Tony Khan press conference highlights: Tony discusses Brock Lesnar, shakeup at WarnerMedia and status of third hour show, booking Dynamite and All Out during pandemic
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
The following are the highlights from Tony Khan’s media call today ahead of AEW’s All Out PPV on Saturday:
-Tony is asked about the FTW title. He said it will be treated totally differently than the other titles. Tony said he’s working on a pilot and it will be presented differently from other titles. He said he hasn’t totally established it yet, but there’s a lot in store.
-Tony is asked about the tooth and nail match being on the Buy In and it’s not really a demotion. Tony said since their first PPV Double or Nothing they’ve put some of their biggest stars on the Buy In. He said they’ve tried to put stuff on the Buy In to get fans to buy wrestling shows. Tony points out wrestling fans are the only fans that will complain about getting something for free.
Tony said the match would be cinematic and free for everyone to check out. Tony said the match being on the Buy In was more about the tone of the match and getting it out to a big audience.
-Tony is asked about the working relationship between AEW and NWA. He said it’s the extent of the good personal relationship between Tony and BIlly Corgan. He said he’s also good friends with Chris Nowintski. He said Chris has spoken to all the AEW roster and he introduced Tony to Billy. Tony said he’s not sure what the future holds, but if Rosa wins the title, there could be a lot more.
-Tony is asked about keeping surprises. Tony said they keep a small circle. They are a small company that’s a startup and they’ve grown quickly worldwide. Tony said they aren’t the biggest machine. Tony said the more people that know a surprise the more likely a surprise is likely to be kept. Tony says most people are trustworthy in the office. Tony said there’s more surprises to come.
-Tony is asked about Brock Lesnar. Tony said he can’t comment on it at this time. He said he’s enjoyed Lensar’s work for many years. He said Brock is one of the great working big men he’s ever seen.
-Tony is asked the biggest lesson he’s learned as the head of a pro wrestling company. Tony said there’s sometimes when it’s 8:00 and there’s times when you realize you should have done something that you didn’t. Tony said he put a lot on Rosa and Deeb and they delivered.
Tony said before PPVs, he has put a lot of wrestling on the first hour and then the storyline stuff for the PPV is saved for the second hour. Tony said 48 weeks a year he focuses on wrestling, but the go home shows he treats differently. Tony said he tries to learn from mistakes and not do them again. Tony said he feels this weekend is going to be one of the great highs.
Tony said Revolution in February was one of the great days for him. He said he talked to Pac and Cassidy and Jericho and Moxley late the night before the show and there was a soccer match. Tony said it was the ultimate high and the culmination of a lot of lessons.
Tony said last year they were number one in attendance per show, but this year is different and it’s about putting on the best shows. Tony said he’s very excited. He said he held back during the second hour maybe too much because he wants people to anticipate the PPV.
Tony says there has been such highs and lows during the pandemic. Tony said Double or Nothing kicked the crap out of wrestlemania and they had implemented testing and when they did Double or Nothing, they were still doing testing. Tony said what they did at that point and set up a bubble was an achievement. He said he can’t give fans a packed arena, but he can give them a drive in movie theatre wrestling experience.
Tony said they’re going to go closer to 15% attendance for All Out. He said the only way to do wrestling shows right now is socially distanced with seating pods outdoors.
-Tony was asked about letting fans in during COVID. He talked about shutting the company down in April until they could keep the crew and staff safe. He said they implemented a plan with testing and did a live show in May. He said they’ve been doing the right thing and practicing social distancing.
Tony said from there, they looked at their venue to see how they could bring fans in. He said he got the idea from watching the Tonight Show with the crew in the studio, which is why he put them in the crowd.
Tony said there’s great views all over Daily’s Place. Said they did a soft open with staff, sponsors, and local friends. Then they started to hire more security before bringing back a partial audience.
Tony talked about several top wrestlers from the women’s division stuck outside the country, so they’ve looked to use wrestlers like Thunder Rosa. Khan said he’d like to have Serena Deeb back and he’s excited about Rosa’s match on the PPV.
-Tony is asked what it’s like being a wrestling fan running a company. He said it has changed his relationship with wrestling immensely. He said last night he wishes he had paced things differently. Tony said he has surreal moments all the time like doing a podcast with Tony Schivaone who he’s watched as a fan for so long and listened to his podcast before he did AEW. He talks about how Tony has been with AEW through the darkest days through the pandemic and mentions the work Schiavone put in post-production. He also mentions working with wrestlers backstage like Dean Malenko and Jerry Lynn. He said he also loves working with wrestlers like Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho.
