Tony Khan Media Call Notes

[Chris]

Source: f4wonline.com

AEW GM, President, CEO and Head of Creative Tony Khan conducted a media call today ahead of Sunday's All Out PPV.

Among topics covered were his relationship and collaborating with CM Punk, the future of AEW Dark, and the possibility of adding trios titles to AEW.

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 collaborating with Punk and building a relationship with him. 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 that if he ever asks him to do something he's uncomfortable with or that would be bad for his career to let him know.

On booking All Out --
Khan said that the card is the strongest card that AEW has presented. He said that for the past week he's 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 most weeks. He said that he wants that show to have the feel of the old WCW Worldwide show. He said that by moving Dark to its own taping rather than taping 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.

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.

AEW's 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.

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.

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.

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.

 

[Hidden Blaze]

Love that Dark is going to be at universal studios !