AEW President Tony Khan recently appeared on Rasslin With Brandon Walker to discuss a number of different topics, including his high expectations for Adam Page and Bryan Danielson at Winter Is Coming, and what his goals are for the promotion in 2022. Highlights from the interview are below.
Says expectations are high for Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson:
“I think the television with Bryan Danielson and Hangman has been some of the most compelling TV in wrestling. Bryan, again, one of the great wrestlers, and for him to win the Eliminator Tournament and be the challenger for Hangman, it’s a dream match. And for Hangman to have his first defense, he had such a long road to get here – he was a great champion as a tag team champion. Kenny Omega and Hangman were dominant and had the longest reign as champions. They split and made a run for the world title, and Kenny Omega last year at Winter is Coming became world champion. Now, things have come full circle, and Hangman won the world title and now the Eliminator Tournament winner is Bryan Danielson. You couldn’t ask for a tougher or better match for his first defense of the world title. It could be his last defense of the world title.”
Says it is a challenge to not put top stars in matches against each other every week:
“It’s a challenge not to be the new free agents and all the top wrestlers in like the huge matches every week. And there’s something to be said for having the biggest matches on television, which we’re building to. Stuff like Bryan Danielson vs. Hangman Page for the world title. We’re building towards huge matches on TV every week, and I think it’s important to build to them. And along the way, there’s a lot of great matches along the way too that aren’t necessarily the end-all-be-all in everyone’s mind.”
Names his goals in AEW for 2022:
“The company is gonna keep growing, and the wrestling business, I hope, will continue to grow and continue what is a great era. In the last few years, we’ve grown into it. I think the wrestling business has seen growth as a result of the growth of AEW. We had a crazy thing happen to all of us in the world, and AEW happened to be a surging start-up that was on fire when the pandemic hit. I really worked hard every week to maintain great shows through Daily’s Place and found a unique way to keep fans at home. Now, we’re back on tour and our shows are bigger than ever, and we’ve done our biggest pay-per-views back-to-back. I expect a huge year for us with Dynamite moving to TBS next year. I want to go out with our best month we’ve ever had on TNT, and then have huge plans to start out on TBS.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)