AEW's Original Plans To Run Arthur Ashe Stadium Revealed

All Elite Wrestling’s inaugural Grand Slam event in New York City's Arthur Ashe Stadium still stands as the biggest show in company history, with over 20,000 fans flocking to the stadium in September 2021 for AEW’s New York debut.

However, Grand Slam wasn’t always going to be AEW’s debut in Arthur Ashe, with AEW Vice President of Live Events and Touring Rafael Morffi revealing the original plans for Arthur Ashe during an appearance on Talk is Jericho:

"I remember telling [Vince McMahon] about Arthur Ashe Stadium, while in the gym,” said Morffi, formerly of WWE. “This is when it did not have a roof. It was a good location, centralised, where a lot of our fanbase is. I explained to him that a roof is coming there. It eventually did, and I was no longer in WWE, and we had the opportunity to do it here (in AEW). We came at the right time here in AEW where there are options in the New York market place. Not only MSG [Madison Square Garden], and MSG, we've had conversations with them, but they have loyalty to WWE and I don't blame them. I was a small part of that on the other side. I appreciate their loyalty and how they feel committed to WWE.

“We embraced a venue that is our own, being Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was something we were going to do right in our infancy. We were going to have that pay-per-view on your birthday [AEW Full Gear 2019]. We thought about it. We were concerned about the conditions, big show in New York right in the first month of our existence. Let's play it safe. We were right. Baltimore, where we did have the pay-per-view, it was 20 degrees. We had a conversation with Arthur Ashe Stadium, great dialogue. We nurtured that, and we were going to have a show soon after the pandemic date, it was going to be sometime in 2020. Obviously, we didn't have it. I'm amazed we were able to keep it under wraps and surprise everyone.”

AEW ran Arthur Ashe again in September 2022, taking a gate of $ 1 million, with both Arthur Ashe shows subsequently outperformed by AEW’s upcoming All In event in London’s Wembley Stadium in August.

H/T: Fightful