Saturday night, AEW completes another first with their first show down under with Grand Slam Australia. While there’s been a venue change and confusion that’s left some ticketholders frustrated, I know from my own experience at the first Wembley All In that you can attend an AEW event cold and disgruntled and come out feeling spiritually reawakened.
Big AEW events with PPV-quality matches have a habit of doing that. Two hours rather than four, AEW in 2025 so far is firing on all cylinders. Thriller without filler. Bangers galore.
Home country heroes will be looking to show out. Overlooked, Buddy Matthews tries his reputation against the greatest tournament wrestler alive. Harley Cameron seeks to upstage Mercedes Mone (and here’s speculation on “what if” Harley Cameron becomes TBS Champion).
And that’s without the potential violent splendour of the Brisbane Brawl or the AEW Women’s World Championship match.
She’ll be alright.
AEW Grand Slam Australia Preview (2/15/25) – Matches Announced:
- Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega vs Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher
- TBS Championship: Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Harley Cameron
- AEW Continental Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Buddy Matthews
- Brisbane Brawl: Death Riders (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) vs. Cope and Jay White
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Mariah May (c) vs. “Timeless” Toni Storm
Ospreay and Omega Take on The Family
Throughout their rivalry, Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay have always been on opposite sides of the ring, with different factions or alone in the ring against each other. Never united. Actually, alone would be to ignore the presence of The Invisible Hand at ringside, Don Callis. A common figure acting as a confident handler and manipulator for these two debatable GOATs.
Callis is now their common enemy, but his influence has undeniably. Callis helped shape Kyle Fletcher into one of the breakout stars of 2024. He also helped Konosuke Takeshita beat Omega twice in one week and take the AEW International Championship from Ospreay. Both Konosuke and Fletcher are on their way to becoming the next generation of GOATs.
This clash is multi-faceted, beyond the first-time nature of Omega and Ospreay’s team-up. The animosity with Omega and Ospreay against Callis is clicking in a way in 2023, and in parts of 2024, it didn’t. It’s a proving ground match for Fletcher and Konosuke’s ascension. And after their victory over the Hounds of Hell, expectations are rightly high.
It’s likely not the end by the beginning of something bigger, and this match will elevate that bar to the sky.
AEW Women’s World Championship
A double return, both a homecoming for Toni Storm and the potential reclamation of a Timeless Era. Undoubtedly, the greatest women’s storyline in AEW history and potentially in American wrestling.
Storm and Mariah May’s multi-layered performances mean this rematch has everything it needs to be cinematic.
A tale older than Hollywood and wrestling in the student vs. teacher archetype. Betrayal, drama, violence, memorial words, cerebral mind-games, and a dash of sex and innuendo that likely wouldn’t make it past the Hays Code.
May and Storm are so close, even acting within each other’s skin, that this clash is likely to be more physical, intense, and storied than their first. Match one was in Mariah May’s home country; now, the rematch is in Toni’s.
Of the three Aussies challenging for AEW championships, at least one has to come away with gold, right? Or will the stage be set for a trilogy?
That’s all for the AEW Grand Slam Australia preview for this Saturday night!; see you all at the show!
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
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