ConfirmedAEW

Ground Stop Lifted; AEW and TNA Travel Still in Question

Summary: The FAA lifted its nationwide ground stop at 8:15 PM ET on Friday, Nov. 13, after more than four hours. AEW's Full Gear is Saturday in Phoenix and TNA's Destination X is Sunday in Edmonton. No changes have been reported.

WrestlingNews.com Staff · 3 min read

The quick version

  • The FAA halted all departing U.S. flights from about 4 PM ET on Friday, Nov. 13, and lifted the stop at 8:15 PM ET, per CNBC and CBS News. Delays and cancellations were expected to run into the weekend.
  • Wrestling Observer's Bryan Alvarez reported that some AEW wrestlers who had not yet left for Phoenix were stranded. He did not name anyone.
  • AEW Full Gear is Saturday, Nov. 14, in Phoenix. TNA Destination X is Sunday, Nov. 15, in Edmonton. None of the outlets we read reported a change to either card.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its nationwide ground stop at 8:15 PM ET on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, ending a halt on departing flights that began around 4 PM ET, per CNBC and CBS News. Wrestling outlets spent the afternoon asking what it would do to a weekend with two pay-per-views. This story separates what is known from what is not. We did not contact AEW or TNA.

What the FAA did

CNBC reports the FAA stopped all departures for more than four hours after a communications failure hit multiple air traffic control centers. CBS News says Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced at a Friday night briefing that the airspace was open again, and warned that flights would be slow to resume. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication of an attack. CNBC says more than 10,000 flights were disrupted and that cancellations would stretch into the weekend. PWInsider's Mike Johnson wrote that domestic flights could resume, hopefully letting AEW, TNA and independent talent reach their events.

What was reported about wrestling

Alvarez, writing for F4W Online, said many AEW wrestlers flew to Phoenix straight from the Nov. 11 Dynamite and Collision tapings, but others had not left and were stranded. His warning, as Wrestling Headlines and Ringside News print it: "The longer this goes the greater the likelihood of major delays and people not making it there at all." He added that some had been told the stop might last until 8 PM. It ended at 8:15 PM ET. Alvarez did not say who was stranded. Ringside News notes there was no confirmation that any Full Gear match had been changed.

On TNA, Alvarez wrote that most people working Destination X were due to fly in on Saturday. Ringside News adds that the show is Sunday at the Edmonton EXPO Centre and that a delay could leave wrestlers struggling to arrive on time. That is concern, not a reported problem.

WWE looked safe. Alvarez wrote that WWE usually flies talent to TV the day before, so SmackDown should be unaffected. He also said the NXT live event crew had already arrived for its Friday show in Cleveland, per Wrestling Headlines and eWrestlingNews. The NXT tour continues in Detroit on Saturday and Chicago on Sunday. CM Punk is advertised for those two shows.

What it means for the card

Our reading: Full Gear is the first test, because its bell is Saturday night and AEW has less slack than TNA, which has a day more. AEW has been here this week. Tony Khan said on Nov. 12 that flight problems after the Jericho Cruise forced changes to the Nov. 11 shows. See our Khan story. That show was rebuilt around late arrivals. A full pay-per-view card has less room to do that. Airlines were still cancelling flights Friday night, per CNBC.

What we do not know

  • Which AEW or TNA wrestlers, if any, could not get a flight.
  • Whether AEW or TNA will change a match or a lineup because of travel. Neither had said so in the pages we read.
  • How quickly airlines clear the backlog on Saturday.

If a card changes, we will report it.

How we know

Source: CNBC (Leslie Josephs) and CBS News (Kierra Frazier, Faris Tanyos) for the FAA facts; PWInsider (Mike Johnson) for its Friday posts; Bryan Alvarez of F4W Online as quoted by Wrestling Headlines (Matt Boone), eWrestlingNews (Ryan Clark) and Ringside News (Steve Carrier). We read all of these pages. We did not read Alvarez's own posts or contact AEW or TNA. The Alvarez claims about stranded talent are his reports; we cannot confirm them.

AEW Full GearTNA Destination XFAA ground stopBryan AlvarezWWE NXT

Sources

How we credit sources: Editorial standards.

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