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AEW GRAND SLAM AUSTRALIA– THE ON-SITE REPORT
FEBRUARY 15, 2025
BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA
AIRED ON TNT AND MAX
BY AUGUST STRACHAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuiness
Hello readers and welcome to the superheated sandy shores of Australia! My name is August Strachan and I will humbly be breaking down this show and giving you all an inside view of the event as someone from the audience.
First of all, a little bit about me. I’m 22, Aussie, and my fiancé David Bryant introduced me to wrestling a few years ago. Since then, I have avidly watched every weekly show of AEW, consistently bough the PPVs and my fascination has spread to keeping up with WWE, NJPW, Stardom and more. When AEW announced an Australian show, it felt like my dreams had been answered, especially when almost all my favourite wrestlers one by one got added to the card.
With that out of the way, let’s begin, right at the start of my journey to AEW Grand Slam.
THE GATES:
I arrived at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre about an hour before the first set of doors open to let us into the concourse. Standing outside, in 84°F (Thats 28°C for the rest of us) surrounded by wrestling fans is a feeling that I hadn’t realised I had been missing. I myself was sporting a Will Ospreay “Bruv” t-shirt, but all across the crows I could see other Ospreay enjoyers, Cope fans and Toni Storm fanatics. Further than that, the memorabilia spread to other promotions from people just wanting to rep their love for the sport. Rhea Ripley shirts were in abundance, and interestingly enough, Impact Pro Wrestling, the Australian Circuit, had plentiful support among the crowd as well.
THE VENUE:
Once those gates opened and the horde descended upon the merch stand, I took a step back and took in how everything was flowing, and that is to say, bad. Lines corkscrewed forward and back like a drunk person playing snake. Obviously, I doubt this is on AEW in any way, likely more the venue itself. As for the merch stand, AEW infamous but usual lack of merchandise diversity was still in effect even across the ocean, sporting shirts only of the featured wrestlers, and even that was a stretch. The only figure available was a new release Timeless Toni Storm, and while those sold like hot cakes, it would’ve been good to see more faces in that section. In good news though, not once did I see that stand not swamped to the max by fans waiting in line.
THE PEOPLE:
Once this show got started, good gracious did it get STARTED. If there’s one thing Australians will do, its roar for the people we love and boo all sorts of obscenities for the people we don’t. Seriously, I fear how often AEW is going to have to press that censor button because every second chant had something to do with “F—.” This high-octane energy wasn’t just for Grand Slam however, beforehand, as announced only 2 days prior, we were also treated to a full recording of ROH Global Wars Australia, and boy did we Aussies love that.
It’s probably here I should reiterate that I am Australian, as such, do not expect anything negative about our hometown heroes, which won’t be hard or untruthful because this show was spectacular start to finish.
RING OF HONOUR GLOBAL WARS
Just as a quick opener for this, being live in person is a totally different beast of an experience to watching online, and was so much more hyped than I expected. Global Wars may have entirely lacked an announce team for whatever reason, that didn’t stop us from letting the microphones know exactly who we liked and hated.
THE LEARNING TREE VS. BANDIDO AND ‘LOS’ OUTRUNNERS
Standing as one of only 3 matches out of the 10 tonight to not have an Australian involved, this match made the audience go crazy. To be very specific, Big ‘Redwood’ Bills existence made the audience go crazy. Seriously, we cheered for this guy so hard that I think even he didn’t know what to do with it, every time Jericho or Bryan Keith would enter the ring, a damning “you’re not Bill” chant would be all I could hear. We cheered this guy on to such a degree that even Bill himself seemed genuinely confused why he of all people was getting that kind of support.
As for the other team, Bandido certainly got the most crowd support from whatever was left over from Bill’s fanbase. The Outrunners, or should I say ‘Los’ Outrunners, entered with a lucha-fied version of their characters, masks and all, of course leading to unmasking shenanigans during the match. Overall, this match delivered exceptionally well without even having an Australian presence, and should stand as a testament to what the Redwood could become, despite his team taking the loss tonight. Powerhouse Hobbs was a surprise appearance here tonight, ensuring that any post-match beatdown was sure to be met with gratuitous violence, and to set up the incoming match for Dynamite with Redwood.
