Tony Khan Details How E-Wrestling Helped Him Practice Booking Years Before AEW Launched

Tony Khan‘s genuine wrestling fandom is a well-known trait, but he recently opened up how his formative years as a booker, long before All Elite Wrestling launched in 2019.

Speaking with The Ringer, the AEW President recalled how, in 1995, he got into e-wrestling, which enabled him to write shows with a fantasy roster. He stated that he always used Dynamite as his flagship show, despite numerous other changes over the years.

“In 1995, I started doing an e-wrestling show called Saturday Night Dynamite, and then it moved around over the next many years,” Khan said. “At one point in time it was on Monday night, but at one point it was also Wednesday Night Dynamite. Then I used that name Dynamite for many years, and it had always been a steady thing. I relaunched the promotion with a new territory, new wrestlers, and new stories every several years. I wanted to try something different. The one thing that was always the same was that the weekly show was always called Dynamite.”

The interview noted that Khan submitted over 1,000 wrestling shows, and as he evolved, he felt compelled to launch a second show in the league. That show was named Rampage, much like AEW’s secondary program, and he even had plans for a third series, titled Tuesday Night Tag Team Fights, as well.

Khan emphasized that e-wrestling was a way to practice, but the method doesn’t necessarily translate to meaningfully growing in the real world. He compared it to the NFL and fantasy football and noted that they’re quite different, though he also shared his belief that fantasy wrestling is much more involved.

“In e-wrestling, you get ideas and try stuff out,” Khan said. “I was a really young kid; I’m not saying it was impactful, or that you can jump straight from that into the wrestling business, but it was definitely a fun way to get your reps in. There are a lot of young coaches in the football business, and you’re not going to use fantasy football to make your decisions in the NFL, I can tell you that firsthand. But growing up, a lot of people in the NFL played fantasy football. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s honestly very different from fantasy wrestling.

“When you’re doing a wrestling show, there’s a lot more involved in putting stories and angles together week to week, and stringing things together versus setting a fantasy lineup. There’s actually a lot more involved in a fantasy wrestling league.”