Tony Khan says AEW programming is in a good place right now but the brand is strong enough to support more shows if the right opportunity came along.
During his AEW Revolution post-show media scrum, Tony Khan was asked about the size of the AEW and ROH rosters and finding a balance for it all. Khan said he believes the company is in a good spot, but it’s strong enough to do even more television under the right circumstances.
“I think the three hours we have right now are a great place. Before AEW launched, it was something people were missing, was having those hours of wrestling TV on a strong channel like TBS and TNT. So in being a challenger brand, it’s something we brought back, but I would love to have more hours of wrestling television. It’s great that we have AEW: All Access, which is huge for the company and a big opportunity to get that real estate following Dynamite,” Khan explained, “and I think we’ll be able to have a really good audience flow from Dynamite into All Access. There was really a lot of positive feedback about that announcement. I know the network is very excited about how much engagement there was about All Access.
“But from a wrestling standpoint, in trying to grow the roster and keep people hot when they get opportunities, at times, it’s been challenging for a couple reasons. Three hours of television, and also injuries and things that have come up and changed circumstances. I think injuries, you can never eliminate completely, but we try and do everything we can from a physical standpoint,” Khan explained. “When people need time off, we’ll give it to them. I also think to your other point, three hours of television, right now people can count on seeing the best lineups we can put out right now on TV. But I think we absolutely have the capacity to do more, and more TV if that opportunity presented itself, and I think there is demand for it.”
AEW All Access will premiere on March 29. The episode of Dynamite that serves as a lead-in to the premiere will also feature the in-ring return of Adam Cole.
Tony Khan also went on to highlight the successful week for the AEW and Ring Of Honor brands.
“It’s been a really strong business week for AEW and Ring of Honor overall. I can say tonight, first and foremost, for Revolution, the gate was tremendous and also, I haven’t gotten asked yet, but I know I was gonna get asked, from a pay-per-view standpoint, it looks like it was a very successful show. Looks like [it’s] in line with some of our recent shows, and probably I think up from Full Gear,” Khan explained, “and possibly in line with what we’ve been doing with Full Gear, Forbidden Door, some of these shows that have been in the range of 130,000 to 140,000, I think we could be in there. I’m very excited about that, just based on early digital receipts. I also think, probably with strong word of mouth, I would expect a good chance to get replay buys off of Revolution tonight because it was a really great card and I think I there was a lot of really positive buzz about some of the matches, in particular the world championship iron man match, the Texas Death Match, and a lot of other great matches.”
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