AEW president and co-owner Tony Khan has told ESPN that the company's willingness to collaborate and share talent with partner promotions around the world, combined with its own growing international presence in markets such as Australia, helps ensure it maximises its growing roster.
Heading into 2025, AEW's official roster page lists over 150 male and female performers as being under contract, with Megan Bayne announced as its most recent addition earlier this month after she was signed from Japanese women's promotion Stardom. Heading in the opposite direction, Malakai Black, Ricky Starks, and Miro were all reportedly released earlier this month, with the latter having already appeared on WWE programming.
Having 'where the best wrestle' well-entrenched as one of its key promotional taglines, the bounty of talent AEW has assembled is one of its major strengths, with the likes of Kenny Omega, Toni Storm, Kazuchika Okada, Jon Moxley, and Mercedes Moné regularly featuring across its weekly offerings. However, there are only so many opportunities for its performers to feature each week across weekly programming AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision, as well as sister promotion Ring of Honor, meaning that, inevitably, some go unused.
Striking the right balance and ensuring talent doesn't go to waste is a balancing act, one that invariably ends with winners and losers. But it's here that Khan says that the company's willingness to allow its contracted talent, with permission, to take bookings in independent promotions, as well as perform in partner organisations such as New Japan Pro Wrestling and Mexican promotion CMLL provides some level of relief.
"AEW is where the best wrestle and we have so many great wrestlers," Khan told ESPN. "And what's great about [AEW] is we want our wrestlers to go all over the world and travel.
"That means wrestling for the top international companies as well. We've sent talent to New Japan Pro Wrestling. We've sent stars all over the world, to England to Rev Pro [Revolution Pro Wrestling], to Mexico to CMLL, to compete for Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling in Canada. Our wrestlers travel all over and they represent AEW all over the globe.
AEW has landed down under for @AEW GRAND SLAM: AUSTRALIA
— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) February 14, 2025
But someone made the mistake of leaving Alex with them, so he asked them all the hot topic important questions...
AEW GRAND SLAM: AUSTRALIA!
LAST TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE! 🔗 https://t.co/aBLGoDACCN pic.twitter.com/LsAxNxt1xd
"The best is when AEW can bring the top talent, the top stars, and put on our biggest events. But our stars travel outside of AEW to represent the company too. Our champions will defend their titles against top stars in other companies in other countries."
Khan was speaking to ESPN Australia in Brisbane, part of promotional efforts for AEW's first show in Australia, the suitably titled Grand Slam Australia.
Initially announced for Suncorp Stadium before shifting to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, confusion had surrounded whether the event would be produced as a pay-per-view or television special, with Khan telling TV Insider earlier this month that the event had always been planned as the latter. Despite the change to a smaller venue, though, the executive told DownUnderTheRing this week that the show would likely produce one of the company's largest gates of all time, trailing only its All In pay-per-view shows at Wembley Stadium on the international front.
And with Australian wrestlers such as Toni Storm, Buddy Matthews, Harley Cameron, and Kyle Fletcher all playing key roles in AEW -- and the likes of Rhea Ripley, Grayson Waller and Bronson Reed representing Australia in the WWE -- Khan is eager to expand his promotion's footprint Down Under.
"We want to bring AEW back to Australia over and over again," he said. "Keep growing the fan base here, making new fans and bringing fans to AEW for the first time. It's a really exciting thing to have our first-ever AEW event in Australia this Saturday. Some of the best pro wrestlers in the world are from Australia, and they wrestle in an AEW.
"You're going to see this Saturday, the best wrestling show AEW could possibly put forward in Australia at AEW Grand Slam. This is one of the biggest events in AEW year in and year out.
"The very first match at the first Grand Slam [was] Brian Danielson versus Kenny Omega for the first time in AEW -- what a match. It was still one of the greatest matches and moments ever in the company. And that's what we think of Grand Slam. It's an important, important event.
"That was our first Grand Slam, and that was our first show ever in New York City... and that's what I want to do here. I want to come to Brisbane and have a great Grand Slam event."