Tony Khan Blood and Guts and ROH media call notes

[Chris]

With AEW Blood & Guts on Dynamite Wednesday and Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor set for Friday, Tony Khan spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon about the difficulties in putting together Friday's PPV, an update on Bryan Danielson, the potential of a third hour of AEW Dynamite, and more.

Due to technical difficulties, partial audio from the call is available below with the full audio available later today/tonight.

Bryan Danielson injury update

Khan said Danielson's injury suffered at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door was a bit worse than they initially thought. There is no timetable for his return, but that he wants to come back as soon as possible. He hasn't been coming to shows or meetings since the injury, but Khan has been in contact with Danielson frequently on ideas and thoughts.

DBD difficulties

In acknowledging the grumbling online about the lateness in putting together the Death Before Dishonor card, Khan said putting together the card for Friday was up there with last year's Forbidden Door PPV in terms of difficulty. He opened up about the sequence of events that caused issues including his approval and blessing on letting Eddie Kingston travel to Japan for the annual NJPW G1 tournament.

He intimated that was the initial direction was for Kingston and ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, but they had to pivot to Mark Briscoe who was originally scheduled for something else on the PPV that had to change due to injuries. He had an idea of having Kingston and Briscoe have a moment together that would help add some emotion to Briscoe challenging for the ROH title.

However, Briscoe's injuries were worse than he ever let on and were kept on the down-low, even from AEW doctors who were surprised when they arose. Khan said if Briscoe needed anything, he would do it and when Briscoe said the injuries were affecting his quality of life, a change had to be made. They had done a lot of pre-taped promos to help build to the match.

That change will be announced this week, according to Khan.

He also said he wanted to announce Athena vs. Willow Nightingale earlier, but the Owen Hard tournament changed that. He also said there's been other changes to the card including for the TV title match due to issues "that you wouldn't believe."

Kingston

Khan thinks Kingston going to Japan is going to be great for him and he'll be in a much better position when he returns. Earlier on the call, he talked about how much Kingston means to him personally.

All In

Khan will confirm in "due time and soon" about how to watch AEW All In. He says everyone will be able to watch it live and it will be in the evening in the UK/1 PM Eastern/10 AM Pacific in the "NFL Sunday" slot.

He said matches will begin to be announced in the next few weeks and that the show will be their greatest ever. He also said the success and current standing as one of highest-grossing wrestling events ever has helped AEW become the "industry leader" in the UK.

Third hour of Dynamite?

Asked about interest in a third hour of Dynamite, Khan took a long pause and said, "It's an interesting question." This question came up in a tie-in to the ratings for both Collision and Battle of the Belts being strong for Saturday. Khan said he couldn't comment on whether they will do more three-hour blocks in the future, but said they have found a good weekly rhythm with Dynamite, Collision and Rampage but how those hours are allocated are to be discussed.

Banned moves

Khan downplayed the recent stories about the updated banned moves list, saying an informal list has always existed. He said requests for specific moves are on a case-by-case basis and that someone like Kenny Omega will have more leeway than a young wrestler who has come up through Dark.

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