Tony Khan On AEW’s Early Success & The Most Important Lesson He’s Learned So Far

Tony Khan is the latest guest on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast. The discussion lasted about an hour and covered a wide range of topics. The following are the highlights:

Brodie Lee Tribute

Renee congratulated Tony for the Brodie Lee tribute shown on AEW Dynamite a few weeks ago. Tony said he’s so proud of everybody in the company for how they handled a very difficult situation. The entire AEW crew was told about Brodie Lee‘s deteriorating condition several weeks before he passed away. TK was pleasantly surprised that there were no leaks about the situation and Brodie Lee‘s family was able to be there for him without the world knowing he was sick. It was Shawn Spears’ idea to bring in Eric “Rowan” Redbeard for the tribute.

AEW’s Early Success

Tony Khan is proud, but not surprised, of AEW‘s early success. He has learned a lot and is expecting a big year ahead. AEW hopes to have fans back in full capacity “sometime soon.” He feels that AEW has come up with a great solution for having a limited number of fans attending their shows. They’ve they’ve had great experiences with fans, who have said they feel safe at their “pods” at Daily’s Place. The concept behind their current seating configuration was inspired by drive-in movies. They can currently accommodate 1,080 fans if they open up the top balcony. If they don’t open the top area of Daily’s Place, they have 750 fans.

Additional TV, PPV Format

Tony Khan is very excited to add a third hour of television. That is the most important thing on the horizon for them. They are looking forward to having the ability to showcase the entire roster. This will NOT be a third hour of Dynamite. He is aware of the dangers of overexposure. The ‘third hour’ of weekly television will be on a Warner Media property, but will not air Wednesday nights. He loves their current format of four pay-per-view events per year, with special editions of AEW Dynamite airing throughout the year. He just spoke to TNT executives on the phone this week and they told him AEW is doing great.

Biggest Lesson Learned In 2020

2019 was a good year for AEW, but 2020 was even better. The biggest lesson Tony Khan learned last year was accountability. He is getting comfortable filtering out bad ideas. In 2019, there were a few ideas he didn’t love and had low expectations for, but still gave them the green light. Those wound up being poorly received by fans.

He has learned to trust his instincts and is not afraid to exercise his power to ‘veto’ ideas. AEW is now more organized and more logical, which has made for better programming.

AEW Talent

Tony Khan says Jon Moxley is his favorite person to collaborate with. He revealed that Moxley is currently writing a book. He’s read some early drafts and loves it.

Looking ahead over the next several years, he is looking at guys like Jon Moxley and MJF to be among the top stars in AEW. So many of the company’s main event wrestlers are early-to-mid 30’s and in their prime with a lot left in the tank. He believes AEW‘s top guys will be on top for many years to come. He is excited about younger stars of AEW, such as MJF, Jungle Boy, Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara, Ricky Stars, Private Party and Top Flight. In the women’s division, Khan touted Anna Jay, Tay Conti and Britt Baker. Thunder Rosa is awesome, although she is not full-time with AEW.