Even as someone who’s been accused of being sicko*, I’ll be the first to make a Tony Khan joke and/or roll my eyes when AEW’s president and head of creative is answering one of the “good question”s interviewers
always seem to be asking him.
We all know there will be more, but the only joke I can really make about Khan’s highly anticipated second interview with Ariel Helwani (their first was a trainwreck, and not a great moment for either of a pair who’ve had numerous highs and a fair amount of lows in their professional careers) involve it’s length.
The “rematch” happened with both men in-studio for The Ariel Helwani Show today (Nov. 18). TK’s answers will be dissected and debated, no doubt. And some weren’t great, nor was the lack of pointed follow-up questions from Helwani on some of those. But overall it wasn’t an embarrassing outing for either, and contained a lot of interesting items and exchanges across the interview’s hour-plus duration.
Here’s a summary of and some quotes from their talk’s highs and lows:
- Early discussion of the AEW product brought up Darby Allin, and the promotionit’s use of blood and high-risk spots. Khan praised Allin but offered his fall from a ladder through plate glass during Sting’s final match at Revolution as one that he said went too far. Other than that, TK said he’ll use or okay danger or gore when it serves the story, and he feels it almost always had in AEW and ROH.
- After going through the card for Full Gear this Saturday and some of the things lined up for tomorrow night’s supersized go home edition of Dynamite and Collision on TBS, Ariel asked about AEW’s relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery. Specifically, he wondered if Khan is worried about the relationship with WBD up for sale. TK hyped their “great relationship”, and pointed to the ongoing DC partnership (which currently involves a comic book series, and a PPV sponsorship) as proof “AEW is clearly very strongly figured in” to WBD’s plans. Anyone who buys Warners will inherit the media right deal with AEW, but may not be gung ho about promoting it. But Helwani didn’t push on that, likely because Khan can’t know when no one knows what will happen with WBD.
- Asked about moving all his shows to a streaming service the way WWE has done and UFC is doing, Khan said he isn’t sure if AEW will ever move away from the pay-per-view models for events. He plans to keep delivering value for PPV, something all-but his most vicious critics concede AEW and ROH usually do. TK also plugged their HBO Max offering and the WBD deal overall here.
- Helwani pointed out that AEW is the only combat sports organization he knows of that has no ties to Saudi Arabia. Rather to use this as a differentiator between his company and WWE, Khan just said he’d never thought of it that way and moved on. It certainly wasn’t an “I’ll never work with the Saudis”, or even an “I don’t currently work with the Saudis by choice”.
- This was not the version of TK that compared Vince McMahon to Harvey Weinstein or said “to be under AEW is to be under attack”. When Helwani brought up industry veterans who attack him and AEW on podcasts, Khan just repeatedly mentioned that their programming gives pundits a lot to talk about, and the fact the keep doing it must mean it does good numbers for them. He also praised Eric Bischoff’s run atop WCW and indicated that he’s spoken to his frequent critic and sometime online sparring partner more recently than folks might think.
- Speaking of people TK’s close to, he told Ariel he still talks to UFC boss Dana White all the time.
- On the subject of WWE’s counter-programming efforts, Khan talked about WWF/E’s history of doing that. Because of that, he says he expected it. He also said WWE counter-programming never “cost us anything” and has “always worked out”.
- It was a similar answer when Helwani brought up WWE partnering with people like TNA now, as Khan pointed out their history of doing that when dealing with a “challenger brand”. When Ariel said Matt Hardy told him the only reason WWE was working with TNA was to hurt AEW, TK replied “I think it’s probably true. The fact that Matt said it, that’s really cool.”
- CM Punk’s name came up, and Khan again made a point to praise a critic. He spoke highly of both Punk’s time at AEW, and indirectly his WWE run, by saying he thought everyone involved in the backstage drama of 2022-2023 is in a better place now.
