While AEW Dynamite might not be airing in its usual timeslot tonight due to the NBA Playoffs, Tony Khan made a huge announcement to get the AEW fanbase excited earlier this morning. Khan revealed that All Elite Wrestling would make its New York City debut in September at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
This will be the biggest venue All Elite Wrestling has ever run in, and if they manage to sell it out, it should be quite the scene to behold on TNT this September when they go live for their “Grand Slam” edition of AEW Dynamite.
Chris Jericho spoke to the New York Daily News about AEW finally coming to New York, and Le Champion is thrilled for the company to move onto its next chapter following the COVID-19 pandemic:
“It’s a real cool end to the chapter of our lives that we all want to move on from,” Chris Jericho said. “It’s a trumpeting call that AEW is back on the road at the highest of levels. It’s ready to take control of New York City. It’s a celebration. It’s a victory. We’ll be vindicated as the coolest wrestling company in the world today. What fans can expect is what we’ve been doing, just at a higher intensity level and a higher energy level because of the people in the crowd giving us more inspiration and more energy and more reward for what we’re doing.”
Chris Jericho knows that the New York market is considered a “WWE stronghold.” Still, he believes people are excited about seeing wrestling done a little bit differently and that AEW will prove that by going into a venue that WWE has never been in before:
“We’ve expanded to a lot of people that are just excited to see a different style of wrestling after being fed the same dish for 20 years plus,” Jericho said. “One of the reasons why AEW’s done so well is we’re different from WWE and that’s obvious. We do things differently than the way they do it. They’re a huge successful company, especially in the New York market. That’s a WWE stronghold. But there are a lot of people who are excited to see things done a little bit differently and I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re making our debut in New York City in a stadium WWE’s never been in. I’m sure we could have gone to the Garden or done the Barclays Center, but those do have a WWE brush on them. Let’s go somewhere else and make it our New York market arena. Let’s go to Arthur Ashe Stadium and that now becomes an AEW stronghold in the middle of New York, which is a McMahon country.”
Are you excited for AEW to make its debut in New York City? Do you think they’ll be able to sell out a venue that large? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