LEE MORIARTY (C) VS. ROBBIE EAGLES FOR THE ROH PURE CHAMPIONSHIP:
This marks our first entrance of an Australian wrestler tonight in Robbie Eagles from New Japan’s TMDK. Personally, this was my first ever time seeing Eagles in action, and safe to say despite the outcome of this match, I’ll definitely be following his career moving forward. Moriarty’s entrance was met with middling applause and cheers, unlike Eagles, whom once the word was out from the ring announcer that he was in fact from New South Wales, the arena erupted.
The match began and ran much like most ROH Pure championship matches that are meant to matter, both opponents exhausting all three rope breaks and teasing the victory back and forth. Eventually, through a low-blow, Moriarty secured his retention and vacated the ring. Leaving Robbie Eagles to receive a loud and supportive chant from the entire crowd, leaving with cheers following him out. This will become a trend.
MARK DAVIS VS. TOMMY KNIGHT IN AN UNANNOUNCED MATCH
Not only is this a match with Australian presence, this is a match with ONLY Australian presence. Our only match tonight consisting of only Australian wrestlers, this match was entirely unannounced from either ROH or AEW. Featuring Tommy Knight, a freelance wrestler from Adelaide, South Australia, who entered the ring without an entrance and during break. But oh boy did the energy change when Mark Davis entered.
Davis is from Queensland, Australia, and the Aussie Aussie Aussie opening of his music was met with a thunderous Oi Oi Oi from us fans. While initially I expected this to be a time-filling squash match, it in fact turned out to be much more, with Knight putting up an impressive fight against Davis, until inevitably, Davis scored the win as the hometown hero, marking our first Australian victor of this event.
SONS OF TEXAS (C) VS. MxM COLLECTION FOR THE ROH TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
This match-up was certainly interesting to hear about, the grounded strength of Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara clashing with the glamorous flamboyance of the MxM collection was something I was oddly excited to see. And I was not disappointed. While the match often hinged on comedy, including moments such as a kip-off, Dustin attempting to breakdance or Mansor and Mason missing a total of six elbow drops across the match, the comedy was plentiful and very much appreciated. While this match was the least popped for in the night overall, that isn’t to say it received a wild ovation from entrance to exit of the wrestlers, the Australian crowd was on absolute fire for pretty much everyone that stepped foot in front of us.
ATHENA (C) VS. ALEX WINDSOR FOR THE ROH WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP.
I am an Athena mark. I have no regrets, and no apologies. Athena is a truly phenomenal wrestler deserving of every accolade under the sun for her work. She has kept her title reign vicious, ruthless and downright entertaining, and tonight was no different. Up against Alex Windsor, the two put on a powerful match that marked the main event of the ROH programming, meaning that a women’s match main evented both ROH and more importantly, AEW, on the same night. Of course, Athena’s reign remains unbroken, despite a truly inspiring attempt from Windsor and I am excited to see what is in the future for both of these women.
AEW GRAND SLAM AUSTRALIA
GREEN AND GOLD INTRO:
When the AEW show began, we were greeted with a wonderful green and gold take on the classic collision intro, featuring all of the Australian wrestlers involved in tonight’s card. Oddly, at least through my Triller feed, that intro did not air to the around the world public.
Secondly, while I understand that AEW never once intended this show to be a pay-per-view or even pay-per-view adjacent, the fact that the card is extremely stacked, they are in an overseas location, and had an almost full arena, I believe it was a mistake to categorise Grand Slam as a ‘special’ episode of Collision, instead of a standalone event in its own right. Of course, hindsight is 20-20, but this show very easily could’ve held it own and possibly been even more popular if it had had AEWs PPV mindset behind it.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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KONOSUKE TAKESHITA AND KYLE FLETCHER VS. WILL OSPREAY AND KENNY OMEGA:
This was our opening match, and my god was it an opener. Whenever Kyle Fletcher and Will Ospreay meet in a ring, the resulting match is always an absolutely wild display of athleticism that few to no other wrestlers can even come close to creating. Then they add Kenny Omega, an all-time, multicontinental powerhouse of a performer and Konosuke Takeshita, whom despite the barrier language, has powered his way to stardom in multiple promotions?
