Tag: Tony Khan

Tony Khan: The future is bright for AEW ‘for years to come’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Despite the impending ownership change going on at Warner Bros. Discovery, Tony Khan believes AEW’s future is secured for years to come.

Khan spoke to TV Insider in advance of AEW Worlds End taking place this weekend. When asked about the uncertainty at WBD — which Netflix and Paramount both are looking to buy — Khan downplayed any effect it could have on AEW. Khan said AEW still has more than two years remaining on its TV deal, and the future of the promotion is bright.

“I think we have a lot of certainty and are very excited. 2025 is the most exciting year yet for AEW and our partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery was reimagined this year and will continue for years to come. We’re locked in with TNT, TBS, and HBO Max for over two more years. The future is bright for us for years to come,” Khan said.

“The person who is making the calls and always been a believer in AEW and continues to be is [President and CEO] David Zaslav. I just got a very nice holiday gift from him in fact that I will be utilizing in some fun ways in the weeks to come. The man who first asked me to launch AEW Collision and bring more wrestling back to TNT along with the great Dynamite on TBS, which is our flagship show. It’s the longest running primetime professional wrestling show in the history of TBS and TNT. Turner, in my opinion, has the richest collective history of professional wrestling with a tradition that goes back on TBS to 1971.  Then after 20 years of no wrestling on TBS we brought it back and had Dynamite become the longest running primetime wrestling show ever on TBS and TNT.”

Khan praised Zaslav as one of the best studio executives in the history of Hollywood. He believes that, no matter who wins the WBD sweepstakes, the new owners will want Zaslav running the ship.

“Mr. Zaslav had the idea to launch AEW on HBO Max to make the pay-per-views available to its massive audience and add new fans to AEW and HBO Max. Subscribers have the extra incentive with Dynamite and Collision and the library. That deal is continuing for years to come,” Khan said.

“I know the job Mr. Zaslav has done running Warner Bros. this year that people are going to want Mr. Zaslav as a studio boss in any regime. He has been one of the most successful studio heads in the history of Hollywood. The numbers don’t lie. David Zaslav is putting out hit after hit. I’m very proud he has made the big investment in AEW. There is a lot of excitement around the future of Warner Bros. It’s certainly one of the most exciting stories on Wall Street. There are a lot of exciting things happening around Warner Bros. that I’m proud AEW will be associated with Warner Bros.”

Netflix has reached a deal to acquire WBD, though whether that will ultimately go through still remains to be seen. Paramount has launched its own hostile takeover bid and is attempting to get WBD shareholders to take their offer instead of the Netflix deal.

Tony Khan reveals scrapped plans of Madison Square Garden hosting the first episode of Dynamite

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

AEW President Tony Khan has revealed that the first episode of Dynamite was going to be at Madison Square Garden in New York.

All Elite Wrestling was recently present at the Hammerstein Ballroom, where they taped their upcoming December 24th Dynamite on 34th Street episode. Now, a video is going viral on social media from the tapings. Tony Khan could be heard revealing how the first-ever Dynamite episode was set to take place at the iconic MSG, but unfortunately, it could not.

Khan greeted the crowd and teased bringing a PPV to New York, when the crowd started chanting “MSG”, referencing the iconic New York arena, Madison Square Garden. However, Khan decided to spill the beans and reveal why they could not bring an AEW show to the Gardens.

“That’s an interesting idea. You know, for a long time, I’ll be honest. They didn’t want me there, you know that? Because the first episode of Dynamite was originally going to be there,” Khan claimed. “And they called me and offered me the date. They said, ‘Would you like to do the first episode of Dynamite here?’ The people who called me don’t work there anymore; it was over six years ago.”

“I said, ‘Yeah, I really would. It would be great.’ And they called me a couple of months later, and they said, ‘We don’t want you anymore. We don’t want you to do the first Dynamite here.’ Because it would really upset somebody.”

His statements were followed by a huge wave of boos, with them following it up with, ‘f**k the feds” referring to WWE.

