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WWE PRESIDENT NICK KHAN COMMENTS ON RELEASED WWE TALENTS HEADING TO AEW, WHETHER IT'S A CONCERN

Over the weekend, BT Sport released an interview conducted by Ariel Helwani with WWE President Nick Khan.  The following are highlights from the conversation where Helwani asks Khan about releasing talents and sending them to All Elite Wrestling.  The conversation was conducted on Friday 8/20:

Ariel Helwani: Okay. The theory that you're letting go of talent to build competence, they're all going in one place, let's be honest. Let's call a spade, a spade. They're going to one spot. And so it's one thing for the competition to kind of come up, and now you're going head to head, but it's another when the majority of the guys who are the faces of the competition were guys who are under contract with you. Is that not a weird thing to see develop in front of your eyes?

Nick Khan: Just one clarification on the "Sleep as our competition." What I had said on their earnings call is, "Hey, someone had said that and we were all talking about it." Ultimately it was Reed Hastings, the co-CEO of Netflix who said it. So I want to make sure he gets credit for the great line.

Nick Khan: I'll ask you a question back, and then of course, I'll answer your question. You and I have known each other now for how long?

Ariel Helwani: Since 2015.

Nick Khan: I've known of your work for far longer than that. Maybe you knew a little bit of my work. Have you ever seen me talk about, or think about any competitor of mine?

Ariel Helwani: Mm-hmm (negative). That's that's the honest truth.

Nick Khan: Never. It's not what I do. It's not what we do at WWE. What I do and what we do, we look ahead. "Where are we going?"  It's almost like, and this was from Jimmy Iovine, in the Dr. Dre, Iovine HBO doc a couple of years ago? He said at the end, he's like, "You got to look at these things like a horse in a race." They put a blinder, they put blinders on the horse. Why do they do that? So you're not looking back to see what the other horse is doing. The horse that does that, they're going to trip and break their leg.  I believe in my career. I've always operated that way. I know WWE has always operated that way. We look ahead. So our decisions are based on what's best for us, and whatever anyone else does with that? Good for them.

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