All Elite Wrestling only has five pay-per-view events every year, but it makes up for its down time by super-sizing various episodes of weekly television. AEW runs televised specials on about a bimonthly basis which have proven to be highly consequential to its bigger picture storylines. Kenny Omega’s historic AEW World Championship reign began on AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming. CM Punk’s AEW debut came on AEW Rampage: The First Dance. The company’s version of WarGames arrived on AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts. While those aforementioned specials have yet to be confirmed for 2023, AEW’s biggest is reportedly returning this fall.
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As reported by Andrew Zarian of The Mat Men Podcast, AEW Grand Slam will return on September 20th. AEW Grand Slam 2023 will reportedly run exactly as it did in years past, emanating from Arthur Ashe Stadium and running as a live broadcast of AEW Dynamite and a taping of AEW Rampage.
AEW Grand Slam first debuted in September 2021, hosting the dream match between Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson. AEW Grand Slam 2021 still holds the record for AEW’s largest attendance, as 20,177 fans attended the event. That record will be broken this August at AEW ALL IN: London, as over 65,000 tickets have already been sold.
Last year’s AEW Grand Slam was a different story. 2022’s edition brought in around 13,800 fans, which is double the size of a typical AEW television taping but down over 6,000 from the original show. Part of this could be attributed to the company’s standing at the time, as AEW Grand Slam 2022 was AEW’s first big special following the AEW All Out 2022 controversy. As a result, top stars CM Punk, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks were all off of the show.ย
That said, major events still transpired on the show. Jon Moxley officially recaptured the AEW World Title, The Acclaimed became AEW Tag Team Champions, and Saraya made her AEW debut.
There is no word what this year’s AEW Grand Slam card will look like, but one match fans have clamored for is AEW World Champion MJF vs. Eddie Kingston. Kingston is a hometown boy and has been a fan-favorite candidate to dethrone MJF for the AEW World Title. MJF would have to get through both AEW ALL IN: London and AEW All Out if he is to walk into Arthur Ashe Stadium as champion.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on AEW Grand Slam. AEW Dynamite returns to television tonight, airing at 8 PM ET on TBS.