There was no way this match wasn’t going to shatter the ceiling of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. When I’m wrong, I admit that I’m wrong, and Kyle Fletcher’s entrance was not met with the cacophonous response that I expected, instead that honour was delivered to Ospreay and Omega, much to the in-character chagrin of Fletcher. When I say the response was delivered, I truly mean it because these two were basically propelled by our chants and cheers into that ring.
As soon as the match began, it was a stellar outing from the first clash, all the way up to the hidden blade assisted one-winged angle finish, which for the time being, I am calling ‘Sephiroth’s Creed’ especially if these two have more tag team outings in the future. The Australian may have lost this match, but the crowd was very clearly playing along to the story that was being told, and had nothing but boo’s and chants for Fletchers downfall. I commend AEW and Ospreay especially for spinning that unexpected inverse of who was getting crowd support into a backstage angle by Osprey and Omega to propel into Revolution.
HARLEY CAMERON VS. MERCEDES MONE (C) FOR THE TBS TITLE:
This was THE dark horse match of the night. Harley Cameron had more audience support under her than any wrestler before or after her on this card. So much so that any moment her face appeared on the screen, be it a bug for her upcoming match or anything else under the sun, the crowd erupted louder than ever before.
Mercedes, naturally, was met with the heels greeting of boos and dissent, but this one-sided tide of support didn’t stop these women from putting on an absolutely show-stopping performance. And I mean that, after the outcome of Mercedes retaining her title and doing her parade around the ring, she exited, triggering the biggest pop of the entire night for when fans got to their feet and roused Cameron from her defeat. We chanted her name, emphasised our support in her and cheered her out of the arena. This pop, sadly, wasn’t featured on AEW television, a mistake I think needs to be rectified immediately by replaying the moment at any upcoming show.
People love Harley Cameron, and she is not at her height yet. For all that she is loved, she has so much more room to grow and potential to capture, only if AEW uses her right. Do no banish her from our screens, do not throw her into the box of used wrestlers who lost and will never see the light of day again. Make her the star we all have seen that she can be. I would also like to take a moment to congratulate and thank Mercedes Mone.
Mercedes, the hate for you I see online is huge, and I don’t believe any of it, but performances like this prove I am correct. She is talented to the moon and back, and she knows when its time to win, and time to let others shine. Mercedes getting in the ring and giving Harley the genuinely surprising amount of offense she did was in and of itself an endorsement, the fact that even for a moment we considered Camerons victory a possibility is all part of the plan.
When Mercedes has fought and struggled against immense stars of poise or strength like Britt Baker or Kris Statlander, Harley Cameron being on that list is a shining gold star on her career. The road will always be open to have a rematch between these two-, and that-time the outcome might be different, but for now, I’m content with this incredible match as it is.
MOMO WATANABE IS HERE:
This was a genuine unexpected surprise, given the travel distance, cost and time to get anything to Australia, every face that we saw other than the scheduled ones was an absolute pleasure. Momo Watanabe currently holds the right to challenge for any title at any time of her choosing across Stardom, AEW, ROH and CMLL, and clearly took the trek out here to make our women’s champions think of the possibility that they are on her list.
COPE AND JAY WHITE VS. THE DEATH RIDERS:
Now, I was apprehensive that this was going to take the place of the main event, and when it was announced that the women’s title match would be taking that slot, I thought for certain this would be second. But no, this Brisbane Brawl match came dead centre in the show. First of all, in terms of entrances, it was as expected, Cope and White received extreme ovations, which the Death riders received the exact opposite.
However, the surprise came during Cope’s entrance, in which after this music faded out, the audience all together sang the song for an entire second time around. I didn’t realise how popular Cope would be the with Australian people, but this answered any questions I may have still had about that matter.
