AEW taped Saturday’s Grand Slam: Australia special hours before the show aired in Brisbane, Australia, on TNT following the NBA All-Star coverage.
Initially slated for the 52,000-capacity Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the event was moved to Brisbane Entertainment Center due to reportedly slow ticket sales. AEW CEO Tony Khan has stated this was always meant to be a TV special.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that AEW sold a ton of merchandise for the show.
Meltzer said, “I know that the negative, obviously, besides the sound, I think the other negative was, as far as the live event went… I mean, the big complaint that I heard is they did not bring enough merchandise. They sold out of everything long before the show even started. I mean, they sold out of everything, period, probably by the first match of the show. I mean, like, every single thing. They didn’t bring anywhere near enough. And it’s like, okay… I mean, I guess, you know, you should have enough merchandise. I mean, for a new market, I think that they did… If I remember, when they went to Wembley, it was $17 a head… Okay, so this is the first time in a new market, so they should have had at least enough merchandise for $17 a head. And maybe they did, and they just sold it all out so quickly that it didn’t matter. But, I mean, I just heard a lot… you know, there was only one stand, and it sold out so quickly, and all these people wanted merchandise, and they couldn’t get any.”
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