AEW star reacts to backlash on the wrestling ring at Grand Slam Australia
An AEW star has joined in the online discourse about the promotion having used a significantly smaller ring for Grand Slam Australia. They claimed that this should not even be a talking point as this was not the first time they did this.
During the show, a ring that looked to be either 16x16 ft or 18x18 ft was used, smaller than the usual 20x20 ft ring used by the company. This was noticed by many fans, and although it seemed as if the in-ring competition was unaffected, this was a change from how they usually did things.
QT Marshall, who is the Vice President of Show and Creative Coordination, joined in the conversations regarding the ring and the differences in size. He mentioned that the specifications for AEW rings were bigger than those from other promotions. He claimed this was not the first time they had used a ring like this, so he wondered why this sparked such a fervent discourse online.
"The AEW ring is a design that only AEW has. It’s very rare that an independent company (or a major company) has a 20ft ring. This ring is an 18ft ring. TNA has been using for years and older ROH as well. Why is this a talking point? It’s not our first time using an 18ft ring," wrote Marshall.
The change in the AEW ring size for the show was intentional
There have been several claims regarding the reason why the Tony Khan-led promotion decided to utilize a smaller ring for their show. A user on X/Twitter claimed that there was an oversight in the logistics for the ring and that they had to make some last-minute changes.
Sean Ross Sapp, of Fightful Select, debunked these rumors as he reported that having a ring of this size was always planned by the company and they had never planned on having a ring of their usual size shipped over to Australia.
It is unclear why this was the case tonight in comparison to their other international events. But in the end, the show went smoothly mostly, and fans were part of a great experience despite the smaller ring. The show was also a success overall for the Jacksonville-based promotion.