The Grand Slam is an accomplishment in professional wrestling. It is a distinction given to a professional wrestler who has won four specific championships within a promotion throughout the course of their career. National promotions that recognize this include WWE, Impact Wrestling, and Ring of Honor (ROH). Notable independent promotions include Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). The four titles typically include three singles championships plus a tag team championship. The singles championships include a primary, secondary, and tertiary championship.
Video Grand Slam (professional wrestling)
National promotions
WWE
In WWE (formerly WWF), the term "Grand Slam" was originally used by Shawn Michaels to describe himself upon winning the European Championship on September 20, 1997. Michaels previously held the WWF Championship, Intercontinental Championship, and the Tag Team Championship with Diesel.
In May 2001, WWF.com indicated that the Hardcore Championship was an acceptable substitute for the European Championship in the Grand Slam. Kane, who had defeated Triple H for the Intercontinental Championship at Judgment Day on May 20, 2001, was acknowledged as a Grand Slam winner as he had "become the only superstar in World Wrestling Federation history that has held the Intercontinental title as well as the Hardcore, Tag Team and WWF titles".
In April 2006, Kurt Angle was noted as being a former Grand Slam winner on WWE.com, having won the WWE, WWE Tag Team, Intercontinental, and European Championship, indicating that WWE considers the WWE Tag Team Championship to be an acceptable substitute for the World Tag Team Championship. In August 2007, WWE.com published an article listing Shawn Michaels' championship reigns that completed the Grand Slam. They included the WWE, World Heavyweight, World Tag Team, Intercontinental, and European Championship. The inclusion of the World Heavyweight Championship indicated that WWE considered the title to be an acceptable substitute for the WWE Championship in completing the Grand Slam.
At ECW One Night Stand in June 2006, Rob Van Dam became the first superstar acquired by WWE after the purchase of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001 to complete the Grand Slam when he defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship. Booker T became the second star acquired by the purchase to complete the Grand Slam when he defeated Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash in July 2006. Booker has held the World Tag Team, Intercontinental, and Hardcore titles.
Following WrestleMania 31 in 2015, WWE (which four years earlier ended the brand extension and unified several titles before that) established an updated version of the Grand Slam consisting of the four then-active men's titles in WWE: the WWE, Intercontinental, United States, and WWE Tag Team Championships. Twelve wrestlers have been recognized as Grand Slam winners under these new parameters (including five who were already recognized as Grand Slam winners under the original guidelines).
The brand extension was re-established in 2016, and with that WWE indicated that two new championships that had been introduced, the WWE Universal Championship and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, count as acceptable substitutes for their counterpart titles (WWE Championship and WWE Tag Team - now Raw Tag Team - respectively) as part of the Grand Slam. As of March 2018, Randy Orton is the only wrestler to complete the Grand Slam with one of these substitutes, in his case the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
Chris Jericho has completed the original format the fastest, completing it in 728 days between December 1999 and December 2001, while Kurt Angle completed the modern format the fastest, completing it in 966 days between February 2000 and October 2002.
As of June 2, 2018, there have been 19 individual Grand Slam Champions. Fourteen wrestlers have only achieved it once, seven under the original format and seven under the modern format, while five wrestlers have achieved the Grand Slam under both formats, three of whom automatically became modern Grand Slam champions at the introduction of the modern format (with the same titles they won while becoming original Grand Slam champions), and two who became modern Grand Slam champions after the modern format was introduced (with different titles won to complete both formats).
Guide
Original format
Modern format
Impact Wrestling
The first Impact Wrestling Grand Slam winner, then known as the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) Grand Slam, was crowned on March 15, 2009, at TNA's Destination X pay-per-view event. At said event, then three-time TNA Triple Crown champion A.J. Styles defeated Booker T for the TNA Legends Championship. On the March 19 episode of TNA's primary television program, TNA Impact!, announcer Mike Tenay stated that Styles had become the first TNA Grand Slam winner by capturing the World Heavyweight (NWA or TNA), World Tag Team (NWA) or TNA), X Division, and Legends Championships (The Legends Championship was subsequently renamed the Global, Television, and King of the Mountain Championship, before being fully retired).
The following is a list of Impact Grand Slam winners with dates indicating when the wrestler first won the respective championship. Under TNA's definition of the Grand Slam, wrestlers are eligible to be a multiple Grand Slam winner each time they complete a new circuit. Thus far, only A.J. Styles has won the Grand Slam on more than one occasion.
On August 15, 2016, the TNA King of the Mountain Championship was once again retired when Lashley unified the title into his TNA World Heavyweight Championship. In a March 26, 2018, article on the Impact Wrestling website, the eligibility of the Impact Grand Championship, which replaced the King of the Mountain Championship, as a Grand Slam title was confirmed.
Ring of Honor
In 2018, Ring of Honor (ROH) established their own version of the Grand Slam, which consists of the ROH World Championship, ROH World Television Championship, ROH World Tag Team Championship, and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. Christopher Daniels is the first and thus far only wrestler to achieve this feat, doing so at the ROH 16th Anniversary Show, when he won the Six-Man titles to complete the Grand Slam.
Maps Grand Slam (professional wrestling)
Regional/independent promotions
Florida Championship Wrestling
In Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's former developmental territory, a Grand Slam winner was a wrestler who had won every championship that was available in FCW. All FCW titles were retired when FCW changed its name to NXT.
IWA Puerto Rico
In IWA Puerto Rico, a Grand Slam winner is a wrestler who has won the IWA Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship, IWA Intercontinental Championship, IWA World Tag Team Championship, IWA Hardcore Championship and IWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
See also
- Triple Crown (professional wrestling)
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments