Normally, when an AEW Pay-Per-View comes to an end, the real show begins, as the promotion kicks into media scrum time, which has grown from a quick opportunity to ask talent questions to a certified Tony Khan tour de force that can run half as long as the actual show.
Typically, the media personalities who made it out to the show will be allowed a half dozen or so questions to most of the show's winners, or, when it comes to Toni Storm, be treated to one of her essays, and when that avenue fully runs dry, TK turns the spotlight onto himself, answering questions for what feels like an hour on anything from booking decisions, to media rights deals, and occasionally outside topics, be that Fulham, or ECW, or anything in between.
And yet, at the end of All Out, after watching his best friend in the business, Bryan Danielson, get suffocated to unconsciousness with a bag over his head by Jon Moxey, and the dynamic duo of Swerve Strickland and “Hangman” Adam Page beat each other halfway to the hospital in a match fans have to really see to believe, Khan decided to cut things short after just four questions, letting everyone watching along know that he even had some things to process about the show.
“Tonight took a lot out of a lot of people backstage, myself included, it was a really intense night of wrestling, you saw what happened out there and you know my personal relationships with the people who were out there in the ring tonight, I think that speaks for itself,” Khan explained.
“I love pro wrestling, and I love the people that I work with, especially some of the people you saw throughout the night and what happened to them, but I wanted to come out here because I really appreciated all of you and wanted to come here and see you all face to face because I really appreciate you all coming here to cover. Normally, I would stay here all night and answer every question, but tonight was a little different. I think it was a huge success as a business. I think it was a great event, but some of the things that happened, some of the violence, and some of the outcomes that happened in the matches and after the matches, I think it would be best for those to speak for themselves.”
Goodness gracious, TK without something to say? While All Out was a show absolutely loaded with interesting developments both in the ring and behind the scenes, Khan's lack of detailed breakdown of every match, openness to extensive questioning, and unwillingness to invite talent to the scrum either signifies a true commitment to Kayfabe, or a new approach to how AEW handles the post-game fun after their shows.
… or Khan has to catch a flight to Miami to see the Jaguars open the NFL season at 1 pm EST, which probably played into the decision, too.
Tony Khan compares the success of AEW to the AFL
So which questions did Khan answer before he called the Q&A session kaput? Well, he discussed the AEW media rights deal – still no news – the decision to trademark AEW Shockwave, the absence of Britt Baker post-All In, and how the promotion is faring as a challenger brand versus WWE's market leader.
While Khan is proud of AEW's accomplishments personally, he also believes it's significant historically, as they are the most successful challenger brand since the AFL.
“The market share that AEW has captured since we launched five years ago is unprecedented. We started with a market share of zero, and we have a real market share. We've gone to England and twice sold over 50,000 tickets, we've set business records, we've had multiple million-dollar gates, and we've become an international success story in the world as we continue to build our worldwide business. I think it's an unprecedented success story.
“As a historian of sports and as I'm getting ready for NFL kickoff in Miami for Jaguars kickoff mere hours from now, I have to say that last time a challenger sports league in this continent had this kind of market share, the percentage of the market that AEW has would be the AFL. And the AFL was a great sports league that had great stars; the NFL is the biggest media enterprise in the world, and the AFC came in and got real market share. and, of course, they merged and created the Super Bowl, the greatest game, the greatest entertainment property, and together, the NFC and AFC form the NFL, the greatest sport, the greatest media enterprise, and the greatest marketing machine in the world.”
As the co-owner of an AFC team, it makes sense that Khan would be a student of the game, even if Jacksonville didn't even have the dream of a professional football team when the AFL was going strong. Still, if AEW can become as serious of a challenger to the status quo that it forces some real change – no, AEW and WWE won't merge… right? – it's safe to say Khan's legacy will be set in sports history just like his father before him, who brought the NFL's 30th team to Jacksonville.
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