Source: https://www.sescoops.com/news/aew/aew-grand-slam-australia-scam-fan-backlash/
Someone at SEScoops.com – apparently feeling that today is a slow news day in the world of professional wrestling – decided to venture into the Reddit world and scour some opinions about whether or not AEW’s Grand Slam event in Australia is a SCAM.
A scam, you say? That’s serious business… or something…
For those who need a refresher, AEW first announced their big Grand Slam event that would also double as their Australian debut late last year. They originally had the event booked at a big stadium, but after ticket sales turned out to be somewhere between “jack shit” and “fuck all” to put it kindly, they moved the event to a much smaller arena, which didn’t help ticket sales much. As the date got closer, it was revealed that the Grand Slam show was not going to be a big live event, but rather a TV taping that would air on Saturday. There’s a variety of other things that I’m sure is being glossed over here, but the point being is that with all the changes and general lack of advertising for the event in question, there are some fans who feel somewhat ripped off, scammed, and aren’t very happy about it. Some even wish the event was just cancelled straight up so that they can get their money back.
A couple things crossed my mind: first off, was it ever really confirmed that this Grand Slam show from Australia was ever considered to be a PPV event? Prior editions of Grand Slam were previously held at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York and those were always shows for TV – traditionally a live Dynamite show and a taped edition of Rampage/Collision. Even when this was announced, I never got any impression or indication that Grand Slam was going to be anything more than that. It’s entirely possible that the current taping cycle could still be that, but slightly tweaked given the global changes.
The other thought that came to mind – and this was once I learned another piece of business that came up recently – this is going to be a one-night taping to air on Saturday night in place of Collision rather than the usual two-night deal, which is how Grand Slam usually operated. Not only that, but also on the same night – February 15th – TNT is also airing the NBA All-Star Challenge and depending on how long THAT lasts, AEW will get to air their TAPED Grand Slam show right after… and nobody knows how long THAT show is going to air. I mean, if it’s just a one-night sling on TV, why even bother calling it Grand Slam? You tape two hours for TBS and then what else? You’re going to give those fans Ring Of Honor, instead? You know, that show nobody cares about but you force your AEW audience to watch whenever you can?
It’s like nobody plans this shit ahead of time.
In any event, the biggest takeaway is that no matter what happens on the show, AEW did Australian fans dirty with an absolutely miserable first impression and while Reddit is far from the most reliable barometer of audience interest, it does highlight the frustrations that some fans would have with the lack of advertising or clear intentions of this show. I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up being a one-and-done deal for AEW and they never do another show in the country again, which would be a shame because Australia could use more big time wrestling shows… but given how things have played out, AEW has nobody to blame but themselves for this debacle and hopefully, a lesson is learned from all of this.
Oh, who am I kidding? Tony Khan is probably gonna go on Twitter and blame this whole deal on the BOTS or something.
dtm666 