Grand Slam (professional wrestling)

Shawn Michaels – the first WWF Grand Slam winner

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 World Tag Team Championship—the titles that composed the Triple Crown.[1]

In May 2001, the promotion's website 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,[2] 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".[3][4]

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 considered the WWE Tag Team Championship to be an acceptable substitute for the World Tag Team Championship.[5] 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.[1]

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.[6]

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 World, Intercontinental, United States, and WWE Tag Team Championships.[7] Thirteen 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 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.[8][9] To date, only Randy Orton has completed the Grand Slam with a newer title, in his case the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. The Miz, Kofi Kingston, Jeff Hardy, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins, all Grand Slam winners who have each won one of the substitute titles, had already won the original titles on the same tier to complete the Grand Slam.

Chris Jericho 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 22, 2020, there have been 21 individual Grand Slam Champions. Sixteen wrestlers have only achieved it once, seven under the original format and nine 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).

Bayley, who is recognized as the first ever WWE Women's Grand Slam Champion

In May 2019, Bayley was announced as WWE's first ever Women's Grand Slam champion, having won the Raw, SmackDown, and NXT singles championships, and the Tag Team championship.[16][17][18]

A.J. Styles – the first Impact Wrestling Grand Slam winner

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).[21][22]

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.[23][24]. However, on June 4, 2018 during a press conference Austin Aries unified the Grand Championship with the World Championship.[25] Thus any future Grand Slam winners will be limited to those who had already held either the Legends/Global/TV/King of the Mountain title or Grand Championship.

Inaugural ROH Grand Slam winner Christopher Daniels

In 2018, Ring of Honor (ROH) established its 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 was the first 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.[26][27][28] After Jay Lethal won the ROH World Tag Team Championship, he was announced as a Grand Slam Champion since he had won the ROH Pure Championship in the past, indicating that the Pure and Six-Man Tag Team Titles are interchangeable as the fourth component to the ROH Grand Slam.[29][30]

Seth Rollins is the only wrestler to complete both the FCW and WWE Grand Slam

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.[31] All FCW titles were retired when FCW changed its name to NXT.

In the joshi puroresu (women's professional wrestling) promotion Ice Ribbon, the Grand Slam consists of the ICE×60/ICE×∞ Championship, the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship, the Triangle Ribbon Championship and the IW19 Championship.[32]

In Explosive Pro Wrestling (EPW), the Grand Slam consists of the EPW Heavyweight Championship, the EPW Tag Team Championship, the EPW Coastal Championship and the EPW Hardcore Championship.[34][35]