QUEENS – The message the All Elite Wrestling wanted to deliver with its sold-out Grand Slam show at Arthur Ashe Stadium was clear: WWE no longer has the New York City wrestling scene in a headlock.
It was a message delivered in words—“New York is now AEW’s town,” Yonkers native Eddie Kingston told the crowd in a show-closing promo—and even louder actions.
More than 20,000 people packed into the U.S. Open’s signature venue in Queens for the company’s first-ever show in the five boroughs. They tailgated in the parking lots for hours; the line for vaccine verification already stretched all the way back to the 7 train an hour before the gates were opened.