By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW President Tony Khan spoke with the pro wresting media on December 27, 2024 to promote Saturday’s AEW Worlds End pay-per-view. Refresh the page for the latest updates.
-Tony Khan opened the call by saying he’s very excited about everything that’s set to come over the coming week. He touted the AEW Collision viewership numbers (without mentioning the college football playoff game lead-in) and also spoke about the Fight for the Fallen show.
-Jon Alba asked about Ricky Starks. Khan said you never know who will be a part of the mother of all simulcasts (Fight for the Fallen).
-I asked Khan if Dynamite and Collision both remain two-hour shows once the new deal with WBD kicks in. Khan said that is the plan. He mentioned the flexibility they are given with overruns, but the actual shows will continue to be two-hour shows.
-Khan was asked about Kyle Fletcher. Khan sang his praises and said he’s been a bight star for AEW in 2024 and will be a part of AEW for many years to come.
-I believe the next question regarded Khan as a booker in 2025. Khan touted the Continental Classic and also noted that they’ve had some of their best pay-per-view events despite not having some of their top stars available. Khan said the consistencies of the pay-per-views have been unparalleled, and he feels their most recent television shows have been some of their best.
-Amy Nemmity asked Khan about the four-way for the AEW World Championship at Worlds End. Khan spoke about the champion Jon Moxley, and his challengers Hangman Page, Jay White, and Orange Cassidy.
-Alex Hunt asked about the Continental Classic tournament and the addition of having semifinal matches as opposed to having just the finals at Worlds End. Khan said he’s proud of the work that everyone’s done to make the tournament tremendous. He touted the two semifinal matches (Kazuchika Okada vs. Ricochet, Kyle Fletcher vs. Will Ospreay) and said there will be a great finals match. Khan said that going with the winners of the leagues facing the other league’s runner-up creates fresh matches. He feels it adds more intrigue to the tournament.
-Samantha Shipman asked if there are plans to do a women’s Continental Classic tournament as early as next year. Khan said the women’s division is very strong and they’ve had some of their best women’s matches this year. He said the potential is absolutely there. He also mentioned that they’ve had a lot of injuries in the women’s division. Khan said it could be a very exciting tournament and he is very interested in doing it once they get everyone healthy.
-Bill Pritchard asked about the future of AEW Rampage and what happens to storylines from that show. Khan said it’s a great situation for AEW to get the new media rights deal and to be able to simulcast their shows via Max along with TBS and TNT. Khan said the deal was very favorably to AEW and they were able to get rights fees that were well beyond what they had for the first five years. Khan said part of the agreement was focusing on the four hours of Dynamite and Collision. He said it’s important that they launched Collision last year and having a two-hour prime time deal on TNT. Khan said it’s important to focus on Dynamite and Collision. He said it’s going to be great for the company and a huge opportunity to focus on those two shows and to give them more resources. Khan said that by getting rights fees that are multiple times higher than what they had, they put the company on the path to profitability. He said the company will be one of the most successful pro wrestling companies of all time “on the bottom line.” He said they went through the startup phase. He said they invested in talent, TV, technology, infrastructure, and international growth, and now they are just days away from the thing they targeted (the start of the new deal). Khan said it’s great that pro wrestling is making such a huge step into streaming next week, and he feels AEW is a big part of that story. Khan said Rampage has been a great show for them, but they are going to focus on Dynamite and Collision for the time being.
-Josh Nason asked if there would be any cuts now that the company is losing over 50 hours of television per year. Khan said it’s a good question to ask, but he can’t really say how they will accommodate that. He said the company is getting significantly more money to produce four hours of television, which is a change from doing five hours. Khan once again said it’s a fair question to ask and something they will look at. He said there will be great opportunities.
-Brian Zilem asked about Jaime Hawn’s allegations against AEW and its legal team. Khan said he could not and thanked him for asking.
-Stu Myrick asked about potential changes for next year’s Continental Classic. Khan said he feels good about the current format. Khan said he would be happy to use the same format next year.
-Brandon Thurston asked about the trends of AEW’s television ratings and attendance. Khan once again touted the new television deal and AEW Collision’s ratings on Saturday (without mentioning the big lead-in). Khan said he’s hopeful they will also get good numbers for the Christmas night Dynamite and recalled Rampage performing well on Christmas night a few years ago. Khan said he feels the company’s recent television product has been the best it has been all year.
-Rich Fann asked about innovations on Max, as well as whether they intend to share their ratings information. Khan said the ratings information isn’t under their control. He essentially said that will be up to Warner Bros Discovery. He said they won’t necessarily have numbers on every show and doesn’t think they’ll get the same data for streaming that they get from television. He said he doesn’t know if the numbers will trickle in as fast as they do now. When it comes to innovations, he wants it to be as consistent as possible and said they will find a strong formula for it.
-John Pollock asked about Collision moving to the soon to be rebranded USA Network in Canada and whether it’s a new deal. Khan said they had some great negotiations in Canada. He noted that they also reached an extension with Dynamite on TSN. He said AEW has done very well in Canada and is often the top wrestling show in the key demographic. Khan said they spoke with various suitors about Dynamite and ultimately decided to stay with TSN. He said they got a strong rights increase, which he feels they earned. Khan said they had another offer that was tremendous, but the TSN deal had things they liked more.
-Arunava Ghoshal asked about Ricochet. Khan laughed while saying Ricochet’s attitude has “adjusted.” He said Ricochet has taken a shortcuts along the way and the fans are starting to see him differently, which is by design. He said they realized that Ricochet was unlikely to be cheered against Brody King, Darby Allin, and Will Ospreay, and Ricochet leaned into it. Khan said it went exactly as expected. Khan noted that Ricochet won the gold league of the Continental Classic tournament.
-Khan closed the call with his final thoughts. Khan said he’s blown away by the opportunities in front of them over the next week. He said the pay-per-view and the lineup is great, and being less than a week away from their first simulcast presents great opportunities. He recalled the support they received when they launched the company, started on TNT, and moved Dynamite to TBS. He feels this is the biggest move or adjustment they’ve made since then. Khan said it won’t change things for many viewers, but it adds a new opportunity to make new fans. Khan mentioned there will be a media scrum after Worlds End. Khan said he hoped everyone had a great Christmas and wished everyone a happy new year. This wrapped up the call.
Join me for my live review of AEW Worlds End on Saturday night.
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