AEW President Tony Khan held a media call today to promote this Sunday’s Revolution pay-per-view from the Chase Center in San Francisco, as well as answer a number of questions regarding the hottest topics in the wrestling industry. Highlights can be found below.
-Brandon Thurston from WrestleNomics asks about WBD having a one-year option on AEW and whether it was picked up. Khan says he cannot give any details about the deal due to the nature of the contract, but once again puts over that he and WBD have a great relationship.
-Strategies around House Shows: Khan says they are a TV Wrestling promotion and a vast majority of their profits come from that. Says with the expanded roster they have more availability to run house shows but does think that making money on them is something they are figuring out. Calls it a stick & go situation, but is looking forward to what they learn after their first one on March 18th in Cincinnati.
-On structure for booking television going into a PPV: Khan says it’s a mixture of trying to feature all the prominent stories, especially the ones that are happening at Revolution. He adds that he also takes ratings into consideration and how he can build on the audience. Last week’s show was their biggest audience in quite a while but he did listen to the criticism of there not being enough big matches. Says he always wanted MJF and Bryan Danielson to get the biggest audience they could to promote their main event match at Revolution.
-On Revolution 2020: Khan calls this event one of the best AEW has ever done and his personal favorite AEW has ever done. He adds that some matches on the card came together in a variety of ways. Jon Moxley vs. Chris Jericho had a long build dating back to the inaugural Double or Nothing event. Says a lot of the other matches were not booked way in advance and he thought that helped make great television. Talks the build to Adam Page vs. Moxley for this Sunday and how this was also a long build. Talks the four-way tag title match and how it features very popular stars like Danhausen, Orange Cassidy, and The Acclaimed, and how different of a match it will be.
-On the women’s triple threat at Revolution : Khan says he’s looking forward to the match and that each competitor represents a different history of wrestling. Credits Jamie Hayter for being with the company since the beginning and developed into one of the world’s top wrestlers. He moves on to Ruby Soho, who he says has a close relationship with AEW originals and the WWE talent that is on the roster. Says she’s picked up big wins this year and is a worthy contender. Finally gets to Saraya and how he likes her a lot but understands that AEW fans could dislike her due to her previous run with WWE. Ends by saying he has a lot of respect for all three women.
-Whether wrestlers in AEW can take outside work like acting: Khan says yes all opportunities are welcome as long as it doesn’t affect storylines on TV or affect the company in a negative way.
-On Adam Cole: Khan says Cole’s return will be one of the featured stories on All Access, which is the same night he makes his in-ring return after being sidelined for months. Thinks doing the match on television was a great way to cross-promote the All Access series and get a big television number rather than just throwing him on Revolution.
-On Eddie Kingston: Khan says that he has spoken to Kingston since he “quit” and tells fans to just stay tuned to the wrestling business, citing NJPW and ROH as potential programs for AEW fans to keep an eye on.