By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW President Tony Khan spoke with the pro wresting media on Tuesday, August 22, 2023 to promote Sunday’s AEW All In pay-per-view. Refresh the page for the latest updates.
-Tony Khan called this the most exciting week in the history of the company. He said it starts tomorrow on AEW Dynamite and said it will be a very busy week.
-Khan was asked whether he was ever worried about the FTR vs. Young Bucks match being in jeopardy and whether Cash Wheeler has faced any punishment. Khan started by talking about the actual match. Khan said he wanted to hold the rubber match for well over a year, and he felt the best place to do it was at All In. Khan said he can’t comment on things that have happened outside the ring. He said they are still learning facts. He said that based on the information they have, they are keeping an eye on that situation. He said he feels it’s a very inconclusive situation. He said it differs from other times when they’ve weighed in on situations due to evidence. He said he doesn’t feel they have those facts right now, which make it inconclusive.
-The next caller noted that Khan is an analytics guy, and asked if he will look at the television numbers differently with football and other competition. Khan said the toughest competition in all of television is football. He said it’s by far the strongest product on television and it will have an effect on people competing with it. Khan said he feels they can do very well and football will bring more eyeballs to television on Saturday, which is something they can take advantage of.
-Khan was asked about All In and All Out and the planning of both shows. Khan said there will be a lot of focus on All Out as they come out of the All In show. He said the big spotlight on All In will give them a chance to promote All Out. Khan said they have one of their best gates at United Center for All Out in addition to the massive ticket sales for All In.
-Khan was asked for an update on ticket sales for All Out. Khan said they have approximately 80,000 tickets distributed with a gate close to $10 million. He said it’s historic in that it’s by far the biggest gate in company history and the biggest gate in pro wrestling history in Europe. Khan said there will be 80,000 people in attendance and it will bring in historic revenue as well as being a historic day for pro wrestling. Khan said it will be different than anything they have done for their pay-per-view audience and noted that they are starting the pay-per-view at the same time that NFL games start during the regular season.
-Khan was asked when he found out about Cash Wheeler’s arrest. Khan said it’s not like he knew for a long time, but he has tried to gather all the facts and information. Khan said he didn’t want to comment too much on the situation and they are still trying to gather information.
-The next caller spoke about MJF kicking off the first All In and now headlining the second All In. Khan was asked how much he considered the first All In and tie-ins between the two. Khan said he was cognizant of MJF being in the first All In, and was in the first match at AEW Double Or Nothing via the battle royal. Khan said they took that into consideration, but he also feels that MJF and Cole is the best story they’ve told on AEW television. Khan said that’s been their focus as a main event. Khan said there are definitely some callbacks to the original All In. He spoke of using video footage and reference the first All In. He said they’ve also used the same graphic when announcing that people will be on the show. Khan said he’s taken some amusement over people wondering why The Elite would be in a trios match on this show. Khan noted that they were in a trios match on the first All In. Khan said he’s very excited about the card and there are some great tie-ins to the first event. Khan recalled being at the first All In and said it was very influential. He said one of the things he was excited about when he bought Ring of Honor was having access to the All In show.
-Khan was asked if he would be willing to release ticket info to avoid controversy. Khan said he wasn’t sure. He asked what WWE would do in his position. The caller noted that WWE would issue a press release including ushers and ticket takers in the attendance. Khan said they would take it all into account and would issue an accurate number, which he always does. Khan said he’s not sure how long it will take them to come up with it, but he hopes to have a historic number that people can be excited about. Khan said that wherever it falls, it will fall as one of the most successful events ever. Khan said it’s an important milestone for the company.
-Khan was asked if he’s scouting other countries for future events given the success of All In. Khan said they have AEW on in over 150 countries, so there are opportunities. Khan noted that a good portion of the AEW production team will be in London rather than at Wednesday’s live Dynamite (and Collision taping). Khan said it’s been a very good year for them with international touring. He said their biggest events have been All In and Forbidden Door.
-Khan was asked to define the roles of The Elite as EVPs compared to the roles that CM Punk and Chris Jericho have behind the scenes. Khan said there are a variety of responsibilities that various people have behind the scenes. He said Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson have come up with a lot of ideas and came up with the original All In. Khan said that Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks have a great connection to the fabric and history of the company. Khan said he’s added people to the team. He said there are not a lot of people who carry the EVP titles and are featured on the wrestling show like Omega and the Bucks. Khan said as they approach the first AEW All In, he thinks it’s a great time to look back on what Omega and the Bucks have done in AEW. Khan also mentioned Cody Rhodes’ involvement in the original All In.
-The next caller asked about the final card and noted that Paul Wight teased something as Captain Insano. Khan said there will be adjustments to the card. He said some have been planned from the beginning and some are things they are dealing with on the fly. He said he would love it if things he wrote down months earlier for a pay-per-view made it to the card. He said he wished everything in pro wrestling happened in a vacuum and all of the best ideas didn’t get changed up. Khan said it’s challenging and he’s been through challenging things. He spoke about wrestler injuries. He said there’s been a lot of that with this show.
Khan said he’s grateful that none of the injuries have involved MJF and Adam Cole. Khan recalled losing Cole, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson within three days due to injuries last summer. He said that summer was very challenging and already was with Omega being out and MJF having “stepped away.” Khan said there haven’t been as many injuries all at once, but slowing things have added up and they’ve had to change the card a lot. He said he planned to have Bryan Danielson prominently involved in All in. Khan said he had no reason to believe that there would be a change to the AEW Tag Team Title match. He said he hadn’t seen enough to make a change, but he was keeping an eye on it. He said it’s one of the most important matches in the history of the company.
Khan mentioned the Danielson injury was a fluke. He also said they lost Jamie Hayter and Pac, who are two of the top AEW stars from the UK. He said that changed a lot of plans, but they have had time to plan for their absences. Khan said he expects more changes. He said he’s going to try to make the card even better. He said he plans to add something, and he might have to change the body of the card. He said he’s happy that the big matches are in a good position. He said that once people see the changes, he can talk more about when and why he decided to make those changes. He said he wasn’t planning to make those changes even a week or two ago. Khan said the MJF and Cole match has received a lot of attention and that’s by design.
-Khan was asked what his father’s reaction has been to the All In ticket sales. Khan said he knows his father is very proud of the success of AEW and All In in particular. Khan said it’s all happening because of him. Khan said that his father is the most savvy businessman that he knows and he’s very aware of the huge success that is All In. Khan said he spoke with him last night about it and his father is very excited about the success of All In. Khan said it’s come a long way since his father took him to ECW Arena and wrestling matches. Khan said his father wasn’t a fan, but the fact that he took him to those events shows what a good father he is.
-The subject of Sting’s status with the company came up. Khan said he has had conversations with Sting and he’s very aware that he wants him to stay as long as he’s physically up to wrestling. Khan said Sting enjoys doing it and is having a lot of fun. Khan spoke of how fortunate he was that Sting listened to his suggestion that he watch Allin’s matches. Khan said they are an incredible pair in and out of the ring. Khan said All In will be a really important chapter in Sting’s career. Khan said there have been so many great Sting moments in AEW that he doesn’t want it to end. Khan said he won’t be the one to pull the plug. He said Sting knows that he won’t do that and it’s up to Sting to make that call. Khan said it’s important to him that they let Sting finish his career the right way. Khan said Sting has the best winning streak in all of AEW, which is befitting of one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time.
-A caller brought up Saraya’s impact on the company and her family appearing at All In. Khan said Saraya is a great wrestler and a great part of AEW. He said she’s been with the company for nearly one year now. Khan said this is the biggest moment of her AEW run. He said she’s part of a tremendous wrestling family and they are excited to have them at the event. Khan said Saraya is an amazing story, an amazing person, and she has great people around her. Khan praised Toni Storm and Ruby Soho, then hyped the four-way match for the AEW Women’s Championship for All In.
-Khan was asked about how Warner Bros. Discovery views AEW in terms of whether it’s sports centric or in another category. Khan said he believes they fall in with sports. He said they do tremendous ratings and mentioned a press release that WBD put out regarding last week’s Dynamite. Khan said WBD is very excited about the potential of AEW. He said he’s been fortunate to spend time with WBD CEO David Zaslav. Khan said he introduced his father to Zaslav, who told Shad Khan that ‘your son is f’ing killing it.”
-A caller noted that Mark Henry stated that Kenny Omega signed a four-year deal with AEW. Khan was asked if Hangman Page and the Young Bucks signed for the same length of time. Khan said he would have to go back and look at the paperwork. He said injuries and other factors change things. Khan said he’s been able to bond a lot with Omega lately. He said he’s going to film something with Omega once this call wrapped up. Khan said he didn’t think the expiration dates of the deals are all the same, but they did multi-year deals with all four wrestlers.
-The final caller asked if AEW would have a more consistent presence in the UK. Khan said he would save his answer for a later date. He said that if you look at how he’s done things historically when things succeed, there’s a very good chance of that. Khan touted their relationship with ITV and its history with pro wrestling.
-Khan closed out the call by saying there will be card changes, but he thinks the final card will end up being better. He said he expects All In Sunday to be the most memorable night the company has ever had. He said it won’t be the first show he’s written for Wembley Stadium, because he wrote fan shows for Wembley when he was younger.
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