Tony Khan On Why He’s Excited By Paramount & WBD Merger, Says It’s Good For AEW

Tony Khan has been open about how excited he is for the Paramount and WBD merger to complete, and he expanded on those comments in a new interview. Paramount’s progressing acquisition of WBD has been one of the biggest media stories of 2026. While the plans are being legally challenged (and on hold for the next two weeks), Khan has expressed how he feels the merger will benefit AEW as a media partner.

Khan was asked by Brian Sozzi on Power Players what’s next for AEW, and he talked about the Paramount & WBD merger and why he thinks it’s a perfect time for them. You can see the highlights below:

On Paramount Acquiring WBD:

“Paramount now has come in to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery, and I think that’s fantastic. I’m so excited about it. You asked me about the opportunities for AEW, and I think that’s a huge opportunity for AEW because we’ve premiered our pay-per-views on HBO Max, and we have a great audience. And now with Paramount making a deal to acquire HBO Max, for me as a showrunner that’s worked at Warner Brothers for over seven years now, I have to say I’m very excited about it and really welcoming the ownership from Paramount.”

On What Makes Him Excited About It:

“It’s the ability to first of all bring in more subscribers. I think HBO Max and Paramount are going to be much stronger and far more competitive together in the streaming space than they are separately, and they both have a great base. But in the world of streaming together, I think it’s a much more competitive company. It’s not going to be anything resembling a monopoly in streaming, because it’s a hard fight out there. But together, I think we’ll have more viewers with Paramount, and we’ll be able to sell pay-per-views into more homes, stream the show into more homes, and we’ll have a bigger future.”

On the Company’s PPV Growth On HBO Max:

“Last year we launched our pay-per-views on HBO Max and also simulcasting streaming our TV shows on HBO Max. And this is really exciting for us because with Paramount coming in, we’re at an all-time high on our pay-per-views, and our HBO Max pay-per-view business continues to grow. Our Double or Nothing event that we had in May was a massive success. And that’s actually the seven-year anniversary of the very first AEW show. And as a live event here in New York at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, we sold every ticket. It was the biggest gate we’ve ever had for Double or Nothing in all these years, the original AEW show. And as a pay-per-view, it was the biggest one we’ve done yet on HBO Max.

“And we’ve seen continued growth. I think the three consecutive pay-per-views all set the record on HBO Max. So, it’s a great time for Paramount to come in and then add more homes for us uh when this goes through.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Power Players with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.