‘AEW Grand Slam: Australia’ Review (Feb 15th 2025)
Welcome to this week’s review of AEW Grand Slam: Australia, which emanates from Brisbane, Australia – the first time we’ve had a major AEW show from down under! We’ve got the commentary team of Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuiness calling the action, so let’s get into the review…
Match #1: Will Ospreay & Kenny Omega def. Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Ospreay and Fletcher slugged it out. Fletcher hit a shoulder tackle to knock down Ospreay. Takeshita tagged in, and Takeshita and Fletcher hit a double shoulder tackle on Will. Kyle came back in, but Will hit a corkscrew kick. Kenny grabbed a tag and wiped out Fletcher with a high cross body press. Omega used a hurracanrana on Fletcher. Omega face planted Takeshita. Ospreay and Omega hit Terminator dives, Omega on Fletcher and Kyle on Takeshita! Fletcher used Ospreay as a battering ram on Omega. Fletcher held down Omega and Takeshita connected with a senton splash. Omega planted Fletcher with a snap dragon suplex. Takeshita served up an exploder suplex on Omega. Will wiped out Kyle with a Spanish fly! Will spiked Fletcher with a DDT. Fletcher blocked an Os Cutter, but Will countered with another DDT! Don Callis grabbed Ospreay’s ankle, preventing the Hidden Blade, and Fletcher hurled Ospreay with a half and half suplex. Takeshita drilled Omega and Ospreay with a double German Suplex! Takeshita tried a power bomb off the top rope, but Omega countered with a hurracanrana. Omega power bombed Takeshita and then cracked Takeshita with the V-trigger for a near fall! Takeshita rocked Omega with a blue thunder bomb! Omega fired back with a poison rana. Omega was looking for the one-winged angel on Takeshita from the middle turnbuckle. Ospreay jumped up with an Os Cutter. Fletcher stopped Omega with a thrust kick. Ospreay sent down Fletcher with a Hidden Blade. Fletcher and Takeshita nailed Will and Kenny with stereo tombstone pile drivers! Takeshita sprung a running knee on Omega. Takeshita dropped his knee pad. Kenny blocked an attempted knee strike. Omega caught Takeshita with a V-trigger! Takeshita stunned Kenny with a running pump kick. Omega held up Takeshita for a One-Winged Angel while Ospreay smashed Takeshita with a Hidden Blade for a devastating combo. Kenny covered Takeshita and scored the victory!
My Score: 4.5 out of 5
Match #2: TBS Championship Match – Mercedes Moné def. Harley Cameron
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Mercedes rag dolled Harley with a headlock and then yanked her to the mat by the hair. Harley retaliated with a Russian Leg Sweep. Harley pulled her puppet out from beneath the ring. Mercedes grabbed the puppet and stomped on it. Mercedes rocked Harley with the Three Amigos suplex sequence. Harley blocked a frog splash but raising her knees into Mercedes’ ribcage. Harley hit a side suplex, but Mercedes kicked out at the two-count. Mercedes blasted Cameron with a backstabber. Harley hammered Mercedes in the head while wearing the Mercedes puppet on her fist. Cameron connected with a crossbody and then followed up with an Australian Destroyer for a near fall! Mercedes planted Cameron with a power bomb. Mercedes smashed Harley with a meteroa for a near fall. Harley cradled Mercedes but the champion kicked out. Harley hit an area code kick on Mercedes. Mercedes moved out of the way from the top rope dive. Mercedes cracked Cameron with the Mone Maker and picked up the pin!
My Score: 4 out of 5
Match #3: Brisbane Brawl – The Death Riders (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli) def. Cope & Jay White
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Cope and White took the fight to the Death Riders early on. Cope and White hit a double clothesline on Moxley and then back dropped Claudio out of the ring. Jay White DDT’ed Moxley. Jay White jumped over the top rope to the outside, but Moxley cracked White with a trash can lid. Copeland connected with a double ax handle, jumping off the concourse onto Claudio. Marina hammered the back of Cope with a kendo stick. Claudio power bombed Cope off the apron through a table, breaking the table in half. Mox spiked Cope with a Paradigm Shift. Jay White broke a kendo stick on Claudio. Claudio grabbed Jay White and bashed him headfirst into a steel chair that was wedged between the turnbuckles. Jay White fired back with a Blade Runner. Jay White covered Claudio but Wheeler Yuta jumped into the ring out of nowhere and began to whip Jay White with a leather belt! Jay White smashed Yuta with a Blade Runner but Moxley curb stomped Switchblade. Cope speared Claudio through a table! Cope speared Moxley! Cope grabbed a steel chair that was wrapped in barbed wire. Cope whacked Moxley over the back with it! Yuta jumped into the ring to grab the steel chair. Marina smacked Cope with the steel briefcase. Moxley locked on a bulldog choke. The ref stopped the match as Cope was unconscious!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #4: AEW Continental Championship Match – Kazuchika Okada def. Buddy Matthews
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Matthews offered his hand at the start of the match, a sign of good sportsmanship, but Okada flipped him off. Okada dodged a curb stomp. Buddy avoided the rainmaker lariat. It was a stalemate early on. Okada and Matthews traded forearm shots. Buddy dropped a knee on Okada. Buddy planted Okada hard on the ring apron. Okada nailed Buddy with a flatliner and followed up with a beautiful dropkick. Buddy flipped over the top rope and crashed onto Okada, wiping him out! Buddy followed up with a meteora off the top rope for a near fall! Okada retaliated with a neck breaker. Okada landed an elbow drop from the top rope. Buddy dodged the rainmaker and stunned Okada with a knee strike. Okada rocked Buddy with the rainmaker, but Buddy kicked out at the two-count! Buddy curb stomped Okada but Okada kicked out. Buddy rocked Okada with Matthews’ Law and went for the cover, but Okada put his foot on the rope to break the pin count. Okada spiked Buddy with a DDT on the arena floor. Buddy superplexed Okada. Buddy hit the jackhammer! Buddy applied a submission hold in the center of the ring. Okada escaped and while the ref was distracted, Okada hit a low blow. Okada finished off Buddy with the rainmaker, stealing the pin!
My Score: 4 out of 5
Match #5: AEW Women’s World Championship Match – Toni Storm def. Mariah May
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
They began with a collar and elbow tie-up and then Toni quickly grounded and pounded Mariah May! Toni stomped Mariah in the corner. Mariah pounced back with a sling blade, followed by a shotgun dropkick. Toni hurled Mariah with a German Suplex, followed by another. The final count was six consecutive German Suplexes, as Toni was dominating the match. Mariah ate a lariat from the challenger. Toni applied a version of the STF! Mariah escaped and rocked Toni with the May Day on the arena floor. Mariah blasted Toni with a big shotgun dropkick from the top rope! Mariah smashed Toni in the corner with a running hip attack. Toni retaliated with the May Day for a near fall! Toni ran into Mariah with a hip attack. She landed a second hip attack, and then a third hip attack against the champion. Toni spiked Mariah with the Storm Zero, but Mariah kicked out at the two-count. Mariah hurled Toni with a gut wrench suplex, followed by the May Day! Mariah landed a second May Day, but Toni kicked out. Toni stunned Mariah with a running power bomb and then a Storm Zero. Mariah rolled out of the ring, a display of brilliant ring awareness. Mariah crunched Toni with a Storm Zero. Toni cradled Mariah out of nowhere and pinned the champion!
My Score: 4.5 out of 5
Final Verdict: 4/5
What a show! I’ve said this before about AEW, but when this company wants to put on a great show they do that and more… This episode of Grand Slam (and yes, this was an EPISODE of AEW programming, just like Grand Slam was back in September 2024, so stop all your complaining that this wasn’t a PPV) delivered top-tier action in spades. From the opener, which was pretty much guaranteed to be a barn-burner, even on paper, was very much that – setting the bar for the quality of action, the in-ring storytelling and sheer audience satisfaction. It was the kind of match you thought would be hard to beat, but, if you can believe it, the rest of the card did a damn good job of living up to that first match! Mercedes Mone and Harley Cameron pulled it out the bag, with Mone performing in her higher “PPV” gear (because let’s be honest, she doesn’t always give it her all for ‘regular’ TV) and Cameron – who has come on leaps and bounds since she debuted in AEW both as a wrestler AND a performer – managing to go toe-to-toe with the champ and giving us one of her best, if not THE best match of her AEW career. And I think Cameron has something in “mini-Mone” too!
Unfortunately the “Brisbane Brawl” couldn’t deliver anything on par with the first two matches of the night, but still managed to be a hard-hitting fight – even if the highlight of the match wasn’t even in the match, it was the crowd singing Cope’s theme to him before the match started. You could see the emotion almost… almost, get the better of him. And that spark of humanity, that glimmer of “reality” felt more exciting, more visceral, than the match itself. But hey, when you’re a three-star match on a card this strong, it’s not THAT bad! Speaking of strong matches, Okada versus Buddy Matthews was a superb match and one that showed just what being out from Malakai Black’s shadow means for Matthews… Black’s gone, and Matthews gets the spotlight and the chance to shine again against an opponent like Okada and delivers a match like THIS! Tony Khan needs to put a rocket on Matthews as a singles wrestler AND as a tag team wrestler with the under-valued Brody King ASAP.
And that brings us to the main event. Hometown girl Toni Storm gets to take on her arch-nemesis in front of her people. Pretty much guaranteed she was going to bring her A-game when performing for an Aussie crowd and she did just that. The build for this match, which has taken place over months and months, going all the way back to August 2024 when May took the title from Toni, made this one feel like a huge deal and then on top of that Storm was wrestling in front of a home crowd, giving the whole thing a real big-fight feel. And a big fight is what the two delivered, ending Grand Slam: Australia on the same high it started with. My only quibble with the whole show? I would’ve gladly sat through more [non-title] matches, as it is the entire thing felt over before it was done!
