AEW CEO and President Tony Khan recently spoke with the New York Post. Some of the topics were Forbidden Door, Kenny Omega, Adam Cole, the next TV deal, ROH and more.
All quotes from Khan are courtesy of the New York Post.
Claudio Castagnoli signing with AEW:
Claudio said after the Blood and Guts match, he came back to me and said ‘I could not have had a better first week. I could not have imagined any place I’ve ever been enjoying it more than I do here. The first week I’ve had is something I’ll remember the rest of my life.’ He was very grateful. He was very happy.
He’s one of the greatest stars ever in Ring of Honor and Claudio Castagnoli is associated with that history in ROH. I thought as we’re moving toward “Death Before Dishonor” on July 23, I originally thought that would be an incredible place for him to debut if Bryan Danielson is good to go. Admittedly when Claudio and I were talking, we had a conversion on June 2, so it was the day after the [LA] Forum show so I was just kind of getting my bearings and realizing I had put TV together all through “Forbidden Door” and that was probably going to change. I knew [CM] Punk was gonna need some time. His X-ray came back Friday and it wasn’t good. That’s when I had to jump into a plan with Mox [Jon Moxley] and the interim title and make a lot of changes to Forbidden Door.
Kenny Omega’s recent set back in his rehab
I’m always concerned whenever a wrestler has an injury, but in Kenny Omega’s case he carried the load through more injuries than probably anyone I’ve seen in terms of working through a sustained period where he was limited and still having great matches in the ring, and also doing great box office for the company as a great champion.
It is a little bit different because you’re dealing with multiple injuries as opposed to one injury. I’m optimistic. I don’t want to put a timetable on it. I’m still optimistic Kenny’s coming back.
I think it’s gonna go well. I think he’s gonna be OK. I don’t know when and I’m optimistic. Nobody can put themselves in his shoes, but I feel good about it. I’m gonna talk more to him too. I know he’s been through a lot but I know he’s still trying to get back.
Adam Cole’s concussion and if there is any concern for him
He had no contact between “Double or Nothing” and “Forbidden Door.” He was on commentary. He had been cleared to wrestle. So now I’m also gonna take some time [off] for him. We had already taken some time and I’ll take some more time make sure he’s right and wouldn’t want him to wrestle until he’s feeling 100 percent. He was feeling 100 percent going into “Forbidden Door.” That’s how unpredictable these are.
The next TV deal
I’m incredibly grateful every day that AEW has this great relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery and we’ve done well for TBS and TNT with “Dynamite” and “Rampage” where we’re a strong performer for Warner Bros. Discovery on a weekly basis. I think there is still a lot of time left for the next rights deal, but we have a great thing happening right now and I do believe our future media rights will be important and frankly a very large revenue stream for AEW going forward, and I think that’s because of the great support we’ve had from the fans and the hard work of everybody backstage and the wrestlers every Wednesday and Friday, pulling it together and delivering great shows.
Whenever our next media right deal, the next one does kick in, it will be historic. It will be recorded in history because everything in wrestling is recorded in history into posterity. It will make history however it goes. Right now, everyone would expect very, very well. We expect it’s going to go very well for us based on how strong we’ve been performing.
ROH pay-per-views moving to Bleacher Report and chances of a weekly TV show
The first Ring of Honor pay-per-view on Bleacher Report is going to be “Death Before Dishonor” on July 23. That weekend, I think it’s gonna be a huge event, so that’s a new revenue stream with the Ring of Honor acquisition that I made that I’m able to put in. With AEW specifically, we just launched “Forbidden Door.” The fans were calling for that. We have our four big pay-per-views, they’re roughly quarterly.
I think it will do well as a live event and believe it will do well for Bleacher Report and hopefully continue the interest of Warner Bro. Discovery in not only AEW and expanding that relationship and continuing to create new revenue streams and really preserve and deliver on the ones we do have, but also get Ring of Honor involved. I also think there is a lot of potential in the future in the world of streaming with these big PPV events but also the historical libraries of AEW and Ring of Honor, which are both growing.
I would like weekly Ring of Honor episodes to be the best episodes and to be the best customer experience. What does that mean? The means probably being on a platform that’s easy and friendly to the customer and a good reputable platform, it could be TV streaming.
If the next Forbidden Door PPV will be in Japan
The idea of doing an event over there with AEW stars and New Japan stars is very potentially interesting, but if it happens it won’t be “Forbidden Door.” “Forbidden Door” is gonna stay in North America. It wouldn’t make sense with the time zones, the revenue.