AEW began as a mainstream wrestling rival promotion in 2019 and has since grown massively in numbers; however, the promotion’s philosophy has changed over the years as well.
Initially, as fans might remember, both AEW and Khan would often take direct shots at WWE on television or publicly. Speaking to Jonathan Coachman and Vince Russo, Khan believes they have now overcome that phase and the “collective rebel spirit” approach they once had in AEW.
Now Khan looks forward to focusing on and developing AEW rather than talking about his competition.
“I changed my approach. At the beginning of AEW, there really was a collective rebel spirit. Now, I think AEW is very established, and people know AEW has a quality product and a lot of fans. I do want to grow that fanbase, but the way I would do something now might be different than how I would have done it six or seven years ago,” Khan said.
“I also think it’s possible that Vince Russo, Vince McMahon, and DX could succeed by zigging at one point where I might succeed by zagging at another point. There are different ways to get to success, and I’ve got my ideas and my way, but I can learn from different people. I might not incorporate every aspect of it, but I do want to hear your thoughts and ideas. I think the AEW fans would agree that I’ve refined my own media strategy, and people have seen me trying to take the high road,” he continued.
“Some of it is the fact that I believe in taking the high road when possible. I feel like by taking the high road, that’s rubbed people the right way. I’m not saying I’m trying to kill people with kindness, but being nice to people has gotten me a long way, and I’ve been trying to do it more in recent years.“
Tons of news! Join on-air personality Denise Salcedo as she reviews this super newsworthy edition of AEW Dynamite — this includes Tony Khan’s major announcement that he has purchased Ring of Honor, plus lots more! Join for a fun and lively show!
Topics Rundown:
— Tony Khan purchases Ring of Honor, pros of this announcement
— Bryan Danielson wrestles Christopher Daniels, Moxley confrontation
— Casino Tag Team Royale, Darius Martin returns
— CM Punk and MJF bloody confrontation
— Will Thunder Rosa win The AEW Women’s Championship?
— MJF slaps Wardlow- when is enough, enough?
— Matches announced for AEW Rampage
— Main Event: trios tag, The War of the Adams
Denise will return this Friday to chat AEW Rampage and WWE SmackDown! Plus she will be LIVE on Monday to chat AEW Revolution!
AEW president Tony Khan appeared on a media call today discussing this Sunday’s Revolution event, Cody Rhodes, free agents, and more.
Regarding the big announcement:
Khan opened the media call by taking a question regarding tonight’s big announcement on Dynamite. Khan did not offer new information, but emphasized that it would be good for both AEW and pro wrestling.
Streaming service:
When asked if a streaming service for AEW content was in the plans, Khan said that it is “absolutely” something that they were looking at, saying it would be good for the fans and the younger fanbase. He mentioned that streaming was more a part of younger people’s lives.
On Cody Rhodes:
Khan reiterated his appreciation for Cody and Brandi Rhodes and wished them the best. When asked why he didn’t pick up Cody’s extension, Khan said that he was looking for a longer deal beyond the option years, but negotiations fell through and were unable to come to terms for a new deal.
Later, when asked if Revolution will do well without Cody, Khan mentioned that Cody wasn’t on this past year’s All Out event and that did well, and pay-per-views without Cody have done well before.
Jeff Hardy and Cesaro:
Khan said it wasn’t a “foregone conclusion” that Jeff Hardy would be signing with the company. He said he likes Jeff Hardy but he is obligated to “another company” for a few more days. Khan said that Hardy was a nice person, would fit in well, and he would love to have him.
When Cesaro’s name was brought up, Khan praised him as a great athlete with amazing strength, and is a name that he is open to bringing in.
Growth:
When a question was asked about African American viewership ratings and how they were low compared to WWE, Khan said that they want to be consistent in growing that audience and mentioned Jade Cargill getting a big push and diversity with champions and talent as examples of growing that audience.
