Below are the highlights from Tony Khan’s media call ahead of this Saturday’s AEW Full Gear pay-per-view.
-Khan declined to discuss the investigation and focused on the Elite returning to the ring when asked about how one led to the other
-The success of Grand Slam in NYC influenced the decision to put Full Gear in New Jersey this year
-Full Gear is again on Saturday in part to avoid going head to head with the NFL, which obviously his family has a big interest in as owners of The Jaguars
-Ricky Starks wasn’t cleared last week on Rampage medically, so that’s why they are behind on that bracket. Ricky Starks vs. Lance Archer will happen on Friday live on Rampage. The winner of that match will face Brian Cage during the Full Gear Zero Hour Saturday. That winner will go on to face Ethan Page on the PPV itself. The winner of the tournament will challenge the AEW Champion at the post-Full Gear Dynamite in Chicago.
-Tony Khan is open to the idea of AR Fox coaching other talents
-There are plans to do another Owen Hart Foundation Tournament in 2023. They would like to continue the relationship with Dr. Martha Hart and the Hart family. He credited Chris Jericho for facilitating that relationship.
-Tony declined to comment on CM Punk but said he has nothing but positive things to say about what he has brought to the company.
-Khan commented that there was some consideration of taking the AEW Women’s title off Thunder Rosa. He said he is being understanding to her injury but they do need to have an official champion at some point
-Khan feels the theme of the show is AEW homegrown stars vs. international stars
-Khan said he likes to keep things around the ring as much as possible and a lot of the early WCW Monday Nitro formatting influenced Dynamite when he was creating it
-This week’s show was devised to push people to want to order Full Gear
-There will be 10 matches on the PPV. He says they will end on a “very reasonable time.
-Khan is responsible for all the booking and all the final say and formatting but takes suggestions and ideas from others.Tony Schiavone was the one who suggested some of the Nyla Rose-Jade Cargill storyline.
-On why FTR aren’t booked on the PPV, Khan said he would love to showcase them as much as possible. He said they are one of the greatest teams in the world and he has a ton of talents for both AEW and ROH. He basically commented he has a lot of talents to showcase and juggle
-Khan pointed out they’ve been a strong performer for WB Discovery this year despite cable trends changing. He believes in being a good partner for them and also believes in the viability of their content on a streaming platform
-Hangman Page is “doing well” and Khan is “anxious” for him to return to the ring
-This was the biggest year ever for ROH PPV revenue after just two shows. He is excited about the future of ROH next year
-Khan was asked about why he didn’t stop CM Punk at the All Out PPV scrum. He said, “I don’t want to comment beyond this. I did not know what he was going to say. I had Keith and Swerve coming up and Toni Storm after that. I had important stuff to talk with them about.” He wanted to have everyone see the reaction of Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland when he announced their tag team rematch against the Acclaimed at Grand Slam. He said he was thinking about talking with them and Toni Storm, who was also scheduled for after Punk.
Source: PWInsider