AEW: Kyle Fletcher on Importance of His Ladder Match Against Mark Briscoe, “F*ck ICE” Chants Break Out at AEW Grand Slam Australia 2026, Willow Nightingale on “I Think A Lot Of The Hardcore Stuff Is Core To Our Women’s Division At AEW”

Kyle Fletcher Comments on Importance of His Ladder Match Against Mark Briscoe

A recent episode of the Downunder The Ring podcast featured Kyle Fletcher as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Fletcher’s thoughts about the importance of his Ladder match against Mark Brsicoe for the TNT Championship at Grand Slam Australia 2026 and his rivalry with Briscoe in AEW.

“It is very important to me because that first match I had with Mark Briscoe was for the Ring of Honor World Championship. We had only ever touched once before in a tag team match with him and his brother Jay — RIP Jay, you are dearly missed. With Mark, it was one of those things where it was instant chemistry. I came back from that match knowing he was one of my wrestling soulmates. I felt that good. Obviously, didn’t come out with the win that day. We have very similar paths, which is why that chemistry might have been there from the get go. I lost that first encounter, so I kind of had that chip on my shoulder of, ‘Yes, that was a blast to be in the ring with him, but I need to get that win back.’ Second match, Continental Classic, lost that one. It’s been one of those things where I’ve been out to prove that I am better than him, and show how far I’ve come since that first match.

We’re 3-3, it’s all tied up, it makes sense. It’s 2026, we need to find out who the best is. The last match we had was No DQ. We went crazy. If we’re going to put a full stop at the end of this story, this rivalry of us, it needs to be the biggest and best. I’m out there every night to prove how God damn good I am. I want to be the best TNT Champion of all time and I want to put this rivalry to be. There is no better way than to make it the biggest and best match of the series and make it a ladder match. Being in my hometown, I want to make it as big of a spectacle as possible.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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“F*ck ICE” Chants Break Out at AEW Grand Slam Australia 2026

AEW held their Grand Slam Australia 2026 event earlier today at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. This show was not aired live due to time zone differences and will air later tonight as a taped show on TNT and HBO MAX in the United States.

This show was notable for the crowd chanting “Fuck ICE” prior to the start of the AEW World Championship match between Brody King and MJF.

Partial spoiler for #AEWGrandSlam. There was a Fuck ICE chant from the crowd prior to the start of MJF vs Brody King.

King has been very vocal in his anti-ICE stance in recent months, including wearing an Abolish ICE shirt on AEW programming last year. pic.twitter.com/83wyFxo6ct

— Poletti (they/them) (@ItsPoletti) February 14, 2026

This is the second time in three weeks that an anti-ICE chant broke out during an AEW show. The chants were in reference and support of King being an outspoken critic about his issues with ICE and their controversial actions towards American citizens and immigrants in recent months.

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Willow Nightingale Comments on “I Think A Lot Of The Hardcore Stuff Is Core To Our Women’s Division At AEW”

A recent episode of the Downunder The Ring podcast featured Babes of Wrath (Willow Nightingale & Harley Cameron) as the guests. One of the topics discussed included Nightingale’s thoughts about AEW holding their first ever Women’s Blood & Guts match close to WWE’s Women’s WarGames match at Survivor Series 2025 event and how the hardcore style is a core piece of AEW’s Women’s division.

“I would never comment on any way that a different company would present their show. I think there are amazing people, wrestling everywhere. But I do think… if you wanna talk about identities of divisions, I think a lot of the hardcore stuff is core to our identity at AEW — the women’s division specifically. I think obviously people look at women, especially in wrestling, it’s like, oh, we gotta get all dolled up, we gotta put our makeup on. We gotta be beautiful, we have to be feminine. But, just because we’re feminine doesn’t necessarily mean we’re frail or delicate. So we can go out there and really just have this visceral, aggressive kind of match and not even necessarily hold our own. We can kind of rule it. We can kick butt. So I always felt like that was a special identity of our women’s division. It’s like, we do have that duality of beauty and blood, and I think to be part of the first-ever women’s Blood & Guts is a great honor and a lot of fun, and pain.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com