AEW Grand Slam: Australia

AEW Grand Slam: Australia

February 2026 - Sydney, South Wales, Australia

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the AEW World Champion was MJF, the Women's World Champion was Thekla, the AEW World Tag Team Champions were FTR, Kyle Fletcher was the TBS Champion, the TNT Champion was Willow Nightingale, Kazuchika Okada was the International Champion, the Trios Champions were "Hangman" Adam Page, Mike Bailey, and Kevin Knight, Jon Moxley was the Continental Champion, Ricochet was the National Champion, and the Babes of Wrath (Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron) were the AEW Women's Tag Team Champions. 

AEW Grand Slam: Australia was a TV special that aired in place of the usual Saturday show, Collision, though the card had me wondering if this was a PPV when I first heard about it. At the very least, this was a show built-up comparably to a Clash of the Champions from WCW in the 90s (when you might see a major title change on cable). 

Konosuke Takeshita challenged Jon Moxley for the Continental Championship in the opening match. I'm a big Takeshita fan and I liked a lot of Moxley's high profile matches in 2025, but this was not great. The final 5 minutes had the urgency that the rest of the match lacked as these two worked their way through a long, physical contest that ended in a time limit draw. I think I've come to terms with the idea that I really only enjoy Moxley in heated blood feuds, gimmick matches, and multi-mans. Takeshita also felt a bit muted in this match after a few months of him feeling like he was about to breakout as a bigger babyface deal. The post-match attack on Moxley, something of a "tweener" these days, was confusing in that regard. A disappointment. (2/5)

Harley Cameron and Willow Nightingale, the reigning AEW Women's World Tag Team Champions (and collectively known as The Babes of Wrath), took on Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford in the next match. This went 11 minutes but felt like the same length as the last match. They packed of a ton of action into it, but this match wasn't as "fun" as I wish it were. If anyone should be busting out more comedy/fan engagement spots, it should be Harley and Willow. Cameron and Ford are not super smooth workers, which could be expected out of Cameron but Ford is a 10-year veteran and is serviceable at best. The debut of Lena Kross was puzzling. If you're going to debut and take aim at the tag team champions, why do so alone? If you're coming in as the "third" to an established team like Ford and Bayne, like some sort of weird Crush-in-Demolition thing or "Freebird Rule" aspirant, why debut after the match and not help your partners actually win the titles? The effort was there, Willow looked good, and the crowd was into it, but this probably could've been edited down a couple minutes without losing anything. (2/5)

Andrade El Idolo vs. "Hangman" Adam Page to determine the Number One Contender for the AEW World Championship was the first match of the night to feel like it at least got close to expectations, though it did hit a bit of a lull after the commercial break. I loved the opening spot where Andrade took a wicked kick to the face while in a handstand position, enjoyed the fun "beautiful woman in the crowd wants a selfie" shtick that Andrade has been inserting into his matches as of late, and, later on, Page hitting an awesome fallaway slam on the floor into the barricade. I really liked the finish too as Andrade once again went for a low blow - the same way he managed to eke out victories over Omega and Swerve - but Page saw it coming and gave him a taste of his own medicine before hitting the Buckshot Lariat to score the W. This also felt like the right booking decision as the company builds toward Revolution. Not a Match of the Year contender or anything, but a mostly solid match. (3/5)

Orange Cassidy teamed up with "Timeless" Toni Storm to take on Marina Shafir and Wheeler Yuta in a Loser Must Shave Their Head mixed tag next. Cassidy and Storm brought the fight right to the Death Riders, attacking them as they made their way to the ring. Crowd-brawling ensued with Yuta drawing some extra heat by piledriving Storm on the cases. With Storm taken out of the match for a bit, Shafir and Yuta double-teamed Cassidy until the commercial break. Storm came back when we returned to the action, hitting Shafir with  aseries of big German suplexes. Shafir got some strikes in but then got hit by a Beach Break from Cassidy! Yuta broke up the pin attempt after a bit of hesitation and then ate a Slumdog Millionaire and a signature tornado DDT but when Cassidy went for the Orange Punch, Shafir countered it. Storm applied a chickenwing on Shafir while Shafir applied an ankle lock on Cassidy. After releasing their respective holds, we got a strike exchange between the two ladies with Storm dropping Shafir with a headbutt but then getting clobbered by a Baisaku Knee from Yuta! Dang. Moments later, Yuta went for another on OC but Cassidy ducked and he hit Shafir! Hip Attack by Storm on Yuta! Orange Punch! Storm Zero on Yuta for the feel-good win! This was a fun match with a satisfying finish, though I do think it was a bit of a cop-out that only Yuta had his head shaved when I think most fans would've expected that both losers would've had their heads shaved. I also really liked Jon Moxley being the one to force to Yuta to live up to his words and that Mina Shirakawa got the first snip (Yuta and Shafir had cut off some of her hair on Dynamite before this and Yuta had even braided it into his own hair for this match). (3/5)