Khan further claimed that he informed Madison Square Garden about his uncertainty of ever returning to the arena in the future.

AEW Dynamite eventually debuted at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

Tony Khan comments on Vancouver hosting AEW Dynasty 2026

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Ever since AEW first came to the city in 2024, Tony Khan knew he wanted to return to Vancouver with a pay-per-view.

It was announced today that Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada will host AEW Dynasty in April 2026. Speaking with newspaper The Province, Khan commented on the news and promised that Dynasty will be one of the best pro wrestling events ever held in Vancouver.

“(We) made our Vancouver debut in May 2024 with AEW Collision,” Khan said. “It was an amazing crowd. They were incredibly passionate and had such a high respect and knowledge for AEW that I knew I wanted to bring the city a pay-per-view event in the future. Vancouver has had some great wrestling events through the years, but I’m confident that AEW Dynasty will be one of the best wrestling events ever held in Vancouver.”

This will be AEW’s first time back to Vancouver since that May 2024 event. It’ll mark the third time Canada has hosted an AEW PPV, with the previous two both having taken place from Toronto. Khan told The Province that Canada has been an “amazing host country” for AEW whenever the promotion has gone there.

AEW also has trips to Winnipeg and Edmonton scheduled for April 1 and April 8 leading into the Dynasty PPV. Both of those events are live Dynamite episodes with Collision tapings.

As 2025 reaches its final weeks, Khan reiterated that he feels this is AEW’s best-ever year when it comes to TV show and PPV quality.

“Every week this year I’ve been proud of the AEW TV shows, I’m beating myself up after the weekly TV shows less than ever,” he told The Province.

“In particular, I think that in 2025, AEW Collision: Grand Slam Australia, AEW Dynamite: Spring BreakThru, episode 300, Grand Slam Mexico, Blood & Guts and this past week’s Winter Is Coming events were all among the best wrestling TV shows that AEW has ever produced. As incredible as those TV events were, I believe that our track record on PPV this year is even more impressive. I think that we are poised to hit even greater heights in 2026, and AEW Dynasty at Rogers Arena on Sunday, April 12 will be a key event to achieve that goal.”

Tony Khan reflects on his last time with Jay Briscoe, celebrates his life

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

Over two years ago on January 17th, 2023, Jay Briscoe lost his life to a fatal car accident.

One of the most celebrated and successful pro wrestlers of all time, Briscoe died at the age of 38 in a head-on car collision in Laurel, Delaware. Tonight, a few hours after the December 10 edition of Dynamite Winter is Coming, Tony Khan reflected on the last time he saw Briscoe. Sharing an emotional note on social media, Khan honored his friend’s life and legacy.

“3 years ago tonight was the last time that I saw my friend, the late great Jamin Pugh, aka Jay Briscoe,” he wrote. “He was an incredible wrestler in the ring + an incredible man out of the ring, and he’s missed every day by his countless friends and his amazing family! RIP Jamin.”

Jay Briscoe was widely known for his work as a tag-team wrestler with his brother, Mark Briscoe as The Briscoe Brothers. Briscoe’s last match dates back to the 17th December edition of HOG Revelations where they suffered a loss against The Mane Event (Jay Lyon & Midas Black).

Tony Khan’s biggest regret was not having Jay Briscoe on AEW Dynamite before his death

Earlier this year, during an episode of Barstool Sports’ My Mom’s Basement podcast, Tony Khan opened up about his biggest regret as the AEW President. Speaking in detail, Khan revealed it to be not having Jay Briscoe appear on Dynamite.

“I fought really hard to get Jay Briscoe on the show. There were multiple times where Mark and Jay Briscoe came to Dynamite and didn’t do anything. And they just came and I brought them, and I was trying to — I kept pulling moves. It was a different time. It was a different management, it wasn’t Mr. [David] Zaslav. I could have now literally gone to him.”

