Tony Khan Recalls Putting the First AEW TV Deal Together, Discusses Going to All the Shows, Jon Moxley Doing a Great Job Backstage

During a recent interview with the Wide World of Sports, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan discussed running AEW, his various hats in the sports world, and more. Below are some highlights:

On Going to All the Shows and Jon Moxley Being Backstage at Everything

“I have a great group of people in each of the sports – I have great executives, coaches, and people to talk to and lean on. The thing with wrestling that’s very different is there’s no off-season. We have a great group, but I’m generally the only person who comes to every show. In recent years, [star wrestler] Jon Moxley is doing a great job backstage and has been at everything … but I have been at every AEW show since the beginning. It’s a lot of travel, but I love it.”

ON His Wrestling Fandom

“I started watching wrestling in part because I’d seen wrestlers in other shows, and that got me interested. I became a huge fan around 1990 and just kept watching.”

Tony Khan on Putting Together the First TV Deal for AEW

“The biggest hurdle was to make the TV deal – I reached a point in early-2019 where I had signed the wrestlers, but didn’t have a deal. I had been working on the TV portion of it for nearly a year, but I had got into April and still didn’t have a deal. Reaching a point where it became a reality was very challenging. It’s hard to launch … but things have grown so quickly.”

On a Return to Australia

“I absolutely want to come back to Australia. We’ve had incredible events with the fans in both Sydney and Brisbane. I think we’ve built a great audience, our wrestlers are so popular, and some of the top stars in AEW are actually from Australia. Given what a great wrestling country it is and how many awesome stars we have in AEW from there, I think we’ve got something really special.”

Tony Khan will present a new edition of AEW Dynamite tomorrow at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Virginia. The show will air live on TBS starting at 8:00 pm ET. It will also be simulcast on HBO Max.