Dave Meltzer asked a question about heading into 2023 and 2024 being stronger as a company ahead of TV deal negotiations. Khan said that they were looking to do that, pointing out AEW’s success on cable television and has experienced growth year over year. He said that TBS and TNT were happy with AEW’s performance.
Managing the roster:
Regarding handling the number of people on the roster, Khan emphasized the deal with TNT that gave them a third hour of wrestling with Rampage. He mentioned that it helped “tremendously”, and as a result are able to feature both established and younger talent.
On AEW Revolution:
Khan agreed with a question asking if Revolution 2022 would set the stage for the year, saying that they always try to put on strong pay-per-views.
While he was open to the idea of Britt Baker vs. Thunder Rosa to close out Revolution, Khan said that the Adam Cole vs. Hangman Adam Page match would close out the show on Sunday. He said that choosing the match order is something he puts a lot of effort into and finds it challenging.
Khan also put over the events that are being held this weekend beyond Revolution, including the concert by Mikey Ruckus, the fan fest, and AEW Dark tapings. He also mentioned that RJ City is in Orlando to create content.
The upcoming video game:
Regarding the AEW video game, Khan said that talent were recording voice tracks this week and content is being worked on for Dark regarding fan reactions. He said that more updates would hopefully take place soon.
On touring:
Khan said that AEW is definitely looking forward to more shows in the west coast. He mentioned that most venues they have been running were a result of shows they had to postpone during the pandemic. Regarding the United Kingdom, Khan mentioned that they were “absolutely” looking at UK dates, bringing up Craven Cottage as a venue he would like to run.
Regarding the move from the MGM Grand to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for this year’s Double or Nothing, Khan said they were looking for bigger, modern arenas for bigger shows, mentioning that he was looking forward to the challenge.
Trios titles:
When a question was brought up regarding the idea of trios titles, Khan said he thinks there is a lot of interest, and he is interested as well. He said he wanted to be blunt with his response, saying that he would be more interested in the idea when Kenny Omega returns from injury, saying Omega would make the division much stronger. He said AEW could have the best trios division anyone has ever had, and would love Kenny Omega to be part of that.
Revolution, which takes place on March 6, has the following card:
Hangman Adam Page vs. Adam Cole for the AEW World Championship
CM Punk vs. MJF in a dog collar match
Britt Baker vs. Thunder Rosa for the AEW Women’s World Championship
A Face of the Revolution ladder match featuring Keith Lee, Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Orange Cassidy, and one more person to be determined
Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston
Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley
Jurrassic Express vs. reDRagon vs. a team to be determined for the AEW World Tag Team titles
Andrade El Idolo, Matt Hardy, and Isiah Kassidy vs. Darby Allin, Sting, and Sammy Guevara in a tornado trios match
Jade Cargill vs. Tay Conti for the AEW TBS Championship
AEW founder, president and head of creative Tony Khan conducted a media call today ahead of this Sunday’s All Out where he discussed relationships, collaborating with CM Punk, the future of AEW Dark, and the possibility of adding trios titles.
You can hear the audio by scrolling down and clicking the red button.
On CM Punk:
Khan talked about how talks with Punk went back 18 months and how in that regard, All Out has been building for that long. He said that he is enjoying both collaborating with Punk and building a relationship. He said that some of the things that Punk was asked to do before he left wrestling in 2014 didn’t make any sense to Khan, and that he has told Punk to let him know if he ever asks him to do something he’s uncomfortable with or that would be bad for his career.
On booking All Out:
Khan said that the card is the strongest that AEW has presented. He said that for the past week, he has been working close to 24 hour days between Fulham, the Jacksonville Jaguars and AEW. Khan said that figuring out the match order for All Out was actually easy and that when he’s shared that information with other people, they seem to agree on the match order. He said that he got the match order right on his first pass.