“I fought really, really hard to get Jay Briscoe on the show, but I really wish I’d been able to have Jay Briscoe on Dynamite just one time. And he came to the show many times. That’s my biggest regret by far.”

Following Jay Briscoe’s death, Mark Briscoe received his push as a singles wrestler, and is the current TNT Champion.

WOL: Tony Khan on Netflix/WBD, thoughts on ROH Final Battle, TNA, SmackDown & NXT

Posted on by Jim Valley

The Saturday Wrestling Observer Live with Jim Valley has you covered for another packed pro wrestling weekend including Tony Khan’s reaction to Netflix being the high bidder to buy Warner Brothers Discovery.

Jim runs down Friday’s ROH Final Battle, TNA Final Resolution, the finals of The Last Time is Now Tournament on SmackDown, NXT Deadline and much more.

Plus, what was it like live in Nashville for the Dynamite before Thanksgiving? Jim lets you know.

Lots of wrestling results and news to cover. Check it out.

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Tony Khan says it’s ‘too early to comment’ on potential Netflix-WBD acquisition

Posted on by Bryan Rose

ROH & AEW starts spoke to the media following ROH Final Battle.

Red Velvet, Ricochet, Athena, Shane Taylor Promotions, Bandido, and Tony Khan took questions following Friday’s event on Honor Club. Here are the highlights:

Red Velvet

  • Regarding her surprise win, Velvet said she was going to beat Mercedes Mone and she did, accepting that she would be the underdog going into the match despite being a former champion. The loss shook her, but everything happens for a reason.
  • She said that Mone is someone he looked up to growing up, so going up against someone like her is “such a blessing.” 

Ricochet

  • Tony Khan announced a AEW National title match featuring Ricochet for tomorrow’s Collision. Ricochet didn’t like the idea of that.
  • When asked about more members to add to his crew, Ricochet said it was about quality, not quantity.

Athena

  • Tony Khan pushed hard that with her victory at Final Battle, Athena will now reach the three-year mark as the ROH Women’s Champion.
  • A lot of the segment was designated for Athena to scold Billie Starkz for failing to win the Women’s Pure Championship.
  • She said she would love the opportunity to wrestle in New Japan, as there’s so much talent in Stardom.

Shane Taylor Promotions

  • When asked about his heroes, Moriarty named Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuiness, and Katsuyori Shibata. He said he made his wrestling debut on December 5, and all these years later, he’s now faced all of them.
  • This turned into an angle where Shane Taylor started to argue with Moriarty, pushing that tonight was too close for comfort and winning is an expectation, not a surprise. He told Moriarty to follow the game plan. 
  • Moriarty said that to see Nigel McGuiness come out with the original ROH Pure title and handing it to him after the match was such a great moment.

Bandido

  • Bandido said he consideres himself a winner because he’s had a great year.
  • Tony Khan said the originally planned ROH World title match between Rush and Bandido will happen when Rush returns to action.
  • Bandido says he’s putting effort into learning English and hopes people can understand him now.

Tony Khan

  • First question was about possible AEW events at the Arnold Classic, which will be held at the same arena next year. Khan said it was a great idea and will re-evaluate. 
  • Would love to have Persephone back, she was great and an incredible challenger.
  • Khan was asked if there were plans for more ROH big events for next year, mentioning previous events like Glory by Honor and the anniversary shows. Khan pivoted to talking about bringing in more Global Wars events this year and mentioned the upcoming Boxing Day Brawl event on ROH television.
  • Someone asked for his reaction to Netflix potentially acquiring Warner Bros. Khan said that it was “too early to comment on anything that’s pending” and stressed his great relationship with Warner Bros., continually saying there was still a lot of time on their deals with TBS, TNT, and HBO Max. He called David Zazlav a friend of AEW. He’s excited about the future.
  • He also said that in regards to all of the publicly known bidders for WBD (Netflix, Paramount, and Comcast) he’s had great relationships all of them via his NFL dealings. He said there’s over two years to go in their deals with WBD.
  • About a potential all-women’s pay-per-view, Tony Khan was open to the idea, mentioning how many new women’s championships he’s introduced.
  • Khan called Zayda Steel a professional and would love to have her back.

