Backstage Report On AEW & Madison Square Garden After Wrestlers Express Interest

Since its inception in 2019, AEW has held events in some of the most iconic venues in all of sport. Wembley Stadium in London, Arena Mexico in Mexico City, and Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City, but there's another famous venue in New York that has alluded AEW since the very beginning, Madison Square Garden. 

"The World's Most Famous Arena" is a cornerstone of the wrestling business, and several AEW stars, including The Young Bucks and MJF, have recently come out separately and said that their dream venue for an AEW show is MSG, causing many fans to speculate whether a show at MSG is on the horizon. However, that is not the case as Dave Meltzer wrote in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW does not have anything booked for MSG. 

Meltzer noted that if AEW did manage to run MSG, the company would be able to sell out the building fairly easily, especially if it was for a pay-per-view. With that said, the arena is extremely expensive to shoot television out of between venue and union costs, meaning that the aforementioned Arthur Ashe Stadium, or the Louis Armstrong Stadium where AEW Double or Nothing 2026 is being held, is much more cost effective despite not being in Manhattan.

There was a chance for AEW to run MSG in the past as company President Tony Khan revealed in late 2025 that the first-ever episode of "AEW Dynamite" was originally slated to take place at the famous venue. A date was offered to the company and it was on the cards for AEW's flagship show to debut in New York City. However, the people who offered Khan the date ended up leaving their positions, and the people who took over rescinded the offer as they felt it would anger WWE.