On a day when the nation's skies went quiet and millions of travelers found themselves stranded, a wrestling company in the American Southwest faced a small, human version of that larger disruption: how to bring its performers together for one of its most important nights of the year. The answer, as it often is in moments like this, came through a mix of private generosity, improvised journeys, and the stubborn determination of people who had built their lives around showing up. Tony Khan, the company's owner, chose to spend resources that few others could, sending private planes to gather his
AEW Chartered Private Jets and Drove Talent to Phoenix for Full Gear Amid Nationwide Flight Chaos
My car is still in Asheville. I'm glad I'm here.
Mark
So the headline is private jets. But what actually happened here?
Mimi
Flights were grounded nationwide, and AEW's owner, Tony Khan, sent private planes to three hub locations to collect wrestlers and staff. Others just drove.
Mark
Some of these journeys sound brutal.
Mimi
Jake Doyle drove to Detroit, then Chicago, then sat on a jet for eight hours. Mark Davis tried to get from Tampa to Orlando for a flight and couldn't.
Luke
Worth noting how much of this is Khan's own account. He says it was very unlikely everyone would have arrived without the jets. That's his judgment, not something anyone verified.
Mimi
Fair. He also said everybody probably would have made their scheduled flights at first, then pointed to the volume of cancelations. The only confirmed card change is the Tailgate Brawl moving to the pre-show.
Mark
And the wrestlers' stories?
Luke
Those are firsthand, but they're also promotional. Everyone says they'd never miss Full Gear, which is what you'd expect them to say on the day of the show.
Mimi
True, but the details are concrete. Schiavone's car is still in Asheville, and Copeland's rebooked flight was for the next day at 5:37.
Luke
What we don't know is how many people were moved by plane versus car, or what it cost. The report doesn't say.
Mark
So the open question is scale.
Mimi
Yes, and whether the disruption touches other events this week.
O Pulso
- A nationwide ground stoppage left planes idle across the country just as AEW's Full Gear pay-per-view approached in Phoenix.
- Wrestlers and broadcasters scrambled in every direction, with one flight canceled after another while others took off.
- Tony Khan dispatched private jets to three hub cities, turning a travel crisis into a scramble of cars, planes, and long drives.
- Davis and Doyle hit the roughest route, from a failed Florida flight to a Detroit-Chicago detour and eight hours on a jet, while the Young Bucks simply drove from California.
- Every person on the Full Gear card reached Phoenix, with only the Tailgate Brawl moved to the pre-show, and the main card now heads to HBO Max at 8 p.m. ET.
On a day when the nation's skies went quiet and millions of travelers found themselves stranded, a wrestling company in the American Southwest faced a small, human version of that larger disruption: how to bring its performers together for one of its most important nights of the year. The answer, as it often is in moments like this, came through a mix of private generosity, improvised journeys, and the stubborn determination of people who had built their lives around showing up. Tony Khan, the company's owner, chose to spend resources that few others could, sending private planes to gather his roster, and the result was a reminder of how fragile our ordinary expectations of movement really are.
Adam Copeland was strapped into a plane on a runway, ready to head to Denver, when the pilot announced a nationwide ground stoppage. He called his wife, Beth Phoenix, who came to get him, and he went home. That was how a day began in which All Elite Wrestling had to get its entire roster to Phoenix for Full Gear while flight cancelations stranded travelers across the country.
Tony Khan answered with private planes sent to three hub cities. In a video, he acknowledged how hard the past few days had been for many people and said AEW was in the same position as everyone else, with no intention of bending any rules. He later said everyone on the card had made it to Phoenix, and the only casualty was the Tailgate Brawl, which moved to the pre-show. Without the jets, he believed it was very unlikely everyone would have arrived.
The journeys themselves told the story. Copeland's rebooked flight was not until the next day, so Khan's plane picked him up instead, and broadcaster Tony Schiavone spent a cheerful morning at Copeland's home, meeting his dogs and daughters over coffee while they waited. Schiavone, who had abandoned a last-minute Atlanta flight for a small plane out of Asheville, arrived in Phoenix in the afternoon, leaving his car behind. Davis and Doyle had the hardest road, with Davis running across Florida after a failed flight and Doyle driving through Detroit and Chicago before eight hours on a private jet.
The Young Bucks, who were already in California, simply drove to Phoenix, and the broadcast team of Excalibur and Nigel McGuinness made long drives of their own. Everyone in AEW, Excalibur said, felt the same pull: if there was any way to be there, they would be.
Adam Copeland was strapped in on a runway, about to take off for Denver, when the pilot announced a nationwide ground stoppage. He called his wife, Beth Phoenix, who came to pick him up, and he went home. That was the start of a day in which All Elite Wrestling had to get its roster to Phoenix for Full Gear, one of its biggest pay-per-views of the year, while flight cancelations disrupted travel for millions across the country.
AEW owner Tony Khan responded by dispatching private planes to three hub locations to collect wrestlers and other personnel. In a video posted to social media, he acknowledged it had been a hard few days for many people and offered sympathy to everyone affected. He said all flights, private and commercial, were grounded the day before, that AEW was in the same position as everyone else, and that the company was not trying to break any rules. A plan, he said, started to take shape from there.
Khan said everyone on the Full Gear card made it to Phoenix. The only change was to the Tailgate Brawl, which will now take place on the pre-show. He also gave his own assessment of what might have happened otherwise: with so many flights canceled for people who work for the company, he thought it very unlikely everyone would have arrived without the planes, and he expected there would have been changes to the main card.
Copeland, who faces Kazuchika Okada for the AEW International Championship, described the trip from the East Coast as challenging. His flights were canceled one after another while others began taking off, and his rebooked flight was not until 5:37 the next day. Khan's plane picked him up instead. Broadcaster Tony Schiavone arrived early at Copeland's home, around 9 a.m., though takeoff was not expected until about 11, so Copeland invited him in for coffee. Schiavone met Copeland's dogs, Copeland's daughters met Schiavone, and Copeland said they made the best of it.
Schiavone had been due to fly out of Atlanta, but at the last minute chose a smaller plane out of Asheville, North Carolina, wary of delays or cancelations. He arrived in Phoenix around 2 p.m. local time, and his car is still in Asheville. He said he would have driven the 27 hours to Phoenix if there had been time.
The tag team Davis and Doyle, challenging The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, had the roughest route. Mark Davis ran across Florida, going from Tampa to Orlando in a failed attempt to get a flight. Jake Doyle drove to Detroit, then to Chicago, then sat on a private jet for eight hours waiting to get to Phoenix. Doyle thanked Khan for the jet and said he felt no sympathy for the Bucks.
The Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson, had the shortest problem. They were in California and drove to Phoenix, a six-hour trip they used to plan for the match. Matt Jackson said they would have used planes, trains, or automobiles to get there.
The broadcast team made the trip too. Excalibur, at the gym when he got a text about the chaos, drove five hours from Southern California and said everyone in AEW shared the feeling that if there was any way to be there, they would be. Nigel McGuinness drove from Los Angeles, saying he has never missed a show and was not going to miss this one.
The main card begins at 8 p.m. ET on HBO Max.
Citações Notáveis
I think it's very unlikely everybody would have made it here without the private planes; there probably would have been changes to the main card.— Tony Khan, AEW owner (paraphrased)
There was no way I was gonna miss Full Gear.— Nigel McGuinness, AEW broadcaster
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