Tony Khan Addresses Travel Issues That Led to Last-Minute Changes for Last Night’s AEW Dynamite & Collision

As previously reported, last night’s AEW Dynamite & Collision show underwent multiple last-minute changes due to travel issues and wrestlers working the recent Jericho Cruise. Tony Khan discussed the matter during today’s AEW Full Gear media call. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Tony Khan on Flight Issues Causing Changes To AEW Dynamite

“You’ve got numerous flight issues, and you’re trying to put a great wrestling show together; imagine how I feel at the end of the night when I think it was a great show, and everything came together great. It was a huge sense of relief and excitement going into Full Gear. I had announced some great things for the show, and then there were some people that had some issues getting out, which can happen, and that’s why it’s good to have contingency plans, and I love doing that. In this case, the network was great about pushing some things back.”

Why Queen Aminata vs. Hyan vs. Skye Blue Was Made the Main Event of the Collision Portion of the Show

“In the case of the main event, Hyan arrived at the arena as the show was starting. So by putting that match in the main event, first of all, it’s a great championship match in the main event. Hyan has been doing great in both AEW and ROH; I wanted to give her the opportunity. There were numerous other people that participated on the show, particularly in the Collision part, that arrived later as we were starting the live event. I love being able to pivot and make plans; when the show comes together well, that’s the energy of the pandemic that I really loved.

“So I’m used to making changes, and in this case, I thought the show came out great, and we were able to get everybody on. There were people that were stuck in the airport that came and did a great job; they were still able to wrestle on the show or do interviews on the show. Nick Wayne, I really wanted to get Nick Wayne on the show. Nick’s another person that, because of the Jericho cruise, had gotten there later in the night, but I really wanted to feature Nick and do what we did. In the case of some of those young wrestlers and stars that came in, I’m happy to make those changes, and I’m just proud the show came together well.”

The travel issues, such as Hyan arriving at the arena just as the show was starting, caused several parts of the TV taping to be rearranged or changed, as Khan explained.