Tony Khan On TV Industry’s Current Perception Of Wrestling, State Of AEW’s Women’s Division After All Out

In a recent interview on Busted Open Radio, Tony Khan discussed the television industry believing in pro wrestling right now, AEW’s women’s division, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Tony Khan on the growing interest in wrestling and the television industry believing in the sport: “It really does feel like that level of interest is at an all-time high, and we’re seeing it. There are ways wrestlers can tell, there are ways people in a wrestling company can tell when the product is getting hot, and we’re starting to see them. The men and women are starting to get bothered more in the airport. People are coming up to them more often on the street. You get stopped more in the restaurants. It’s amazing and it’s been happening consistently more often. Certainly since the launch of AEW Dynamite and now recently it’s happening more than ever. There’s a lot of funny stories recently from just fans all over the place. You never know where they’re going to pop up, you never know where you’re going to meet them. And it’s always a good sign for how hot the wrestling business is when the people you see on the street want to stop and talk to you. It’s because AEW is really hot and it was like that when I was a kid. Wrestling was the hottest thing in the late 90’s, and absolutely, right now, in terms of competition on PPV, competition on television, this is the hottest it’s been.

“To have two wrestling companies that each have two number one shows, that is the sign of the times that wrestling is really hot. We’ve actually added a third top 10 show, because AEW Countdown also ranked in the top 10 last week. So three top 10 shows, two of which number one multiple times, it’s pretty cool. So absolutely, in terms of the television industry and their perception of wrestling, this is the highest it’s been. And that’s pretty amazing, in terms of what TV networks are paying, in terms of right fees, which are the backbone for our company and financially the backbone for WWE right now. That is a very, very telling sign of how much the TV industry believes in pro wrestling and specifically in AEW and our direct competition. Both of us have great support from TV networks, and we’re a young company. We’re only less than two years old on TV, which is pretty amazing. And I think our future is really bright, and that’s good news for the wrestling fans and the wrestlers. This is important to have competition in wrestling.”

On the Women’s Casino Battle Royale at All Out and the state of the AEW’s women’s division: “I worked myself as the agent on the Women’s Casino Battle Royale, so it was great working with a lot of that young talent. A bunch of people broke out and did an awesome job in that. It came down to Ruby Soho and Thunder Rosa, which was an exciting battle and they’re two of the top stars. But really, there were so many great performances. We saw so many stories unfold in that match. The Bunny came out, and Anna Jay made a beeline for her. In the next wave, Penelope [Ford] came and they were getting heat on Anna, then Tay Conti in the final wave. All of a sudden, we had a great two on two situation. That’s a pretty intense rivalry. I think when you really look at out women’s roster, you see all these exciting breakthrough stars and those four have a pretty exciting rivalry. And of course Jade [Cargill] and Nyla Rose had a truce, and it didn’t go the way they planned….all things considered, I think there’s a lot of tension coming out of that battle royale.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Busted Open Radio with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.