Continuing their quest to make history and unforgettable moments, AEW is boldly headed where no wrestling company has gone before: Flushing Meadows, NYC. Specifically, the USTA Arthur Ashe Stadium for Grand Slam, AEW’s first stadium show, first NYC show, and first wrestling show ever hosted at the historic venue.
AEW Making NYC Debut With Supercard at Arthur Ashe Stadium
Making an appearance on New York’s WFAN 660 as well as an interview with the NY Daily News, Tony Khan announced that AEW would be headed to the home of the ATP’s US Open, for a special Supercard episode of Dynamite to air live on September 22nd.
“No city is more synonymous with wrestling than New York City,” Khan told the Daily News. “AEW is a new company and our company is in the business of both embracing tradition and trailblazing, trying to start new traditions and new history.”
In May, AEW announced a return to touring, booking dates in Miami, Austin, and Dallas as they get back on the road this summer. WWE followed suit, announcing their own multi-city tour. But among both promotions, some cities were notable by their absence and NYC was one of them.
Khan’s announcement, however, changes that as not only is AEW headed to New York City for the first time, but they’ll do so in such a unique venue. Able to host a capacity of nearly 24,000 fans, the Arthur Ashe Stadium is the single largest tennis venue in the world. Part of the USTA Billie Jean National Tennis Center, Ashe hosts hundreds of tennis matches each year. It is the main stadium for tennis’ US Open grand slam, which generates the largest total attendance numbers of any sporting event over its roughly two-week period of competition.
“It’s a trumpeting call that AEW is back on the road at the highest of levels,” Chris Jericho said. “It’s ready to take control of New York City. It’s a celebration. It’s a victory.”
As Jericho noted, AEW has always done things differently, something their fans have come to expect.
“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,” Jericho said. “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.”
The US Open takes place this year from August 30th to September 12th. Shortly after, AEW will make its debut in this historic venue. Should Khan and company choose to, they could potentially make more history as well, as the Arthur Ashe Stadium capacity limits could enable AEW to host its largest crowd ever. It is also historic in nature as this will be the first time any major wrestling event has been held at Ashe or any primary tennis arena for that matter.
Tickets go on sale on July 16th with Khan promising that more details are on their way.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TNT and AEW Dark: Elevation (Monday nights) and AEW: Dark (Tuesday nights) at 7 PM ET on YouTube.
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