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While Tony Khan doesn't always plaster his face on television in the same way as other professional wrestling promoters, at his heart, he's a showman. The second-generation sports owner has built up a true contender to WWE in AEW, has broken through the “forbidden door” – under case – to bring inter-brand wrestling to the masses, and all the while, has been willing to talk about his process, at least somewhat, in interview form. Appearing on The Dan Le Batard Show, Khan discussed how WWE has “crossed the line” and attempted to tamper with the contracts of some of his stars and how that has and hasn't affected AEW's on-screen product.
“I can't really comment on what [WWE's] internal struggles are because I don't work there, and I'm not there. I can only speak to the challenges we've had,” Khan said via Fightful. “I've had a lot of wrestlers come to me and allege that WWE reached out to them to tamper with their contracts and asked them to break their contracts. I can't confirm that specifically. I can only tell you what the wrestlers have come to me and said, but I've had multiple wrestlers and staff report that to me; it was very disturbing. I've had to go out and try to put on good shows, despite this alleged tampering and stuff like that. Frankly, I don't think it stopped us because the quality of the product and the quality of the shows is at an all-time high right now.”
To Khan's credit, there has been pretty public confirmation of his claims, with multiple wrestlers, including Swerve Strickland, getting calls from Triple H and company about breaking their contracts to return to The Fed. Still, as a disruptor brand looking to position itself as a cool new alternative to WWE, Khan sort of has to embrace the war, as any publicity is good publicity for the company.
Tony Khan embraces the “dirty business” of pro wrestling.
Discussing the matter further, Khan declared that he embraces the war between AEW and WWE, informing The Dan Le Batard Show crew that wrestling fans seem to enjoy it.
“The wrestling business is very dirty. I can't speak to the fight business,” Khan said. “Certainly, I think it's more organized than the fight business. There are two well-organized promotions competing with each other. Again, I don't know if these things have happened. I only know what people have come to me and alleged, but I do know that it's a real war between AEW and WWE, and the fans are interested in it.”
“That was part of the original business model of AEW. I knew wrestling fans, frankly, are very interested in wrestling free agency and wrestling wars. I believed we could create a free agent market that is definitely a real thing now, and that would be a big part of the story. I think wrestling fans, at the end of the day, appreciate that a lot of what happens in wrestling shows is sometimes story, and that's why people like watching the shows. They like the stories and the exciting matches, and especially the combination of the two when the stories lead to exciting matches and vice versa. Now what's interesting is the story that is the most real, the most intense, and the most hatred and all of pro wrestling is that between the two wrestling promotions, I think we truly, truly hate each other. I think it makes for really exciting TV, and it makes for an exciting wrestling war.”
Has the presence of AEW made things more exciting for professional wrestling fans? Yes, yes, 100 percent yes; Jay White's impending free agency now has an incredible amount of drama surrounding it, fans wait patiently to see Bryan Alvarez tweet each show's weekly ratings numbers to cheer on their preferred promotion, and fans are now treated to five professional wrestling shows a week on basic cable, a big up from two in 2018 before Dynamite, NXT, and eventually Rampage, were added to the weekly slate. Without AEW, WWE wouldn't have a WrestleMania 39 headliner in Cody Rhodes, as he'd likely still be working around the indies on NJPW, ROH, and local promotions like RevPro and Defy, and without WWE, well, Khan wouldn't be in the wrestling business, period, as you can't be a disrupter without having something to disrupt. For better or worse, AEW and WWE are best for each other's business, and even if they don't externally like each other, internally, it's clear the wrestling world is better with two companies on top.