The TNT Championship Ladder Match was next - Kyle Fletcher defending against Mark Briscoe in their seventh match against each other. Briscoe hit a cannonball dive early but then took a half-and-half on the floor. Fletcher grabbed hold of a ladder but got dropkicked. Briscoe whipped Fletcher into it, followed it up with a suplex, and then went to the top of the ladder only to be snap mared off of it, into the ropes, and onto the apron. Fletcher then hit a moonsault off the ladder to the floor, which would've been a huge spot two decades ago but almost looked too easy and "light" here. Back in the ring, Fletcher lawn darted Briscoe into a ladder that was hanging in the corner and it looked absolutely nasty. Fletcher set up a ladder in the center of the ring but Briscoe caught him and hit him with a super stiff Russian Leg Sweep off the ladder and onto the mat. A commercial break followed and when we came back to the action, Briscoe was hitting Fletcher with a Froggy 'Bo from the top onto a ladder set up across the apron and the barricade. Briscoe went climbing but Fletcher, who had been busted open sometime during the break, grabbed hold of his foot. Fletcher pulled Briscoe down and powerbombed him through a ladder! Fletcher hit his patented running boot and sold on the apron while Fletcher brought in yet another ladder, setting it up between the corner and the ladder in the middle of the ring to form a "catwalk." Briscoe and Fletcher climbed up the post as the crowd chanted "Please Don't Die." Briscoe then hit a double-underhook piledriver through the ladder! It didn't look super "clean," but it probably could've/should've been the match ender instead of being undersold and treated like just another spot (Fletcher climbed the ladder to stop Briscoe from grabbing the title within 15-20 seconds of taking the bump). With Briscoe almost taking hold of the title, Fletcher met him at the top and brought him down with an incredible vertical suplex from the top of the ladder! Wow. Now it was Briscoe's turn to undersell a should-be "death move" by grabbing a ladder and setting it up beside Fletcher's. They traded some blows on the ladder before Fletcher simply shoved Briscoe's ladder, sending him crashing into the ropes, and grabbed the title in a rather anti-climactic ending. This was good but poorly structured with the biggest and most dangerous spots being undersold and then the finish happening off of a comparably "simple" bump that we've seen dozens of times before. (3/5)

Main event time - MJF defending the AEW World Championship against the number one contender, Brody King. A "Fuck ICE" chant started as the bell rang, though it wasn't as loud and spirited as the one that happened on Dynamite a couple weeks earlier. MJF did chickenshit shtick to start things off but ended up eating a huge Brody King lariat despite his best efforts to avoid the monster. Brody followed it up with some nasty chops and then a press slam. Brody missed on the cannonball as MJF slipped to the floor. MJF went to work on Brody's knee, wrapping it around the post. Back in the ring, MJF applied a nifty ankle lock and then cut off a Brody King comeback by going after King's knee once more. MJF brought back an oldie-but-a-goodie by hitting the Kangaroo Kick and then flipping off the crowd. MJF hit a dive on the floor and then rolled King back into the ring. He attempted a sunset flip, dodged a senton, and then reapplied the ankle lock, grapevining it this time. King crawled his way to the bottom rope, forcing a break before the last commercial break of the evening. Soon after we returned, King hoisted MJF up with a back body drop and attempted another cannonball but couldn't execute the move due to his damaged knee. King went for the hanging headlock but MJF escaped by biting his arm and then grabbed a chair. King bit him back and sat him on the chair and hit him with a running crossbody. King, still selling the knee, rolled MJF into the ring (as he couldn't win the title on a countout) and set him back up in the corner for a third attempt at a cannonball. This time, he hit it! MJF kicked out at 2.5, though, the crowd barely reacting to the predictable nearfall. MJF managed to apply a sleeper and King fell to the mat. I really liked the way he sold that. Bandido ran down the aisle to cheer on King, yelling at him not to give up. King fought back to his feet and fell backwards, crushing MJF beneath him to break the hold. MJF rolled to the floor as King attempted some sort of dive only to get caught by MJF and driven neck-first across the middle rope. MJF hoped for a count-out victory but King got to his feet. MJF went for a dive but King caught him, hoisted him up in a fireman's carry, and then drove him through a chair into the barricade! Wow. That looked sick. King got to his feet and helped MJF back into the ring, once again recognizing that a count-out wouldn't win him the title. King couldn't capitalize in the ring, though, clutching his knee. MJF took out the Dynamite Diamond Ring but Bryce Remsburg caught him! King decked him with a huge punch and then applied the hangman headlock! King released the hold after 5 and MJF fell to the floor. King went for the Gonzo Bomb and hit it! 1...2...MJF kicked out! MJF brought King down to the middle rope with a drop toe hold and then went back to attacking the knee, taking off King's knee brace and biting it! King went for a Gonzo Bomb on the apron but couldn't hit it and settled for a back elbow. King went for another big hangman headlock off the top rope but MJF escaped again and MJF hit him with a piledriver-esque front-falling slam on the apron! Heatseeker! I can see people not liking the finish as it feels like its been awhile since MJF put anyone away with a single Heatseeker, but it made sense here and gives credibility to the move as a match-ender. Easily the match of the night with a great performance out of Brody King especially. (3.5/5)

While this show was certainly a step up from your average Dynamite, it didn't reach the heights of your typical AEW PPV (even with a runtime of 2.5 hours, roughly the same as the WWE's monthly PLEs). The Takeshita/Moxley was underwhelming for most of its duration and the Women's Tag Team Championship match was also just "so-so," but the show picked up considerably as it went on with the main event delivering the best, most coherent story of the night without needing to "spam" dangerous high spots or gratuitous weapon use. While none of the matches on this show will likely land on anyone's Top 10 of the year in December, if you're an AEW fan, this show offered plenty to enjoy.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand