| AEW Grand Slam | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster for theDynamite broadcast featuring various AEW wrestlers | |||
| Promotion | All Elite Wrestling | ||
| Date | September 21, 2022 (aired September 21 and 23, 2022) | ||
| City | Flushing, Queens,New York | ||
| Venue | Arthur Ashe Stadium | ||
| Attendance | 13,800[1] | ||
| Grand Slam chronology | |||
| |||
| AEW Dynamite special episodes chronology | |||
| |||
| AEW Rampage special episodes chronology | |||
| |||
The 2022Grand Slam was a two-partprofessional wrestlingtelevision special produced byAll Elite Wrestling (AEW). It was the second annualGrand Slam event and took place on September 21, 2022, at theArthur Ashe Stadium in theQueens borough ofNew York City, encompassing the broadcasts ofWednesday Night Dynamite andFriday Night Rampage.Dynamite airedlive onTBS whileRampage aired ontape delay on September 23 onTNT and was expanded to two hours for the Grand Slam special.
The card comprised a total of thirteen matches, five of which aired live onDynamite while the other eight were taped forRampage. In the main event of theDynamite broadcast,Jon Moxley defeatedBryan Danielson in a tournament final to win thevacantAEW World Championship. Other prominent matches saw The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens andMax Caster) defeat Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee andSwerve Strickland) to win theAEW World Tag Team Championship, and in the opening bout,Chris Jericho defeatedClaudio Castagnoli to win theROH World Championship and his eighth overallworld championship. In the main event of theRampage broadcast,Ricky Starks defeatedPowerhouse Hobbs in aLights Out match. In other prominent matches,"Hangman" Adam Page won theGolden Ticket Battle Royale to earn a future AEW World Championship match,Action Bronson andHook defeatedJericho Appreciation Society (Matt Menard andAngelo Parker), and in the opening bout,Sting andDarby Allin defeatedHouse of Black (Buddy Matthews andBrody King) in aNo Disqualificationtag team match.
TheDynamite broadcast was also notable for the debut ofSaraya, previously known as Paige inWWE, who last wrestled in 2017. TheRampage broadcast was also notable for an appearance by Japanese wrestling veteranThe Great Muta, who came to the aid of old rival Sting.
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Excalibur(Dynamite and Rampage |
| Tony Schiavone(Dynamite and Rampage) | |
| Taz(Dynamite) | |
| Ian Riccaboni(Castagnoli vs. Jericho) | |
| William Regal(Castagnoli vs. Jericho) | |
| Jim Ross(Rampage) | |
| Chris Jericho(Rampage) | |
| Paul Wight(Rampage) | |
| Ring announcer | Justin Roberts |
| Referees | Aubrey Edwards |
| Bryce Remsburg | |
| Paul Turner | |
| Rick Knox |
.jpg)
In September 2021,All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held a two-parttelevision special calledGrand Slam, which aired as special episodes of AEW's weekly television programs,Wednesday Night Dynamite andFriday Night Rampage. The event was held in theNew York City borough ofQueens at theArthur Ashe Stadium, the main stadium of tennis'US Open, and marked AEW's first event held inNew York City, which is primarily known as home territory forWWE, as well as the company's first full event to be held in a stadium.[2][3][4]
On May 11, 2022, AEW presidentTony Khan confirmed thatGrand Slam would return to the Arthur Ashe Stadium later that year and the event would continue forward as an annual event at the same venue.[5] During theForbidden Doorpay-per-view on June 26, the 2022 Grand Slam's date was confirmed for September 21, withDynamite airinglive that night onTBS andRampage airing ontape delay on September 23 onTNT. Like the previous year,Rampage was expanded to two hours for the Grand Slam special.[6]
Grand Slam featuredprofessional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds andstorylines. Wrestlers portrayedheroes,villains, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[7] Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television programs,Dynamite andRampage, and the supplementary online streaming shows,Dark andElevation.