Tony Khan ROH media call notes: TV deal holdup, potential signing, injury updates

Posted on by Josh Nason

There is no news on a Ring of Honor TV deal other than ROH head Tony Khan says he has turned down several offers from “great” media partners.

Khan was asked about that and more during his Final Battle pre-call Thursday, the audio of which can be found below.

He said he’s had opportunities at times to put ROH on TV from “great” media partners, but that AEW is the focus with a “half billion dollar” contract. He thinks ROH media rights don’t have to be equal or greater than that, but any deal has to be something that makes sense and the perfect situation with a media partner. He says there has been interest, but didn’t say who from.

Khan also revealed that Queen Aminata wasn’t cleared for her ROH Women’s Pure title semifinal Wednesday so she had to forfeit, meaning Deonna Purrazzo has advance to the finals at Final Battle.

He also provided an update on Nick Wayne and said he’s expected back soon while admitting the recovery from his broken foot has taken longer than he originally thought to no fault of Wayne’s.

On whether he’s signed Zayda Steel to a contract, Khan said to “stay tuned” and hinted she might be wrestling against Leila Grey at Final Battle.

Other notes:

  • Asked if Mercedes Mone could be more of a fixture on ROH going forward, Khan says he hopes so and referred to her as a “free agent” ROH brought in.
  • Khan was asked about getting the Jack Harlow song “Lovin’ on Me” for Blake Christian’s entrance, but Khan has made no progress other than getting “1% approval.” If he can get the other 99% of stakeholders to approve, he’ll do it.
  • Khan said he thinks this year has been the “most complete” and best year of TV/streaming specials for ROH since he bought it.

Click here to listen to the whole call.

Tony Khan: AEW has closed the gap on WWE in a ‘very meaningful way’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Tony Khan believes 2025 is a year where AEW has gotten closer to closing the gap on pro wrestling’s industry leader.

With 2025 winding down, Khan made an appearance on the Battleground podcast to promote the December 3 episode of Dynamite from Indiana. He praised the year AEW has had and looked ahead to what’s to come in the future. Khan feels, as the challenger brand in pro wrestling, AEW has “really closed the gap” on WWE in a number of unspecified key business metrics.

“I think AEW is where the best wrestle. I think that we have the best roster of wrestlers in the world today. And we’re putting on consistently awesome shows,” Khan said. “This has been an awesome year for AEW. We’re the challenger brand in pro wrestling, and I think we’ve really closed the gap in a very meaningful way in 2025 in a number of key metrics.”

Khan said he’s so grateful for all of the support AEW has received from its fans. When asked what he believes success would look like five years into the future, Khan said he hopes AEW’s television programs and pay-per-views are still going strong.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can tell you my passion for this isn’t going anywhere. It’s been something I’ve been loving and dreaming to do for over 30 years. And now we’ve been doing it for six years in the real world — and I don’t ever want to stop with AEW,” Khan said.

“I can’t imagine a better year. And if we can keep doing the things we’re doing right now: having great pay-per-view shows, putting on great Dynamites on TBS, great Collisions on TNT, and keep this partnership with HBO Max going. Maybe hopefully go to some new countries, visit some new territories, expand. AEW’s on now in over 150 countries. And we’ve built this AEW wrestling league into something where they watch it all over the world, and I’m really proud of that. I think we continue visiting some of those places, breaking open new territories.

“And here in America, I just want to keep doing what we’re doing, because it’s amazing. To have a wrestling promotion that is a challenger company doing the things that we’re doing, some of them are unprecedented and some of them are things that have not been done in over 25 years.”

AEW star Rush sidelined with injury

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

AEW star Rush has been sidelined with an injury.

AEW President Tony Khan recently announced on social media that Rush is no longer medically cleared to compete due to a knee injury. As a result, the former CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion has been pulled from his scheduled ROH World Championship match against Bandido.

The two were previously scheduled to battle for the ROH World Championship at ROH Final Battle on December 5. However, the match has now been called off due to the injury. Instead, Khan announced that Bandido will face Sammy Guevara, Komander, Hechicero, Blake Christian, and The Beast Mortos in a Survival of the Fittest match.

Despite the injury, Rush still remains one-half of the ROH Tag Team Champions with Guevara. Khan noted that a decision on the future of the titles will be made soon. He last wrestled on the November 15th episode of AEW Collision, teaming with Guevara and FTR against Bandido, JetSpeed, and Juice Robinson.

There are currently no confirmed update on his return.

ROH Final Battle 2025 updated match card

With Rush’s hiatus, the match card for ROH Final Battle was updated. Here is the latest match card with all the bouts listed:

  • AEW National Championship: Ricochet (c) vs. TBA
  • ROH Women’s Pure Championship – Tournament Finals: TBA vs. TBA
  • ROH Pure Championship: Lee Moriarty (c) vs. Komander
  • ROH Women’s Championship: Athena (c) vs. Persephone
  • ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships: Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Carlie Bravo, & Shawn Dean) vs. Skyflight (Scorpio Sky, Dante Martin, & Darius Martin)
  • ROH World Championship – Survival of the Fittest: Bandido (c) vs. Komander vs. Hechicero vs. Sammy Guevara vs. The Beast Mortos vs. Blake Christian
  • ROH Women’s World Television Championship – Mercedes Mone vs. Red Velvet

ROH Final Battle is scheduled to take place on December 5th, 2025, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

Tony Khan announces AEW Continental Classic Selection Show to air Monday

Posted on by Ian Carey

Tony Khan has made an announcement regarding the 2025 Continental Classic.

The annual round-robin tournament is set to begin on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. Khan revealed in a social media post on Monday that AEW will air a Selection Show on Monday evening at 10 p.m. Eastern to announce the competitors for both the Blue and Gold Leagues.

Khan wrote:

“It’s Selection Monday! Continental Classic starts THIS WEEK on Thanksgiving Eve Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite!
After an incredible Full Gear, we reveal the Blue League + Gold League wrestlers TONIGHT!
The C2 Selection Show streams on @AEW at 10 pm ET/9 pm CT/8 pm MT/7 pm PT TONIGHT!”

The first three entrants into this year’s Continental Classic were revealed at AEW Full Gear on Saturday. In a backstage segment, it was mentioned that Kyle Fletcher, Konsosuke Takeshita, and Kazuchika Okada of the Don Callis Family will be entered. It was also noted that Kyle O’Reilly will not be cleared for the tournament due to Moxley and the Death Riders having targeted his arm at the pay-per-view.

This year’s Continental Classic will be the third straight the tournament has run. Eddie Kingston won the inaugural C2 in 2023 and Kazuchika Okada won the 2024 version.

Khan’s post announcing tonight’s Selection Show is below:

Tony Khan addresses potential ‘burnout’ from running AEW

Posted on by Ian Carey

Tony Khan addressed potential burnout from running AEW during the Full Gear post-show media event on Saturday night.

The AEW president was asked if he’s ever hit a stage where he has less motivation in his role as head of the promotion.

“No. I haven’t taken a break from wrestling in a long, long time,” Khan responded. “I love it and I’m very much in the zone. I love coming to work every week. I’ve never missed a show and I absolutely love it.”

He added:

“Every day I come into work I’m so grateful to be in the chair. And I think all the time about how fortunate I am. I’m also really glad that you all, for the most part, a lot of the wrestling fans, seem to like the work I’m doing and want me to be in the chair. Because I’m also cognizant that it’s not always that way for people.”

“A year ago I felt like I was working really hard, and I was trying my best, and I feel like after a year later being in the same building in the same place, it feels like we’re in a better place than we were a year ago in many, many ways.”

Khan continued to say that it takes a special kind of sports fan to follow a sport year round with no off season. He mentioned there were a couple of times in the 1990s when, as a fan, he missed a few shows in a row but would always “rediscover his love” of wrestling sometime later. Now he says, he never thinks about being away from it.

Khan continued:

“Being entrenched in it now for seven years, every single day without a week away from it, I’m obsessed with it. I love it so much. I never think about being away from it. I eat and breathe and sleep it, so it’s really a pleasure to be here and I never take it for granted how special it is to be able to do this.”

Dave Meltzer addressed Khan’s comments on the post AEW Full Gear episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, saying:

“[Tony] doesn’t burn out. I think it’s pretty clear that Tony Khan’s always going to be the booker of AEW. If you like the product the way he presents it, it’s good. If you want some other type of product, it’s not going to be that product.”

Khan’s comments about burnout are available at the 1-hour and 43-minute mark of the below video:

Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales addressing Khan’s comments on Wrestling Observer Radio are available in the clip below:

Tony Khan discusses what he looks for when scouting independent wrestlers

Posted on by Ian Carey

Tony Khan spoke about what he looks for when scouting talent during the AEW Full Gear post-event media event.

The AEW president addressed the topic when asked if he still watches independent wrestling.

“Yeah I do. Sometimes I go to independent wrestling,” Khan responded.

He continued to say that he scouts wrestlers in a similar way to how he scouts football players. He’s not necessarily looking for talent that is able to contribute right away, and he looks for wrestlers and players who can fill a role for the organization as well as potentially grow into other roles.

“I look for wrestlers that the fans connect with, and it’s all different things. Just like in football, football players are built different. You’re looking for different players that play different roles. Not every player is the same height and speed and skillset. And, there are things that you look for in some players versus other players and you look for some people who can come and play a role in your organization.”

“When you’re looking you say ‘Oh I think this person could do this and maybe they could grow into a role’ and same thing when you’re scouting a football player.”

Khan continued to say that wrestlers and football players can both under perform and over perform the expectations the organization has when they first bring them in, saying:

“Whether it’s football or wrestling, people can over perform or under perform those expectations but they are just estimations and ideas that you have. In the end, I go out and I look for people that I think could connect with the fans and people that could be a good fit for AEW. And especially people who would be good in our locker room and be a good part of our company but also people that are going to be great wrestlers for us. And it doesn’t necessarily in every case have to be right away, sometimes it can be, but it could be somebody for the future.”

Khan’s comments regarding what he looks for when scouting independent wrestlers comes in around the 1 hour and 40 minute mark of the below video:

WOR: AEW Full Gear recap

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I, Garrett Gonzales, are back with an AEW Full Gear recap episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.

We went through the entire show from the news to the matches to thoughts on the booking of the main event angle as well as notes from the post show presser.

Here were some of the rest of the topics we covered:

  • Arena Mexico
  • Brandon Thurston’s story on the new ratings as well as the WWE shareholder’s lawsuit
  • Friday’s SmackDown results
  • Next Friday’s SmackDown spoilers

Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube (video sub needed)

Tony Khan says he’s ‘not worried at all’ about potential Warner Bros. Discovery sale

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Image: JJ Williams

Notes coming out of AEW Full Gear.

Mark Briscoe, Big Boom AJ, Ricochet, Kris Statlander, and Khan all answered questions from the media on Saturday at the AEW Full Gear media scrum. Here are the highlights:

Mark Briscoe

  • Briscoe had a new custom TNT title belt that was given to him by Orange Cassidy following his title win.
  • Says he never thought a night like this would happen, as he always considered himself a tag team wrestler. He thanks Tony Khan, his family, and God.
  • Corey Lieb asked about reflecting on being TNT Champion when previously the Briscoes were banned from appearing on the network. Khan said that this was a previous, now long gone executive and thanked David Zaslav (head of Warner Brothers Discovery) for bringing in new people who quickly changed things.

