Staff at Arthur Ashe not prepared for the sold-out crowd at AEW: Grand Slam - reports

While AEW fans at home and in attendance loved tonight's Dynamite special AEW: Grand Slam, staff at the arena were reportedly not happy.

According to Andrew Zarian, Arthur Ashe Stadium staff were not prepared for a fully sold-out crowd tonight. More so, the staff was reportedly "overwhelmed" with the audience.

"One negative was that the staff at Arthur Ashe was extremely unprepared for this large of an audience. When speaking to a few people working at the stadium they had no idea it would be a sell out. Not sure how that’s possible," Zarian stated.

Strangely, the arena staff did not know that the stadium would be at near capacity for tonight's event. Event and venue managers possibly underestimated AEW and expected smaller crowds for non-WWE wrestling events.

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AEW sets historical record for ticket sales

Tonight's special edition of Dynamite was a significant moment in wrestling history. It is currently being reported that AEW: Grand Slam sold over 20,000 tickets for tonight's event, making it the second-largest non-WWE wrestling production to take place since 1999.

According to Andrew Zarian, it seems that Tony Khan's company may have set records for New York City wrestling events as well:

“If AEW breaks 20k in attendance would be the most attended Pro Wrestling show in NYC since Show-Down at Shea 1980. Also, WWE had MSG & Felt Forum double sellouts that hit 24,000 many times from 1975-84 (credit to @davemeltzerWON for giving me this fact),” Zarian tweeted.

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Is AEW on the verge of eclipsing WWE in ticket sales in their backyard? Will venues need to expect more from AEW Dynamite? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!