Tony Khan On Short-Term Goals For AEW, The Importance Of All In

AEW President Tony Khan was a recent guest on the Talk Is Jericho podcast. Khan opened up about the inner workings of AEW and gave insight into what fans can expect from the new promotion. Highlights appear below.

(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, WrestleZone)

Khan On What It’s Like Starting A Wrestling Company:

We’ve been looking at doing it for a very long time and it’s something I wanted to do my entire life. It’s been every bit as exciting as I thought it would be, and to have great people like yourself, and like The Young Bucks, and Cody, and now Kenny Omega to work with – what you’re bringing in terms of experience and leadership has made it possible for this to happen. Honestly, I wouldn’t be here without all you guys.

On His Family Background:

My dad’s [Shad Khan] one of the biggest auto parts entrepreneurs in the world. He started his own auto parts company out of the Midwest called Flex-N-Gate and it’s grown over time from one company on to many factories all over the world. He’s a really inspirational person, not a wrestling fan.

He’s from Pakistan…and he makes all kinds of auto parts for auto companies all over the world. He’s a really really great person. It really is the American dream, it’s pretty awesome.

Khan On His Position With The Jacksonville Jaguars:

I’m the head of stats and analytics for the Jacksonville Jaguars. When I started it there weren’t a lot of teams doing that position, filling that role. I think we innovated a lot of things and are continuing to innovate some cool things in the space of analytics and football.

I also own a company called True Media that is an engineering firm that provides sports analytics solutions to teams across many sports. Sports analytics is a collection of data points and statistics that can be applied to decision making in the field of sports. When I’m talking about it, I don’t mean so much the sales, or ticketing, or marketing aspect of it. The work I’ve done has primarily been the product on the field for the NFL or on the pitch, as we would say….and using that data to drive decision making.

I definitely didn’t create this position, but was one of the first people to have it in the NFL. When we bought the team there weren’t a lot of people doing this work. Now pretty much every team, to some extent, is doing this kind of work and the league provides much more information to the teams through chips that are in the player’s pads now that provide location data. For every moment of every play we’re capturing data now in the NFL. Position, speed, and acceleration. We can find out how open receivers are getting. It’s really cool stuff. So across a number of sports we have this kind of information. Through our work at the Jaguars and also through True Media, we’ve been able to apply statistics to decision making.

On Whether He’s Ready To Show His Mean Side & Become The Bearer Of Bad News:

Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s a mean side. It’s a business. I think you’ve seen the bad side of me a few times [Jericho concurs]. We haven’t spent that much time together, but you’ve probably seen that and sometimes you’ve got to make a tough decision. You guys might not always agree with them, but I think when it comes to who’s gonna be on the roster, or what we’re gonna do with other people, you can’t pay everybody.

Khan On The Importance Of All In:

It was part of the equation for sure. I was keeping a very close eye on it. I had definitely looked at the business case for this and considered it long before the guys had done All In, before they sold out, and long before they had done the show, but when it came time to actually do it, it was a big part of my thinking and really shaped what I was doing. I was very very excited about the show as a fan and I followed the buzz as a fan to see how excited people were firsthand and to be there, and be a part of it, and to see all those fans and to see what a life-changing experience it was for so many people. It just made me feel even stronger about what we’re doing.

AEW Goals:

I think the short-term goals, for this year, is to do multiple successful pay-per-views, and later in the year will be doing something else exciting, and also I’ve got charitable event over the summer in Jacksonville. It’s called Fight For The Fallen. We’ll announce more details about that at a later date. It’s to benefit victims of gun violence and causes we feel real strongly about. There’s been some real terrible tragedies in Jacksonville including what happened at the Jacksonville landing at the EA Sports Madden tournament, which is literally close to home to me in downtown Jacksonville. In addition to doing some successful pay-per-views, I’d say another short-term goal is the launch of our television program, which I’m excited to announce more details about in the future.

Long-term goals, I would like, 5 years from now, for this to be a growing business that’s been around, that’s delivered on all of its promises, that hasn’t alienated its fans, that hasn’t alienated its performers. I would like for everybody to say that I never lied to them, that I never lied to you, that I never lied to The Bucks, or Cody, or Kenny. I would like for everybody to get out of this and say that we gave them a fair chance, that we did something good for them in their career, that we treated them well. I would like everybody, 5 years from now, to say, ‘Thank goodness, we got into this because the wrestling business is a better place, the fans are happier.’ I’d like everybody, five years from now, to look at this and say it really was a pivotal moment that changed things for everybody that loves wrestling, and for the better. I think that would be awesome.

Khan also talks about growing up as a tape trading wrestling fan, seeing Chris Jericho perform his last ever match in ECW, and scoring a ring worn Brian Pillman t-shirt and much more. Readers may listen to all that and more below: