The absolute most gracious interpretation possible was that Tony expected this to be a Premium Live Event for MAX, possibly the first of many to fill the calendar where they don't have other PPVs
The evidence for this being intended to be a PPV:
- Scheduled for the break between Worlds End (end of December) and Revolution (March 9th)
- Giant capacity stadium, >50k - even if they only aimed for 20-30k fans, that's a massive crowd
- Scheduled after NFL season ends, entire week to promote/post-mortem during dead sports period (no NFL/MLB)
- The lack of 'Collision' branding, which was present for previous Collision: Grand Slam shows
- Ticket prices that are much closer to usual AEW PPV prices w/ 4+ hours of wrestling vs small civic center Collision/BOTB/2 hour special
The evidence against it being intended to be a PPV:
- Using the name "Grand Slam"
- The show NOT taking place at 12PM local time, which would allow a live US PPV broadcast
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I think any way you break it down, it was incredibly poor planning and an unfortunate outcome. This could have been a Noon PPV in closed arena (to avoid the scorching sun), allowing live PPV broadcast here in the US at a normal time. Being in an Arena on 20-hour tape delay represents the worst possible outcome. The ex-WWE champions are lining up to go to the show (Mercedes, Mox, Cope, etc) because they know how important markets like these are for growth, I doubt guys like Young Bucks, Hangman, Swerve are pounding the table demanding a match.
I really hope this show ends up being 4+ hours of wrestling and some time in the future, MAX/WBD/whoever allows the entire thing to be aired without commercials. It would be absolutely criminal to have a crowd this large in Australia and only have 5 main card matches and a dark match with like Roderick Strong vs Hologram, or some shit.
