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AEW President Tony Khan took part in a media call this afternoon. Highlights:
*Khan plugged that a new era of Ring of Honor begins tonight, a year to the day he announced he had purchased the company.
*Khan was asked about whether it was true there is a one year option for Warner Bros. Discovery that would keep them through 2024. Khan said he doesn't want to comment on his contract for legal reasons and apologized that he can't answer that so he asked Brand Thurston to give him another question.
*Khan was then asked about his vision for house shows. They are building that division up slowly so they can figure out how to best handle them going forward, and looking on ways to make them worthwhile events and generate additional revenue for the contract. He's got a big group of talents who want to work the house shows and many are chasing him down that they want to work on house shows. As they come out of the PPV, they have House Rules and they are excited about it.
*Khan was asked his philosophy for the TV structures of the Dynamite episodes. Khan said it's been a mixture of featuring the prominent stories and trying to plot them in a way that gives them a good TV rating. It's a learning process and they look at what worked the week before and try to learn from it. He touted the big audience they did last week and noted it was the biggest audience since their anniversary show. Last week was a great episode but some thought it wasn't a "special supercard edition necessarily" but he thought it showed a lot of the stories they have been producing. He felt last week was an example of a pretty steady ratings pattern through the show.
*I asked about lessons learned from the 2020 Revolution PPV given what everyone has gone through the last few years and how that show might reflect and impact how he presents shows today. He said there's been a lot that has changed in the world. He began reviewing the top matches for that show and some of the stories they were doing, including the long build for Jon Moxley vs. Chris Jericho. He said a lot of the other matches came together as they came together as they got closer. There's a perception that the entire show was locked in place well in advance, but that was not the case. He said he's as excited for the MJF vs. Danielson and Moxley vs. Hangman Page matches this weekend and their long storylines. He said that night Hangman was knocked out was scary and he remembers how relieved he was that night when they spoke and Page was smiling and was OK. He said that was his favorite show at the time in the company.
*Khan was asked about whether there would be a clear line between ROH and AEW going forward. He said that there hasn't been any major crossover on AEW since Final Battle 2022 and that there may be talents who appear on each and there have been title defenses on Dark and Elevation but not Rampage and Dynamite. He praised the Chris Jericho ROH title run. He said they wouldn't be "crossing streams" coming out of Final Battle and now that they have a TV platform for ROH, they can place ROH title matches there.
*Khan was asked about the AEW Women's title bout at the PPV and how they are perceived in the locker room. He praised Hayter's growth since coming to AEW in 2019 and said she came back after the pandemic as a completely different performer with a different look and presentation. He believes she's an important wrestler and champion in the company. Soho has been here for about roughly half the run of AEW so it's fitting she's in the middle of the situation given her knowledge of Saraya and Toni Storm. He said some of the perception Saraya brought when she debuted in her comments about Britt Baker were not received well by the fans and that's fed into her presentation. He thinks this will be a great bout.
*Khan was asked how booking the Iron Man Match impacted the booking of the remainder of the card. He said they've never allocated this much time to one match and it will be the longest match they have ever planned to present on PPV. He believes it will be a great main event. They will have a lot of time and they will have a great undercard. He didn't do as many matches as usual. That's why the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match was featured on Dynamite instead of the PPV. It gave Powerhouse Hobbs a big win in his hometown.
*Khan was asked about his confidence in Ricky Starks. He said he's a great wrestler and he's had a great feeling about him since he came to AEW. He ended 2022 in a real high note in his match against MFJ at Winter is Coming. He is one of the best wrestlers and still has all the potential in the world and that makes him someone great to invest in. He's someone they believe can get even better and can do even more.
*Khan was asked about talents being able to take side projects and acting gigs. Khan said that as long as it's something that isn't going to hurt the company, he wants to facilitate when there are opportunities for talents in film and TV. He wants to keep the talents happy and he's had talents want to come here because they weren't going to get that freedom for outside projects elsewhere.
*Khan was asked about the return of Adam Cole and whether there was any thought of him returning before this PPV as opposed to timing it for the All Access premiere. Cole's return will be a big part of the All Access series. He promo'd the reality show and how excited they are to have Adam back.
*Khan was asked about the changes of the style and presentation for AEW of late and how he balances changes with what works for AEW. They wanted to freshen things up in 2023. He praised the work of his crew for improving the look and staging at Universal Studios for Dark and ROH. They don't want to make changes constantly. They have been happy with the changes. There's no set time as to when they will change things up again and they have a great look right now.
*Khan was asked about the status of the All Elite Women trademark and concept. He said he'd love to have that show picked up. It's an idea he has and that's why he filed the trademark. He praised the women's roster and wants to use them as much as possible. He said it would be a great thing if it ever gets picked up.
*When asked about Eddie Kingston quitting, Khan said he would advise people to "stay tuned to pro wrestling" including ROH and New Japan. He has had a chance to talk with Eddie and told everyone to stay tuned.
*On why they are doing the Iron Man match now, Khan said the timing was right and it's the ultimate test for a pro wrestler's creativity, strength and stamina. He said MJF and Danielson are the wrestlers who have all the tools to put this together and in his mind, it's a great PPV main event. He believes the nature, duration, structure of the match lends itself to having a classic match and he believes they can have that match.
*When asked about whether there are new matches being added to the PPV, Khan referred to a potential situation between Jungle Boy and Christian and said there is potential. Nothing has been announced yet for the pre-show, but he believes the eight matches announced will be the card with the formatting of the Iron Man match. He suggested fans tune into Rampage.
*Khan was asked for response on the perception that his PPV cards have too many matches or run too long. Khan said they've always had long matches and a lot of bouts on the PPV. This show is unique in that it insures they have the proper amount of time for the main event, which is unprecedented in AEW. He wants to have a balance and this Sunday seems to have been well received
*Khan was asked why they brought the PPV to San Francisco. The Chase Center is a top venue and the Bay Arena is one of the top markets in the country. They wanted to bring this big event to San Fran. This week was the right timing for them to finally get to that market.
Khan thanked everyone for their time today and said he was really excited for the PPV this weekend. He said he thought they had some excellent promos last night. Bryan Danielson said some really powerful things. He thought Hangman Page and Jon Moxley did some great promos. He thought Moxley was one of his favorite promos in a long time and it was originally shot for the Countdown Show for Revolution that will air after Rampage tomorrow.
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