5 AEW stars who are likely to miss Grand Slam 2024

Later this month, AEW is going to hold its fourth annual Grand Slam event on September 25, 2024. The show will emanate from the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City.

So far only one match has been officialized for the event and that is Darby Allin challenging Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Championship. Surely, many top stars will be featured in the event. But here are five stars who are likely to miss AEW Grand Slam: Dynamite & Collision.

5. Adam Copeland

Adam Copeland has been out of action for around three months. He was last seen at the AEW Double or Nothing PPV which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 26, 2024.

At the event, he wrestled House of Black member, Malakai Black in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage match. During the bout, the fans saw him execute a cage dive on top of his opponent, which led to him sustaining a broken tibia.

A few days ago, Copeland provided an update on his recovery where he said that although he can walk now, he doesn't know when he can get back in the ring. Therefore, he might not make it to the Grand Salm 2024 event.

4. Kenny Omega

Last year in December, Kenny Omega went on a hiatus after being diagnosed with diverticulitis. He also had surgery for the same. He has been on the road to recovery ever since.

The Cleaner last appeared on the May 1, edition of Dynamite, where he discussed his illness with the fans. He promised his fans that he would return to the ring no matter how long it took for his body to heal.

So far there hasn't been any update regarding his return to wrestling. Therefore, he is likely to miss the upcoming event.

3. MJF

After being absent for nearly five months, MJF returned to action at Double or Nothing in May. He recently had a match with Daniel Garcia at All Out on September 7, which he won.

Ibou of WrestlePurists recently took to X/Twitter to inform that AEW had originally planned for Garcia to have a clean victory but didn't execute it due to the uncertainty of his AEW future.

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He also reported that Friedman is expected to take some time off TV because he is set to go and film a movie. Therefore, the fans might not see The Wolf of Wrestling attending this year's Grand Slam event.

2. Swerve Strickland

Swerve Strickland had an intense match against Hangman Page at All Out last weekend. The two rivals fought each other in a Lights Out Unsanctioned Steel Cage match at the PPV. Hangman secured the victory by injecting a needle into his opponent's mouth and delivering a chair shot to Swerve's head.

Former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland [Source: Swerve on X/Twitter]

Dave Meltzer, in a recent report by Wrestling Observer Radio, revealed that this finish was purposefully planned to write The Realest Star off TV for some time. Hence, he will probably miss the Grand Slam event.

1. Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe has been missing from AEW TV for a while now. His last match came on the July 10, 2024 edition of Dynamite where he suffered a loss to Chris Jericho.

In late July, it was reported, later confirmed by PWInsider that The Samoan Submission Machine will be out of action for a while as he is busy filming a TV series in Toronto. He is reprising his role in the second season of the post-apocalyptic action-comedy television series, Twisted Metal.