Tag: AEW Business

Tony Khan: AEW will gross over $100 million in 2022

Posted on by Josh Nason

AEW head Tony Khan said on Wrestling Observer Radio that the company will gross over $100 million in 2022.

“This is the first time there have been two wrestling companies that have the ability to be the number one show that night on cable and two wrestling companies that are grossing the kind of money…I’m not grossing a billion dollars, but I’m going to gross over $100 million this year. That’s pretty unprecedented and it’s been over 20 years since anybody is doing that. To me, success is sustaining it,” he said.

Unlike WWE, AEW is not part of a public company where they have to reveal their finances.

The news comes on the heels of Khan revealing that All Out is his third-straight PPV that has generated $1 million in live gate revenue and that he hopes this month’s Grand Slam will hit that mark.

Khan said he has had to be conservative with his spending, but that he feels the smartest way to spend his money is on talent.

Khan said when AEW launched, he had “eight figures in commitments across the roster.”

One of those conservative areas is how he has done touring, which has frustrated some on the west coast of the U.S. and overseas with a lack of shows. Khan said he plans on doing “a lot more” west coast dates in 2023.

He said the price that he paid for Ring of Honor was less than what Jim Crockett paid Bill Watts for Mid-South Wrestling which Dave Meltzer said was $4.2 million.

One potential area of revenue is making their archived content available via a streaming service in addition to a weekly TV deal with Ring of Honor. When asked about a WWE Network-esque offering, Khan said he couldn’t answer without running afoul of Warner Bros. Discovery, but that they are continuing to talk about both.

He also gave an interesting answer when answering critics that he is doing too much in AEW and in general.

“I have seen that the most successful way to run a wrestling promotion is to manage everything from the top down and not let people screw you. If you turn your back in this business, people will screw you at every turn, I’ve learned — not just the people that work for you, but anyone from the outside if you show weakness,” he said.

Tony Khan: AEW All Out surpasses $1 million in ticket sales

Posted on by Josh Nason

According to AEW’s Tony Khan, tonight’s All Out pay-per-view in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, has surpassed $1 million ticket sales.

During his appearance on Wrestling Observer Radio, Khan said they surpassed the mark on Saturday.

He also said it’s their third-straight AEW PPV that surpassed the mark which includes May’s Double or Nothing in Las Vegas and June’s Forbidden Door with NJPW.

Khan took to Twitter Saturday night to reveal the news, in addition to the success of Dynamite on Wednesday nights:

Khan will also be hoping to surpass his pay-per-view record of 205,000 buys for last year’s All Out. For the calendar year, All Out will have to beat March’s Revolution that did between 165,000-173,000.

Khan said he is hoping to surpass the mark for September’s Grand Slam event in Queens, New York, as they barely missed the number last year ($960,000). It would be their first-ever $1 million gate for a weekly TV show.

He said their Los Angeles debut in June did roughly $900,000 for a live gate.

He thinks that for their two nights combined in Toronto in October, they will surpass $1 million as well in Canadian dollars.

JNPO: A different take on WWE & AEW TV rights, ratings & demos

Posted on by Josh Nason

This is a free podcast. Just scroll down and click to listen.

With wrestling ratings and TV rights talk basically a daily occurence ’round these parts, I have wanted to get a different take on the subject from someone outside the wrestling media bubble that still understands the product but doesn’t have a lean one way or another.

I found one.

On this week’s Punch-Out, I talk to New York Post sports media & entertainment reporter and wrestling fan Ryan Glasspiegel. 

Ryan and I talked for 30 minutes about what his wrestling intake is like and how he has viewed the current landscape of both WWE and AEW through his reporting lens.

We talk about whether ratings or demos matter to advertisers and networks, if he thinks WWE will sell the company, if AEW needs more suitors and how streaming services may get involved.

Join us for this free and fascinating conversation from someone outside our intense wrestling media bubble.

Click Here To Listen

AEW adds Madison Rayne as coach, announces talent relations promotions

Posted on by Josh Nason

AEW announced on Wednesday that they are expanding their talent relations team, promoting four familiar names within that group, and bringing on former Impact women’s wrestler Madison Rayne as a coach for the women’s division.

Rayne begins her new role tonight as Dynamite heads to her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. The 36-year-old was part of Impact’s last set of TV tapings in Louisville, Kentucky, where she lost to Masha Slamovich and Mia Yim, respectively. It’s unclear if the five-time Knockouts Champion and three-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion will continue to wrestle in any capacity.

Sonjay Dutt, QT Marshall, Pat Buck and Tony Schiavone have all received promotions — three of which are to the vice president level.

Dutt is now the VP of production & creative coordination where “he will coordinate communication of AEW storylines, liaise between post-production and key staff to maintain content workflow, produce ancillary content and mentor new producers.”

Marshall is now VP of show & creative coordination, helping to “manage show elements including planning programs and storylines, character development, overseeing extras and live event logistics coordination.” He will also continue to wrestle.

Buck is now VP of talent development where he “will liaise with talent and production, oversee all coaches, provide input on matches and promos, and lead the talent relations team.”

Schiavone received a promotion to senior producer and special advisor to talent where he will “work directly with talent as part of the Talent Relations team.”

Additionally, AEW announced that Christopher Daniels will continue to serve as manager of talent relations.

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door does estimated 125,000-127,000 PPV buys

Posted on by Josh Nason

A big question going into last Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door was how it would perform on pay-per-view given the short time to build and promote it on TV with new faces, and whether AEW fans cared about the concept to begin with.

The question has been answered as the show did an estimated 125,000-127,000 buys, according to Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Meltzer said the early estimate shows streaming buys (BR, FITE.tv) down 18% while traditional cable buys are down nearly 24%. 

The show resonated more with American fans than not. 80% of the total buys were from inside the United States which he said is a higher percentage than normal. BR numbers were down slightly from Double or Nothing and Revolution, while European FITE and cable buys weren’t nearly as good.

Meltzer said the PPV got just 7000 buys on New Japan World, but it also aired live from 8 AM to 1 PM local time on Monday in Japan.

The number comes on the heels of May’s Double or Nothing which brought in 155,000 buys. This is the first time AEW has held PPVs on back-to-back months.

February’s Revolution did 173,000 buys, their best of the year so far. They will look to top that with September’s All Out which did a company best 205,000 buys last year.

This week, Tony Khan said Forbidden Door brought in more than $5 million in PPV sales and $1 million in ticket sales:

AEW Revolution brings in 110,000 streaming buys, trending toward their second-highest purchased PPV ever

Posted on by Ian Carey

AEW Revolution is trending to be one of the company’s most successful pay-per-views in their history. 

Dave Meltzer reported on Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Radio that streaming numbers for the show on Bleacher Report and FITE.tv were 110,000. He said that depending on how well it did on cable and satellite, Revolution could finish between a low of 146,000 and a high of between 165,000 and 170,000 buys. 

That would put it second all-time in the promotion’s history of PPV buys behind only 2021’s All Out. 

Each of AEW’s last five PPVs have brought in over 115,000 buys. Previously, the most purchased AEW PPV was Double or Nothing in 2020 which did 105,000 buys.  

Last November’s Full Gear brought in 150,000 buys and $4 million in revenue. The company’s top PPV of all time was the aforementioned All Out last September featuring CM Punk’s first match in over seven years. That show did a company-best 205,000 buys.

Revolution in 2021 featured the exploding barbed wire deathmatch between World Champion Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley. That did 145,000 buys while 2020’s Revolution 2020 did 111,000 buys.