The match, for all it was worth, was a decently middle of the line no bars held style match. Tables, chairs, trashcans and kendo sticks were in abundance, as was the classic appearance of barbed wire. Nothing was precisely “Brisbane” about this brawl, but nevertheless it delivered its promise of a brutal arena wide beatdown, resulting in Cope and Whites loss and powerful send-off from the audience.
BUDDY MATTHEWS VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (C) FOR THE CONTINENTAL TITLE:
Buddy was a star tonight. Nothing else can possibly be said to describe him. I was correct in my prediction that Buddy would take the loss for this match, but that didn’t make it any less spectacular. Buddy ran with the mindset of making every moment as hard hitting as possible, and even near the end of the match when not a soul would blame him for just crumpling to the rainmaker, he still made the choice to swing himself into a flip to make that hit look like a truck had struck him. Once again, the crowd was full force behind Buddy, even after his eventual loss.
Buddy Matthews may not be a part of any title’s scenes now, even though he deserves it, but if there’s one person you can count on to sell, it’s that hound from hell. Okada performed at his usual high level for this match, involving all his normal heat inducing manoeuvres to much success with the Australian crowd, but other than that, there was no real reason to root against or for Okada, and that is the only thing that could’ve possibly elevated this match even further.
MARIAH MAY (C) VS. “TIMELESS” TONI STORM FOR THE AEW WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE.
Here is it. The big one. The final fight, the main event. Mariah May, the woman from hell against the Timeless one herself, the hometown heroine, the Starlet from Down Under, Toni Storm. The feeling of this match began before either woman even took a step into our view. As soon as their faces appeared with an “up next” text, the anticipation in the building rose to bursting. Mariah entered holding her title to an absolute blast of boos and heat. No one sells a face of hate and disgust like Mariah can, and we saw that on full display as Luther entered on the balcony of the arena, dressed a bellhop to prepare the crowd for what was to come.
Sadly, the crowd didn’t altogether seem to realise what he was going for, so the reaction may have seemed middling. But that was only until we heard Toni Storms classic entrance music. Still confused by the fact that it wasn’t the timeless Toni we had come to expect, the crowd still erupted into a crazed fury of cheers for Toni, which only doubled when that first intro burned out and was replaced with the rising, shining and sparkling lights that announced the arrival of Timless, timeless, timeless Toni Storm. Dressed in gear created by her mother adorned in the Australian flag, in the place that she saw her first ever wrestling show, Toni Storm entered the ring as the person she was always meant to be, a star.
The match that followed was grueling, shocking and downright anxiety inducing as the two traded powerful blows such as a May-day delivered on the concrete, three consecutive hip attacks that sent Mariah reeling like a rag doll and so many close call kick-outs that I had to bite my finger to keep myself from screaming. With of all things, a roll-up, Toni Storm stole the victory from under Mariahs fingers, ending her reign and beginning Toni Storms fourth as AEW Women’s World Champion. This ending felt like a breath of air after hours of nothing, it made my fiancé cry, and it felt right.
Toni Storm entered as a star, and exited as something more than that that I don’t even have the words for. The emotional wave that was sent through the crowd was easily the strongest and most impactful moment of the night for all of us watchers. After the cameras went off recording, Toni gave us an entirely out of character speech, and thanked us for our support, called out the place where she watched her first show, and asked us for a ride home, and all I can say in response is thank YOU Toni. I said one thing to my fiancé while watching this match, “I missed caring about wrestling like this.” You are the reason I found that feeling again Toni, so thank you.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So that’s it, my first live wrestling event here in my home of Australia and by god was it an absolute festival of spectacular showings. I got terrible sleep that night because I simply couldn’t stop raving about everything that this show meant to me, and I hope that some of you found that feeling too. AEW announced a return to Australia in 2026, and I for one couldn’t be happier to welcome them back, hopefully this time with a few more Australian winners instead of the 2/10 we got tonight, but still.
Thank you all for reading, I know i yapped for probably too long on all of this, so really, thank you.
See you all next time!
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