On AEW Dark’s future:
Khan said that Dark will be taped at Universal Studios in Orlando most weeks as he wants it to have the feel of the old WCW Worldwide show. He said that by moving Dark to its own taping rather than the same night as Rampage, he and the other AEW coaches will have the opportunity to devote more energy and time to the characters and talent on that show. He said that AEW Dark: Elevation will still be taped before Dynamite.
On the possibility of adding a trios championship to AEW:
Khan said that he was open to the idea and that it would make sense, but that they already fit a lot of stories into Dynamite and Rampage and nothing is imminent. He said that he used to book more trios matches for a variety of reasons, especially when Dynamite was running out of Daily’s Place every week.
On Jon Moxley:
Khan said that Jon Moxley’s forthcoming book is one of the best wrestling books in many years. He said that when Moxley first came to AEW, “…some people really tried to do a number on him personally,” and painted Moxley as difficult to work with or a malcontent, but he has found the opposite to be true. He said Moxley is an easygoing guy and they have built a great relationship.
On touring internationally:
Khan said that they have plans to do a few things in 2022 and that he wants Craven Cottage, the home of Fulham FC to be the England home base for AEW, but that they are at the mercy of circumstances as the last couple of years have shown and that he didn’t want to give a timetable.
On the roster size:
Khan said that there is no such thing as a full roster and that one of the things he enjoys about AEW compared to Fulham or the Jaguars is that there is no salary cap to deal with and no limit on the size of the roster. He said that there are many different philosophies when it comes to building a roster. He said that he didn’t expect that he would have the chance to sign 2point0 when the year began, but he jumped on them after they were released from NXT. He said he was familiar with their work both from the independents and NXT.
On AEW’s financial success:
Khan was asked if AEW was successful earlier than he had expected, and he said yes. He said that they were not making much money from Dynamite when they started out, but TNT has since put up $175 million over four years to keep them. He said that he has put eight figures of his own money into developing the AEW video game so that they don’t have to share in the profits with a developer when the time comes.
On the women’s division:
Khan said that the division is a work in progress and that things continue to get more cohesive as they have added talent and the talent that they already had has gained more experience. He put over Kenny Omega’s eye for talent and put Britt Baker over as one of the great World Champions in wrestling. He said that he will be the agent for Sunday’s Casino Battle Royale.
On the TNT Championship:
Khan balked at the idea that the TNT Championship is a midcard title. He said that the only wrestlers that have held the title are main eventers and protected stars.
On the Jericho cruise:
Khan said that some AEW talent advertised for the Jericho cruise will obviously not be on AEW television that week. He said the the Jericho cruise is Chris Jericho’s personal project, but that Chris is a big part of AEW and he wants to help out if he can. He said if he needs someone for TV that week and they’re advertised for the Jericho cruise, AEW is the first priority.
On the “forbidden door”
Khan said that he has different relationships with all the various promotions he works with, from the folks at Impact, to Billy Corgan with NWA, to Gedo and Rocky Romero with NJPW. He said that he thinks he has a good reputation for being fair and honest with them, that he has done a lot of favors for a lot of different places over the last year, but that he isn’t doing that to get something out of it, he just thinks it’s good karma for AEW.
Here is the card for Sunday’s show, starting at 7 PM Eastern with the pre-show:
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage
CM Punk vs. Darby Allin
AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (c) vs. Kris Statlander
AEW World Tag Team Championship steel cage match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. The Lucha Brothers
TNT Championship: Miro (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima
Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall
21-woman Women’s Casino Battle Royale: Thunder Rosa, Nyla Rose, Penelope Ford, Jade Cargill, Anna Jay, Riho, The Bunny, Big Swole, Tay Conti, Hikaru Shida, Red Velvet, Julia Hart, Diamante, Emi Sakura, Kiera Hogan, Abadon, Leyla Hirsch, KiLynn King, Jamie Hayter, Rebel, a mystery participant
The Buy-In pre-show match: Matt Hardy, Private Party & TH2 vs. Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, Wheeler Yuta & Jurassic Express