Tony says the Dynamite after All Out is going to be really good.
-Tony is asked about having to pivot while adding talent to the roster. Tony says some talent like FTR makes it easy because they fit right in. He said FTR is arguably the best tag team in the world. He mentions that several teams could be candidates for best tag team in the world.
Tony talked about getting through the month of April with 30% of his roster and making it work to tape multiple shows. Tony said he was so worried about Double or Nothing, but they managed to make it a great show. Tony said it’s that much harder when people aren’t there. He said plans for Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen specials changed.
He said it’s easier to pivot because you signed talent as opposed to pivoting during a pandemic.
Britt has a legitimate injury and was given time off and last night was the first time she’s done anything physical in a long time. Tony said there are some stipulation matches, but there’s also a lot of great wrestling bell to bell. He said Cassidy and Jericho will be working in front of the most fans they’ve ever worked in front of.
He talked about the Broken Rules match which is a last man standing match that has a stipulation that Matt has to leave if he loses. Khan said the Casino Battle Royale has a lot of people, but shows how far the roster has come since AEW began.
Tony said for people that just want to see great wrestling matches, you can look at Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express. He said it’s a title eliminator with the winner being in good position to advance to the title picture. He also mentions Page & Omega vs. FTR and Rosa vs. Shida. He also said Moxley vs. MJF will establish whether it will be Moxley’s run as champion or if Max is the future of the company. He said Max is the future of the company either way.
Tony mentions the 8 man tag. He said Lee winning the championship the way he did over Cody got a great response. He talked about how far The Dark Order has come. Tony said the TNT Championship means more to them than secondary singles titles do in other companies. He mentions the great relationship with TNT.
Tony talks about the babyface group coming out to support Cody to take on The Dark Order. Tony said he’s always happy to see Dustin Rhodes on PPV. Tony also mentions the storyline with Colt Cabana and The Dark Order. Tony said the card definitely has a lot of great wrestling to offer in addition to the stipulation matches.
-Tony is asked about if the relationship with WarnerMedia has changed with the departure of Kevin Riley and about the status of the second show. Tony said the next hour was not going to be like AEW Dark. Tony said Dark will stay on YouTube and they will do a totally different third hour within the next year. Tony said the pandemic sidetracked and a lot of new shows have been slowed down. He said they are really fortunate Dynamite has pushed on during the pandemic.
Tony mentions how grateful he is to Kevin Riley at Warner Media. He said he thinks they would have gotten started, but it wouldn’t have been the same start they got with eight figures. He said they have a great relationship with TNT. He said in his wildest dreams he never thought they would be on TNT. He said it has been a dream partnership with Warner Media.
Khan said they are just starting to get to know his new bosses, but he believes AEW fits into their vision. Khan said, “We are a really strong cable property.” Khan said he’s always hard on himself trying to make it better.
Tony mentioned again that only four times per year that wrestling isn’t the priority and the last hour is more storyline driven. Tony said over the holidays, they banged their heads together to come back strong into 2020. He said that’s what they do every week now. Tony said he’s been waiting to do the PPV for a long time and doing Dynamite in front of fans and being able to look himself in the mirror and know he’s doing it safely is a great feeling.
-Tony is asked how much has changed from what he originally thought the All Out card would look like. Tony said it is mostly what he expected. He said Britt and Swole were originally on the main card. He said with Brit not wrestling for a long time, he changed that match. He said most of the card has been the plan all summer.
Tony said Cody had a list of names he suggested. Tony said he had only briefly met Ricky Starks, but had never seen him work in person. He said his match with Cody blew him away. He said while Ricky was in the ring with Cody he knew what he wanted him to do. He said it was kind of a tryout match, but he hit a homerun.
Tony said he’s been a fan of Eddie Kingston for a long time. He said he had always thought Eddie Kingston would fit in, but he never came across the right opportunity to bring him in. He said Eddie was on Cody’s list and once they brought him in. Tony mentioned with Pac being gone, it was a great opportunity to bring in Eddie.
Tony said they really miss Pac, but now they have others to step up. He said Eddie can be a mouthpiece for the Lucha Bros and there’s a lot of moving parts he can be part of storyline wise. He mentioned Kingston also working with Butcher & The Blade as changes to the card, but overall a lot of the stuff they planned landed on the All Out card.
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