All Elite Wrestling (AEW) President Tony Khan recently sat down with ITV to talk about several AEW-related topics. During the interview, Khan discussed what sets AEW aside from other industry giants such as WWE, and was asked if we can expect more big announcements heading into “Double Or Nothing.”
Here are some highlights:
(Transcription credit should go to @JonFuentesMMA for Wrestlezone.com)
What sets AEW aside from industry giants like WWE?
We’re gonna offer a great sporting centric product, and we’re gonna be focused on the athletes, focused on the work. And we’re gonna have some of the best wrestlers in the world and I really want to showcase them. But they also are some of the most dynamic personalities, I don’t want people to think this is just going to be great matches. It is going to be a lot of great matches, but it’s also gonna be some of the most entertaining people in wrestling. It’s a really great time for that too. And these guys are going to be unleashed.
You’re going to see their personalities. I spend time with these women and men and there are some really great personalities in this group that are gonna shine. And the shows are gonna be great and they’re not gonna be what people expect, but we are gonna take the matches seriously. I want wins and losses to matter. That’s the whole point in wrestling. Everyone should strive to be a champion, and your stature in the company is largely marked by your win-loss record. And, you know, a young performer, doesn’t mean you can’t lose some matches early on in your career and come out later.
But certainly, your form should matter, I think. That’s why I’m really excited to see how people react to it. But I think it’s going to be a very different wrestling show than people have seen. I think it’s going to be the best wrestling show people have seen. I plan to draw from a lot of what has worked outside of wrestling too in sports. I think in mixed martial arts people have done great things, UFC has done some great things. And boxing, including ITV’s great work, and I’ve attended the fights at the O2, and I think that ITV does a great job with their partners as well, so there’s a lot that can be said for how we’re going to cover this sport of wrestling, but I think one thing that speaks for itself, in terms of the partnership, is that wrestling – we’re now identifying it as a sport.
Can we expect any major announcements from now up until ‘Double Or Nothing?’:
There will be announcements up until ‘Double Or Nothing,’ and we’re going to be providing people with exciting new reasons to order ‘Double Or Nothing,’ because that is our 100 percent focus right now, up until the show in Las Vegas on May 25. Or technically, in the morning, May 26, here in the U.K. But yeah, there’s definitely going to be some exciting stuff to come.
I can’t really tell you that right now, but I think we’re gonna talk offline and stage some fun announcements for everybody. We have some very fun stuff planned for everybody, I think that was before we turned off the camera, I was just telling you some cool things we’re gonna work on together, and we have some really fun stuff for everybody coming up in the next couple of weeks. So stay tuned.
