AEW can finally breathe a little easier ahead of Full Gear. After a nationwide flight mess left several wrestlers scrambling to reach Phoenix, Tony Khan has confirmed that everyone needed for tonight’s main pay-per-view card has made it — though the earlier Tailgate Brawl isn’t getting off quite as cleanly.
Khan took to Twitter just hours before Full Gear and announced that every wrestler scheduled for the main PPV card is now in Phoenix. That means AEW won’t have to make any last-minute changes to the advertised Full Gear lineup because of the travel problems.
“Now, the main pay-per-view card is completely unchanged. Everyone we planned to be on this PPV is here now.”
The news comes after Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer reported earlier in the day that a handful of AEW wrestlers still hadn’t arrived for Full Gear. With time running out, AEW had started sending charter flights to retrieve the stranded talent rather than leaving their arrival up to commercial airlines.
“There are a handful of AEW wrestlers that still haven’t made it to Full Gear, but charters are being sent to pick them up.”
Those efforts appear to have worked for the main card, but Khan revealed that AEW wasn’t able to avoid travel-related changes altogether. The Tailgate Brawl scheduled for 7 PM ET has been affected by delays, forcing Khan to reshuffle some of the company’s original plans.
“On the Tailgate Brawl, there have been some delays and changes. I am gonna have to change some plans around, and the brawl is coming up very soon — 7 PM ET.”
The entire situation stems from the nationwide FAA ground stop on November 13 after a telecommunications outage disrupted air traffic control operations. Although domestic flights eventually resumed, the massive backlog of delays and cancellations continued creating problems into Saturday.
AEW was especially vulnerable because not everyone headed to Phoenix immediately after Wednesday’s Dynamite. Some wrestlers had already arrived before the shutdown, while others were still trying to travel when the problems hit.
Whatever scrambling happened behind the scenes, AEW managed to get the people it absolutely needed into Phoenix before bell time. The Tailgate Brawl may look different from what Khan originally envisioned, but the bigger concern heading into Saturday afternoon — whether the Full Gear PPV itself would have to be altered — is officially off the table.
What do you think of AEW using charter flights to make sure its Full Gear lineup stayed intact despite the nationwide travel problems? Let us know what you think in the comments.