AfterCM Punk won theAEW World Championship atAll Out,[8] Punk got suspended due to a legitimate backstage physical altercation following the event's media scrum.[9] On the following episode ofDynamite, AEW president Tony Khan announced that the AEW World Championship was vacated. A tournament then began that episode to crown a new champion, with the final taking place atDynamite: Grand Slam.[10]
At All Out, Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee andSwerve Strickland) defeated The Acclaimed (Max Caster andAnthony Bowens) to retain theAEW World Tag Team Championship.[8] A championship rematch was then subsequently scheduled forDynamite: Grand Slam.[10]
On the September 14 episode ofDynamite, afterDr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. andSerena Deeb defeatedinterimAEW Women's World ChampionToni Storm andAthena, it was later announced that Storm was scheduled to defend the title in afour-way match against Deeb, Athena, and Baker atDynamite: Grand Slam.[11]
During the All Out Zero Hour pre-show,AEW All-Atlantic ChampionPac, who had just retained the title, was interrupted by long-time rivalOrange Cassidy, who seemingly challenged him to a title match, which Pac immediately declined.[12] After weeks of confrontations between the two, the championship match was scheduled forDynamite: Grand Slam.[11]
Citing the seven world championships he had won,Chris Jericho confrontedROH World ChampionClaudio Castagnoli on the September 16 episode ofRampage and challenged him to a match for the championship, as he had never won the ROH World Championship. Castagnoli accepted and the match was scheduled forDynamite: Grand Slam.[13]
AfterHook defeatedAngelo Parker to retain theFTW Championship during the All Out Zero Hour pre-show, Parker's tag team partner,Matt Menard, ambushed Hook untilrapperAction Bronson, who wrote Hook's theme song, made the save and took out Menard and Parker.[12] On the September 14 episode ofDynamite, a match pitting Bronson and Hook against Menard and Parker was announced forRampage: Grand Slam.[11]
Eddie Kingston andSammy Guevara were originally scheduled to face each other at All Out, however, Kingston was quietly suspended by AEW after getting into a legitimate backstage verbal dispute with Guevara.[14] After Kingston's suspension was lifted, a match between Kingston and Guevara was announced forRampage: Grand Slam.[13]
At theFight for the Fallen special episode ofDynamite on July 27, afterRicky Starks lost the FTW Championship, his tag team partnerPowerhouse Hobbs attacked him, thus disbandingTeam Taz.[15] A match between Starks and Hobbs was scheduled for All Out, which Hobbs won.[8] A rematch between Starks and Hobbs was announced forRampage: Grand Slam, and was later stipulated to be aLights Out match.[13]
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[17] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Jericho defeatedClaudio Castagnoli (c) bypinfall | Singles match for theROH World Championship[16] | 14:25 | ||
| 2 | The Acclaimed (Max Caster andAnthony Bowens) (withDJ Whoo Kid andBilly Gunn) defeated Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee andSwerve Strickland) (c) (withFabolous) bypinfall | Tag team match for theAEW World Tag Team Championship[16] | 13:00 | ||
| 3 | Pac (c) defeatedOrange Cassidy bypinfall | Singles match for theAEW All-Atlantic Championship[16] | 13:00 | ||
| 4 | Toni Storm (c) defeatedSerena Deeb,Athena, andDr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (withRebel) bypinfall | Four-way match for theinterimAEW Women's World Championship[16] | 9:50 | ||
| 5 | Jon Moxley defeatedBryan Danielson bytechnical submission | Tournament final for thevacantAEW World Championship[16] | 19:15 | ||
| |||||
| Wild Card Round Dynamite (September 7) Rampage (September 9) | Semifinals Dynamite (September 14) | Finals Dynamite: Grand Slam (September 21) | |||||||||
| Chris Jericho[note 1] | 19:49 | ||||||||||
| "Hangman" Adam Page | 23:04 | Bryan Danielson | Sub[11] | ||||||||
| Bryan Danielson | Pin[10] | Bryan Danielson | 19:15 | ||||||||
| Jon Moxley | KO[17] | ||||||||||
| Sammy Guevara | 13:46 | ||||||||||
| Sammy Guevara | Pin[20] | Jon Moxley[note 1] | Pin[11] | ||||||||
| Darby Allin | 11:06 | ||||||||||
40°45′00″N73°50′49″W / 40.750°N 73.847°W /40.750; -73.847