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Welcome to PWInsider.com's live, ongoing coverage of AEW President Tony Khan's All Out 2022 PPV media conference call!
Khan was asked why so many matches were added so late in the build including this week. Khan said that a lot of it had to do with when talents would be cleared from injury, including CM Punk. Punk's return put them in an interesting situation and gave them a lot to discuss. They weren't able to get Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho going the way they wanted to until late July. He had gotten the word that Danielson would be returning shortly after that period so they made changes to the middle of the storyline. Anarchy in the Arena led to Danielson being out for two months at the same time the AEW Champion Punk was out. They brought in Claudio Castagnoli a bit earlier than originally planned so he could fill in for Bryan on some big matches including The Blood and Guts match. They picked up Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia coming out of that and gave Garcia a big shocking win. This allowed them to use Danielson vs. Garcia to help promote HBO's House of the Dragon series. Now that brings things full circle. He praised Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho for stepping up this summer when so many others were hurt. He said that from late July and August have been really strong for the company and the recent five week run of the company has been among the best in company history.
Khan was asked about the recent Rampage ratings, their recent trends and whether he was comfortable with them. It was an effect of so many AEW stars being out, Khan said. He said going into last night, they had 13 straight Wednesdays they were one of the top shows on that night. Stars had been out and the ones who weren't he had to put on Dynamite. Many of them were responsible for the highest ratings and the best matches on Rampage. Jon Moxley was one of them and had been pretty much only on Dynamite. Jericho has done commentary but wasn't wrestling. Adam Cole was hurt. Jungle Boy's story has been mostly on Dynamite of late. Khan said, "I want a reset" and he wants that for the fans. He tried to make the best of a situation over the summer. The first year of Rampage had lots of major matches and they hadn't been able to offer those. He said now that the roster will be the be strongest it has been in a long time after the weekend, so he can go back to focusing more of that and more major bouts on the show. He said now that the roster is back, he can give his full attention to that and we'll start to see that this Friday with the live episode. There will be more live Rampages through the rest of 2022 than they have had thus far all year.
Khan was asked about the women's bouts on the PPV. He praised Athena vs. Jade Cargill and what they each bring to the TBS title bout. As for the women's four way, he enjoyed the tag team bout last night. He wanted the four best wrestlers for this bout.
Khan was asked about Moxley vs. Punk and whether their match was a risky strategy in terms of building the PPV. Tony said it was different from what they've typically done. Sometimes, they do go home shows with everything "in the barn" but in this case, the anticipation has been even stronger. He said he doesn't believe they should it like this every time but they've never done anything like this going into their 15 PPVs and this leaves a lot of questions for what the match and what the future holds for each talent. They had a tremendous audience last week and it was a huge ratings draw for them. They were the number one show on cable that night and it had a big lift from week over week. They built intruige for the PPV while doing the biggest audience for the show since February. They had a week where people were wondering what the hell was going on and that's a good thing. The promos last night reeled a lot of people back in, especially Punk's promo in Chicago.
Khan was asked about more inclusion with all the black talents on the PPV card. He wanted to build the most diverse roster in wrestling history but never dreamed how many stars would end up free agents. He had a lot of home grown stars they were developing and fans had complained, asking when AEW would have more diverse top stars. He had asked everyone to trust him as he was building there but then a bunch of top free agents became available. He ran down a number of stars including Powerhouse Hobbs and Dante Martin, who have been built for years. He talked about putting The Acclaimed together and building them and how they earned their bout this Sunday. He never thought Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland would have been in AEW this soon but they were released from their contracts elsewhere. It's been a mix of different things to create a "perfect mix" and the representation this weekend. He praised some of the other talents set for the show.
Khan was asked about whether everything lately has led to him planning more for Plan Bs. He said that Forbidden Door was going to have lots of different plans and if fans only knew all the things that happened that they never made public that changed. You try to have depth and that leads you to having different plans but then you wonder which is the best way to get through the different plans and get back to where you want to be. He noted at one point Aussie Open & Will Ospreay would have faced FTR & CM Punk at Forbidden Door.
Khan was asked if with all the corporate changes in WWE, whether that means there could be a "Forbidden Door" situation with WWE. He said that he was more optimistic when they made the change but less so given how they have treated him.
Khan was asked about potential of ROH vs. AEW unification matches. He said if Claudio or Yuta win the Casino Ladder Match, they would not be required to put their titles up at the same time. He thinks one person having to handle the responsibilities of each title would be interesting.
Khan was asked about Thunder Rosa's injury and freshening up the division. He said they have a fresh match this Sunday that will be exciting and he's trying to look at it as a positive even though a great wrestler is injured. It was difficult to lose top stars earlier this year but you have to move on and make the best of a situation. Whenever Rosa returns, it sets up a moment where she can face the Interim champion.
Khan was asked about criticism of how Thunder Rosa not given as much time as CM Punk when it came to talking about injuries and the four-way vs. the AEW tournament. Khan said he thinks that's unfair. He said an eight minute Punk promo is going to do better in the ratings than a eight minute Thunder Rosa promo. He found out she was injured just a few hours before the TV show as opposed to Punk who they knew would be making the announcement days in advance so they could format the TV. He said that he thinks the four ways has gotten lots of positive feedback and in some cases, better feedback than the original plan. He said he didn't have the time to build to the four way like he had time to do the tournament for the AEW Interim title. He's really excited for the four way and he thinks a lot of people are more excited for that than they are for the original tournament.
The Zero Hour name was brought back since its part of the original IP for All In, which he now owns via purchasing Ring of Honor. It's not a pre-show, it's its own event. It will be the first AEW event broadcast on Instagram this weekend and he plugged the lineup. There may be another addition on tomorrow's Rampage.
Khan was asked about the Eddie Kingston vs. Sammy Guevara situation and whether we'll see the feud resolved on TV. Khan said he's not sure. It would be a great match. They have obviously not gotten along and sometimes that lends itself to a pro wrestling match. He would be into it if they wanted to do it, but it takes three to tango in this situation.
Khan was asked his thoughts on the recent talent meeting. They went over a lot of different things, dozens of points across the housecleaning. It was something they hadn't done in awhile. Some of the things stayed behind closed doors. They used to do these regularly in Jacksonville. He said some reports were "fly on the wall" accurate and others weren't. There was one issue that came up that talent had come to them about [obviously WWE allegedly contacting talents], so they felt it was good to have a meeting with everyone. He said it was a positive meeting.
Khan was asked about potential ROH representation on the PPV given there are no announced events coming up. He said he wants to have that but he wants to have the best AEW show for AEW fans. He said that includes the top talents who are representing ROH and on the show.
Khan was asked about matches that fans should be excited about. He said the lineup is strong and put over House of Black vs. Sting & Miro & Darby Allin. He said that they tightened up the show last night on Dynamite and he could add more to Zero Hour or the PPV. He plugged Rampage as a place more could be announced.
He thanked everyone for their suport of the promotion and their coverage to close out.
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