Big Boom AJ

  • AJ said it was great to have a ring general like QT Marshall for his match and thanked the crowd.
  • Tony Khan said ‘100%’ there would be a Big Boom AJ figure in the future.
  • Big Boom AJ said if Big Justice wanted to be a wrestler, he would be one of the greatest wrestlers ever.

Ricochet

  • On his title win, Ricochet said winning the title feels familiar and told everyone to watch their back because he was coming after them next, including Kris Statlander.
  • Khan said that the Casino Gauntlet match from Saturday’s show was one of the best they’ve had yet.

Kris Statlander

  • When asked who’s left, Statlander asked Tony Khan who should be next. Tony Khan said there will be a long line of challengers coming forward after Full Gear.
  • She said feels that her being seen as an underdog is an insult considering she is holding a title Mercedes Mone never held.

Tony Khan

  • He started off by saying he had a ‘very good idea’ on who the Continental Classic participants are and will be revealed early this coming week. He did bring up that as a result of Jon Moxley’s actions following their match, Kyle O’Reilly will likely not be cleared and will have to ‘deal with some injuries.’ 
  • Khan also took time to send condolences to Bob Caudle and George Tahinos, who passed away this past week.
  • Asked about reflecting a year ago versus now, Khan said that a year ago, he thought they were on the verge of a turnaround, and now a year later they have been consistent, both on television and pay-per-view, and have a lot of momentum.
  • According to what data they have, Khan feels this may be the biggest PPV yet in the HBO Max era.
  • He was asked about three breakout wrestlers for 2026. Renee Paquette brought up Kevin Knight and he agreed, saying he is someone with great breakout potential, as well as Speedball Mike Bailey. Willow Nightingale was also named. 
  • Khan was asked if Mercedes Mone’s run on the independent scene was the inspiration for the National title. Khan lauded what Mone was doing but also brought up international wrestling in general as well as ROH’s success on YouTube. He also said that CMLL and NJPW are interested in potential National title matches.
  • Regarding earlier start times and show length, Khan said he was interested in changing around start times and thinks he won’t run another show so late on the east coast on a Sunday. He feels there are differences between running shows on Saturdays and Sundays, and is open to earlier start times. In regards to show length, Khan said they are contracted for three hours and forty five minutes, and they’ve never gone under that.
  • Regarding what he looks for in the independents, he said he looks for who connects with the crowd.
  • Someone asked about the potential of Warner Bros. Discovery being sold to someone who has ties to WWE. Tony Khan point blank said he is not worried at all, they have a great relationship with WBD and is optimistic about AEW’s future.
  • He hasn’t taken a break from pro wrestling in a long time and loves it, he doesn’t miss a show and loves coming to AEW events. He’s obsessed with it, he loves it so much. 
  • Said that getting Hangman Page’s licensed theme at Full Gear was a race against time and is happy they’ve been able to get the licensed music they’ve wanted for the shows.

Tony Khan hopes Chris Jericho’s final matches happen in AEW

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: AEW

While the AEW future of Chris Jericho continues to have people talking, company head Tony Khan has made no mistake he wants to keep his first World Champion in the company until he’s ready to retire.

Speaking to New York City street journalist Adam’s Apple Tuesday following his interview with Ariel Helwani, Khan was asked about how important it is to Khan for Jericho to retire with AEW.

Khan said he loves Jericho both in AEW and outside of the ring and that “absolutely, I would love it if Chris’ final matches — eventually someday whenever Chris would want to hang it up — were in AEW, but I also don’t think Chris is near that point. He’s had a great run with us and he continues to be a big part of AEW.”

Jericho hasn’t been on AEW or ROH TV since April of this year as he left Bryan Keith and Big Bill of The Learning Tree to figure things out on their own. By his own words, his contract is up at the end of this year and there has been plenty of speculation he is WWE-bound in 2026.

Jericho has been with the company since its 2019 launch.

Khan has remained consistent with his answers about Jericho’s present, chalking up his absence to just working out dates. Talking to the same reporter this week, the Young Bucks said they want him to stay.