All Elite Wrestling holds its annual Dynamite: Grand Slam episode event in Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, but ahead of the monumental episode, Tony Khan spoke on the Superstar Crossover podcast and had this to say:
“I don’t think it’s ever happened. Nobody’s ever held singles championships in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling at the same time, and this is taking place on an AEW show. We’re open to pro wrestling from all over the world. We’ve got huge matches up and down the card. It’s really exciting because this reminds me a lot of the territory wrestling I grew up on. The biggest wrestling territory, in many ways, was always New York. For me, Claudio Castagnoli is a throwback to a great wrestler, Nick Bockwinkel. Claudio Castagnoli is the thinking man’s wrestler. He’s very classy, but he’s a thorough professional. He’s a tough guy, but he’s highly intelligent. I think those guys would go on the Mount Rushmore of the most intelligent pro wrestlers, Claudio and Bockwinkel. I really believe Claudio is a great World Champion.
This match reminds me a lot of when I was a kid going back and tape trading. In Memphis, there was Nick Bockwinkel versus Jerry Lawler. I think New York, as a market, this city is 100 times bigger than Memphis ever was, but if you’re a real wrestling fan, you know Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler versus Nick Bockwinkel was great wrestling. To me, Eddie Kingston is that kind of a hero to New York City, what Lawler was to the Memphis market. This is 100 times bigger and he is this city’s hero. Eddie Kingston is a great New York wrestling hero. I really believe the whole city’s going to be rallying behind him and it’s a great match because it’s a double championship match. It’s got international implications.”
Tony Khan
Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston have a storied history spanning almost two decades across CHIKARA, Ring of Honor, and All Elite Wrestling, and both are set to collide on tonight’s AEW Dynamite Grand Slam.
