our own experiences with this and All In the last couple of years. Is it going to be a PPV? Will it be on ITV live? What do you mean they're doing All Out the next week! Even now we don't know what venue Forbidden Door will take place. Its certainly no surprise it has played out like this. They did partner with a local promoter https://www.teg.com.au/all-elite-wrestling-makes-australian-debut-with-aew-grand-slam-australia/ How much of it was a sold show or just two chancers getting together we'll never quite know. The idea of the stadium wasn't totally ridiculous. Just because the capacity is 50k doesn't mean it would be set-up for that. Maybe if they had gotten the 10k in advance sales they would have put more of a promotional effort in and stuck with the stadium. As i'm sure they could make 20k look good. Toni Storm v. Mariah May is a big match. Omega/Ospreay teaming up is a big match for TK's booking tropes, remember Omega/Ibushi/Hangman. As the broadcast is essentially a taped show some things could be edited down. TNT have also been generous at times with their overruns. I'm sure the live experience will be over 2hrs for the main card. Its going to be a 4hr marathon all together. This is very much the seen it all before, tired defeatist's take. Quote
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted February 5, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 5, 2025 37 minutes ago, Merzbow said: I'm just making a rubbish joke. But seriously it's just bad on AEW to never actually advertise properly what the show is, maybe if they did they wouldn't have had to downgrade in the first place. I want them to sell out these big venues but they rarely make it easy for themselves. Here’s the thing. It was announced as AEW Grand Slam. We know what a Grand Slam is. A TV event filmed in a stadium. It was never advertised as anything different to prior Grand Slam events, or suggested it, just it wasn’t at Arthur Ashe Stadium this time. Had they said it was a PPV show at any time, then it would have been poor. Instead people have assumed it was a PPV because it wasn’t in the US. Quote
Merzbow Posted February 5, 2025 Posted February 5, 2025 (edited) The term Grand Slam is ultimately kinda meaningless whe there isn't even an inkling of what it is in this context, it wasn't advertised as anything, period. Sure, common sense may be "oh, it's like that other one" but you never, never rely on that. Edited February 5, 2025 by Merzbow Quote
DavidB6937 Posted February 5, 2025 Posted February 5, 2025 A first time show in a stadium in Australia? Yeah, oddly people probably do expect a big show. I think that's fair enough. Can blame everyone for not "understanding" what Grand Slam is but I imagine more people would expect something more along the lines of the UK shows. Quote
Infinity Land Posted February 5, 2025 Posted February 5, 2025 8 minutes ago, Merzbow said: The term Grand Slam is ultimately kinda meaningless whe there isn't even an inkling of what it is in this context, it wasn't advertised as anything, period. Sure, common sense may be "oh, it's like that other one" but you never, never rely on that. The promo teaser didn't even have "oh, its like that other one". It was actually the same one goes down under in 2025. Quote
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