Part of the AEW roster is stuck and has yet to make it to Phoenix, Arizona, a day before Full Gear. According to Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the wrestlers got caught up in the nationwide ground stop the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued on Friday afternoon.
Alvarez explained that many wrestlers flew straight to Phoenix after Dynamite, but others had yet to travel when flights were grounded. He added that the longer the ground stop goes on, the greater the chance of major delays and of some wrestlers missing the show entirely.
“There are people who have been told this ground stop may not be lifted until 8 PM tonight which would be a disaster.”
This isn’t the first time this week AEW has dealt with travel issues. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that part of Wednesday’s Dynamite and Collision in West Valley City, Utah, came together at the last minute because wrestlers coming off Chris Jericho’s cruise were delayed.
Tony Khan confirmed the situation during Thursday’s media call, a day before the ground stop, revealing that Hyan arrived just as the show was starting. As a result, her triple threat match for the TBS Championship against Queen Aminata and Skye Blue was moved to the main event of Collision.
“I had announced some great things for the show and then there were some people that had some issues getting out, which can happen and that’s why it’s good to have contingency plans and I love doing that.”
However, neither Khan nor AEW has commented on Friday’s travel issues yet.
The FAA grounded departing flights nationwide at 3:54 p.m. ET after a temporary communications failure affected regional air traffic control centers. According to FlightAware, nearly 7,000 flights have been delayed or canceled so far, and the FAA has yet to confirm when departures will resume. This is only the third nationwide ground stop in U.S. history, with the other two coming after the September 11, 2001, attacks and an FAA system failure in January 2023.
Full Gear is set for Saturday at the Mortgage Matchup Center, with the pre-show at 7 p.m. ET and the main card at 8 p.m. ET. If any of the affected wrestlers can’t make it in time, AEW will need to change a card with at least seven titles on the line.