Posted on 11/19/125 by Bob Magee
Here’s a summary of and some quotes from their talk’s highs
and lows:
Early discussion of the AEW product brought up Darby Allin,
and the promotion’s use of blood and high-risk spots. Khan
praised Allin but offered his fall from a ladder through
plate glass during Sting’s final match at Revolution last
year as one that he said went too far. Other than that, TK
said he’ll use or okay danger or gore when it serves the
story, and feels it almost always has in AEW and ROH.
After going through the card for Full Gear this Saturday and
some of the things lined up for tomorrow night’s supersized
go home edition of Dynamite and Collision on TBS, Ariel
asked about AEW’s partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Specifically, he wondered if Khan is worried because WBD is
up for sale. TK hyped their “great relationship”, and
pointed to the ongoing DC partnership (which featured a tie-
tin to this summer’s successful Superman film, and currently
involves a comic book series, and a PPV sponsorship) as
proof “AEW is clearly very strongly figured in” to WBD’s
plans. Anyone who buys Warners will inherit the media rights
deal with AEW, but may not be gung ho about promoting it.
But Helwani didn’t push on that, likely because Khan can’t
know since no one knows what will happen with WBD.
Asked about moving all his shows to a streaming service the
way WWE has done and UFC is doing, Khan said he isn’t sure
if AEW will ever move away from the pay-per-view model for
events. He plans to keep delivering value for PPV, something
all-but his most vicious critics concede AEW and ROH usually
do. TK also plugged their HBO Max offering and the WBD deal
overall here.
Helwani pointed out that AEW is the only combat sports
organization he knows of that has no ties to Saudi Arabia.
Rather to use this as a differentiator between his company
and WWE, Khan just said he’d never thought of it that way
and moved on. It certainly wasn’t an “I’ll never work with
the Saudis”, or even an “I don’t currently work with the
Saudis by choice”.
This was not the version of TK that compared Vince McMahon
to Harvey Weinstein or said “to be under AEW is to be under
attack”. When Helwani brought up industry veterans who
regularly criticize and ridicule him and AEW on podcasts,
Khan’s response was that their programming gives pundits a
lot to talk about, and the fact they keep doing talking
about it must mean it does good numbers for them. He also
praised Eric Bischoff’s run atop WCW and indicated that he’s
spoken to his frequent critic and sometime online sparring
partner more recently than folks might think.
Speaking of people TK’s close to, he told Ariel he still
talks to UFC boss Dana White all the time.
On the subject of WWE’s counter-programming efforts, Khan
brought up WWF/E’s history of doing that with competitors.
Because of that, he says he expected it. He also said WWE
counter-programming never “cost us anything” and has “always
worked out”.
It was a similar answer when Helwani brought up WWE now
partnering with companies like TNA, as Khan pointed out
their history of doing that when dealing with a “challenger
brand” (e.g. ECW during the Monday Night War). When Ariel
said Matt Hardy told him the only reason WWE was working
with TNA was to hurt AEW, TK replied “I think it’s probably
true. The fact that Matt said it — that’s really cool.”
CM Punk’s name came up, and Khan again made a point to
praise a critic. He spoke highly of both Punk’s time at AEW,
and indirectly his WWE run, by saying he thought everyone
involved in the backstage drama of 2022-2023 is in a better
place now.
Regarding the critique of Khan’s passive management style
Punk leveled on Helwani’s show last year, TK said he doesn’t
agree with that “feedback”, but “but everybody is entitled
to their opinion”. He also didn’t agree with Punk’s account
of the events that lead to his firing, but Khan chose to
focus on his efforts to keep Punk in the fold with the
Collision launch.
He denied airing the security camera footage from All In
2023 on Dynamite in response to Punk’s interview with
Helwani, but defended it as something that performed in the
ratings. Khan said it was something that’s “in the eye of
the beholder” and thought “the tape spoke for itself”.
Asked later about the post-Saturday Night’s Main Event photo
of four of his former contractors draped in WWE gold (Punk,
Cody Rhodes, Ricky Saints, and Jade Cargill), Khan said it
made him smile, and reminded him of the picture Rhodes took
with Jon Moxley early in AEW’s existence (at the first
Double or Nothing). He said he could talk for hours about
how highly he thinks of all four in the SNME photo as
wrestlers and people, but mostly he thought about the 2020
Mox and Rhodes pic. I would have gotten in a joke about AEW
being better at developing WWE stars than WWE developmental,
but TK didn’t.
Ariel pressed a bit on AEW’s HBO Max numbers when Khan was
touting the ratings for Dynamite last Wednesday, and Tony
said he doesn’t get and hasn’t seen those. He said not even
the NFL gets streaming numbers all the time. TK did say that
Blood & Guts a week ago “was probably our most-watched show
in months on streaming.”
The Shockwave trademark came up. Khan said he didn’t realize
NWA (or Pride FC, for that matter) had used that name, and
told NWA owner Billy Corgan he wouldn’t use it. Ariel didn’t
bring up the FOX rumors, reports, and speculation. Corgan
and TK also sorted out the National title issue, with AEW’s
starting with no history and a fresh lineage.
WWE never reached out about Adam “Edge” Copeland being part
of John Cena’s retirement tour, and it won’t happen unless
Cena unretires, because Cope is under contract and a big
part of AEW’s future.
And with that, let’s move into a lightning round of names
Helwani threw at TK for comment! We’ve heard similar answers
on some of these before, but not all of them…
Killer Kross - Helwani thought signing Kross would be “a
slam dunk” addition for AEW, but TK says they haven’t spoken
since he left WWE. Khan didn’t say he would reach out
either, just that Allin’s had “great experiences” working
with Kross, and that the idea of bringing him in would be
“interesting”.
Adam Cole - Khan wouldn’t say that Cole will never wrestle
again, but said he currently can’t even travel and that any
future matches would have to be “the right situation”. TK
mentioned Cole’s history of head injuries, giving the
impression the former ROH and NXT champ is still dealing
with a post-concussion syndrome of one kind or another.
Andrade - We basically got confirmation of Andrade’s WWE
non-compete without Khan directly confirming it. Ariel
probed to see if TK thought Andrade misled him about his
contract status prior to his brief AEW return, but Khan
would only say he loved working with Andrade in the past and
would work with him again in the future.
Miro/Rusev - Another indirect confirmation that Khan and
Rusev didn’t agree on how he should be booked, which TK
chalked up to “different visions of things… He clearly was
excited to go back [to WWE], and he did go back. I wish him
the best. That must make sense for him and why he wanted to
do it.”
Britt Baker - To hear Tony tell it, everything is groovy. He
loves Britt in and out of the ring, has had “great talks”
with her recently, and is just waiting for the right
creative idea or spot to bring her back.
Chris Jericho - “I love Chris both personally and
professionally. I recently reached out to wish him a happy
birthday. I’m very excited about everything he’s done in
AEW, and he continues to be part of us. Is he going to be
back? I can’t speak to that, but I love having Chris in AEW,
and the door is always open for him.”
Will Ospreay - Tony opened with, “Boy, do I love Will
Ospreay”, so you get the idea. He wouldn’t commit to a
timetable for Ospreay’s return, but said it would be sooner
than some expect.