Tony Khan confirms that he has spoken to Warner Bros. Discovery about potentially expanding AEW‘s pay-per-view schedule.
Earlier in July, Fightful Select reported that Warner Bros. Discovery proposed AEW adding to its pay-per-view lineup as part of ongoing negotiations on the extension of their TV deal.
Khan was asked about the ‘optimum’ number of pay-per-views during the Death Before Dishonor media call. In the past, more pay-per-views used to be the standard. Khan also highlighted the growth of AEW’s pay-per-view model up to this point.
“I think it’s evolving,” Khan said. “No wrestling promotion that has ever expanded its pay-per-view calendar due to demand and economics has ever regretted that decision. In general, there have been factors that have helped pro wrestling companies rise and fall over the years. But I do think expanding your pay-per-view calendar has often been something that has been seen as revenue-positive and overall a positive for the company. Certainly, when there was competition in pro wrestling in the past, more pay-per-views was the standard.
PPV Expansion?
“I think for us, we launched with a very methodical plan. We’ve built a really solid calendar of major events, and to date, our big pay-per-view events are Revolution, Double or Nothing, Forbidden Door in partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling, which has been a great success and it’s the biggest debut of any of our events, and now we’ve got of course All Out and Full Gear. Now All In comes into the discussion as well. Now we’re talking about six major events, and we’ll talk more about All In, but six pay-per-view worthy events at a minimum.”
The AEW CEO confirmed he has talked to Warner Brothers Discovery about potentially expanding AEW’s PPV schedule. Khan said it’s something to give a lot of consideration to.
“As for expanding the calendar even further, it’s something we’ve talked to Warner Brothers Discovery about. It is something everybody believes could potentially be revenue positive,” Khan said. “So I think that’s something to certainly consider, but I’m very happy with what we’ve built.
“I think when people look back through wrestling history, it had been a long time since anybody had had the kind of success as a challenger brand we’ve had. [It’s been] since the 1990s, since anybody has had the kind of numbers we’ve put up on pay-per-view as a challenger,” Khan said. “It’s something I’ve given a lot of consideration to.”
WrestleZone will provide more information as it becomes available.
Click here to check out the card for the July 19 episode of AEW Dynamite. WrestleZone will have coverage of the show as it airs.
If you use this transcription, credit WrestleZone and link back to this post.
