AEW RISING AND FADING STARS: Thekla won but what does her catch phrase actually mean, how Grand Slam has become less than a grand special

Welcome everyone!

Another week of AEW is in the books. We had another good episode of Dynamite and then we had a special Collision titled “Grand Slam Australia,” which I have lots to say about, but more on that later.

Let’s get to my list!

RISING STAR OF THE WEEK

THEKLA

Who else could it be? Thekla has finally won the AEW Women’s World Title. It came a few weeks later than I thought it should, but at least we got here.

The Toxic Era has begun and I’m here to explain to you exactly how the AEW Women’s Division just got TOXIC!

Actually, I’m not – because I have no clue what the hell that means. Odd catchphrase aside, this is the right move for the AEW Women’s Division. Kris Statlander, much like “Hangman” Adam Page last summer, was set up for failure after winning the World Title. Neither Hangman nor Statlander had the challengers set up for their title reigns to be long memorable ones. So both had similar title reign lengths with 144 days for Statlander and 134 days for Hangman.

Leading us to Thekla winning the title. For me, she’s the only one in the division worth trying this with. You can now set up babyface after babyface challenger for her to knock down until you are ready to rescue Toni Storm out of comedy land and bring her back to the top of the Women’s Divison. Thekla didn’t win the belt without her Sisters of Sin and going forward that’s how you can have her retain. She almost loses and then her stablemates show up. Build up that heel heat until the crowd is begging you to get the belt off Thekla.

You may not like Thekla for her cartoonish character work it, but my question to you would be who else right now could you try this with?

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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FADING STAR OF THE WEEK

The GRAND SLAM name

Please don’t get me wrong, this week’s Grand Slam Australia was a good show. The wrestling was good, the outcomes were fine, and the crowd was – you guessed it – good. I was just expecting something a little better.

It feels like we have fallen way off from the first Grand Alam at Arthur Ashe stadium in New York.

That first Grand Slam, back in 2021, had the vibe of a huge show for AEW. It was AEW’s most attended show at the time with just over 20,000 fans. After that, AEW had diminishing returns with the last New York Grand Slam drawing fewer than 9,000 people in 2024.

So after that, AEW decided to take Grand Slam out of New York and head out of the country. Last February’s first Grand Slam Australia drew 13,000 fans. So it looks like we are on the rise again for the Grand Slam. Even if that show also felt off, or like a house show.

That was followed up in June with Grand Slam Mexico drawing 14,000 fans and selling out Arena Mexico. The Mexico show was also very memorable because of “Hangman” Adam Page’s promo in Spanish to open the show, only to be topped by Mistico’s entrance and match with MJF. This is the first Grand Slam show since the original to have its own vibe and, at times, felt like a special show. At other times, it too felt like a house show.

That brings us to 2026’s Grand Slam Australia. The reported attendance was just over 7,500 fans, meaning this was almost half the attendance from last year. Reports out of Australia were that this show was not advertised well and was not helped by the fact AEW does not have a TV deal in Australia anymore. Sadly, it was lost about a month before this show.

That brings us to the show itself which was overall a disappointment for me. It felt like I was watching a house show. In every good and bad way. The cameras felt off, the lighting felt off, the way they mic’d the crowd was off, and the presentation was off.

Want some specifics? Okay, the barricade covers. Who put those on? Why did they look so bad? Why was there not ONE single shot of Australia during, at least, the first half an hour? You have 7,000 fans in attendance, so why was it shot like there was 4,000 fans?

I know we are spoiled with our wrestling presentation in the States, but the barricades, lights, and ringside mats just felt very TNA/MLW. Had there been different ads on each barricade sign, I would have said they copied those two companies. Instead, we got what we got and it looked like shit.

Grand Slam Australia 2026 showed some things AEW needs to work on if they want to grow. First, they need to hire someone who helps with local advertising. In the States and especially when they go out of the country. I still listen to my local radio at times and if WWE is coming to the area I know and I don’t even follow WWE at all. Why? Because they buy ads on local radio spots to push the shows. They also have the local morning shows give out free tickets. AEW has come around a few times; hell, their first Dynamite show was held 45 miles from my house. Have I ever heard an ad for an AEW show? Not a single one.

Then the match outcomes all felt like you knew exactly what was going to happen going in. You knew Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita was going to a draw to set up a match at the PPV. The Babes of Wrath was a homecoming match for Harley Cameron. Wheeler Yuta was getting his hair shaved; we knew that due to some counter-productive comments from Mox and Toni Storm. Kyle Fletcher was always going to retain in his homecoming. MJF was not losing again to Brody King. That left us with one match where the outcome wasn’t for sure known: Hangman vs. Andrade. Then again, how many people actually thought Hangman was losing to Andrade? Maybe 10 percent of the audience?

Maybe I’m wrong here for expecting a bigger show, wanting a bigger show. It felt like a mini PPV going in and coming out of the show I just felt like a watchable Battle of the Belts show.

I love you AEW and I just want you to do better and still be around in 2036.