- Regarding the critique of Khan’s passive management style Punk leveled on Helwani’s show last year, TK said he doesn’t agree with that “feedback”, but “but everybody is entitled to their opinion”. He also didn’t agree with Punk’s account of the events that lead to his firing, but Khan chose to focus on his efforts to keep Punk in the fold with the Collision launch.
- He denied airing the security camera footage from All In 2023 on Dynamite in response to Punk’s interview with Helwani, but defended it as something that performed in the ratings. Khan said it was something that’s “in the eye of the beholder” and thought “the tape spoke for itself”.
- Asked later about the post-Saturday Night’s Main Event of four of his former contractors draped in WWE gold (Punk, Cody Rhodes, Ricky Saints, and Jade Cargill), Khan said it made him smile, and reminded him of the picture Rhodes took with Jon Moxley early in AEW’s existence (at the first Double or Nothing). He said he could talk for hours about how highly he thinks of all four in the SNME photo as wrestlers and people, but mostly he thought about the Mox and Rhodes pic. I would have gotten in a joke about AEW being better at developing WWE stars than WWE developmental, but TK didn’t.
- Ariel pressed a bit on AEW’s HBO Max numbers when Khan was touting the ratings for Dynamite last Wednesday, and Tony said he doesn’t get and hasn’t seen those. He said not even the NFL gets streaming numbers all the time. TK did say that Blood & Guts a week ago “was probably our most-watched show in months on streaming.”
- The Shockwave trademark came up. Khan said he didn’t realize NWA (or Pride FC) had used that name in the past, and told NWA owner Billy Corgan he wouldn’t use it. Ariel didn’t bring up the FOX rumors, reports, and speculation.
- WWE never reached out about Adam “Edge” Copeland being part of John Cena’s retirement tour, and it won’t happen unless Cena unretires, because Cope is under contract and a big part of AEW’s future.
And with that, let’s move into a lightning round of names Helwani threw at TK for comment! We’ve heard similar answers on some of these before, but…
- Killer Kross – Helwani thought signing Kross would be “a slam dunk” for AEW, but TK says they haven’t spoken since he left WWE. He didn’t say he would either, just that Allin’s had “great experiences” working with Kross, and that the idea of bringing him in would be “interesting”.
- Adam Cole – Khan wouldn’t say that Cole will never wrestle again, but said he currently can’t even travel and that any future matches would have to be “the right situation”. TK mentioned Cole’s history of head injuries, giving the impression the former ROH and NXT champ is dealing with a post-concussion syndrome of one kind or another.
- Andrade – We basically got confirmation of Andrade’s WWE non-compete without Khan directly confirming it. Ariel probed to see if TK thought Andrade misled him about his contract status prior to his brief AEW return, but Khan would only say he loved working with Andrade in the past and would work with him again in the future.
- Miro/Rusev – Another indirect confirmation that Khan and Rusev didn’t agree on how he should be booked, which TK chalked up to “different visions of things… He clearly was excited to go back [to WWE], and he did go back. I wish him the best. That must make sense for him and why he wanted to do it.”
- Britt Baker – To hear Tony tell it, everything is groovy. He loves Britt in and out of the ring, has had “great talks” with her recently, and is just waiting for the right creative idea or spot to bring her back.
- Chris Jericho – “I love Chris both personally and professionally. I recently reached out to wish him a happy birthday. I’m very excited about everything he’s done in AEW, and he continues to be part of us. Is he going to be back? I can’t speak to that, but I love having Chris in AEW, and the door is always open for him.”
- Will Ospreay – Tony opened with, “Boy, do I love Will Ospreay”, so you get the idea. He wouldn’t commit to a timetable for Ospreay’s return, but said it would be sooner than some expect.
Like I said, it was long, but not without merit. Check out the full interview here, and let us know what your takeaways/jokes were in the comments below.
* I don’t really care what you call me, but know that I watch and generally enjoy shows from WWE, AEW, and other promotions.
