AEW Announces First-Time International Event

AEW

AEW has announced a first-time event set to take place in Europe later this year, with Tony Khan calling it “a logical step”.

With AEW All In London taking place on August 30, it should come as little surprise that the company continues to seek international expansion opportunities.

As revealed by the Sports Business Journal, AEW will be running their first live event in Paris this October, with the Adidas Arena playing home to Grand Slam: France.

The event takes place on October 6 and includes tapings of AEW Dynamite and Collision, with tickets going on sale this Friday.

Speaking on the decision to run in Paris, Tony Khan suggested that the timing was perfect, considering the interest in All In London from fans in France, saying:

“There are so many great wrestling fans in France, and a lot of fans from France have made the trek to London to see AEW, and we believe there’s a lot of excitement around All Elite Wrestling in Paris, and it just felt like this would be the perfect time to launch with a huge event.”

It appears that Khan’s interest in running shows in the French capital may be a long term one, going on to state that he is seeking to “continue to make Paris a major live event site.”

The Sports Business Journal notes that the Adidas Arena has a capacity of 8,000 seats, with the previous Grand Slam Mexico drawing over 13,000 fans.

Will Ospreay is also noted as saying that he hopes to see Paris as part of “part of a broader, long-term European strategy”, according to the report.

AEW Grand Slam Goes International

Introduced in 2021, the first four Grand Slam events took place at the Arthur Ashe Stadium and could be seen as “just another date”, despite their branding, being formed from Dynamite and Rampage until 2023, and then Dynamite and Collision in 2024.

Starting in 2025, however, Grand Slam went global, with the February event in that year taking place at Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia. Australia also saw a return, this time at Qudos Bank Arena, in February of this year.

That international reach also saw two events in Mexico, with June 2025 marking the first Grand Slam at the iconic Arena Mexico, the same location as this year’s event back in August.

Earlier this year, Tony Khan set out his goals for the future of AEW, noting that he has “plans to grow the business in a major way, domestically and internationally.” Testing international territories with Grand Slam is certainly a wise move, with the potential to create pay-per-views for some of these destinations.

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• AEW
• Grand Slam
• Grand Slam France

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