All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan appeared on the X-Pac 12360 podcast on Wednesday and spoke to Sean Waltman about a wide variety of topics. In the first part of our recap, we covered what Khan said about his vision for the company, the challenges associated weekly programming and rumors of Goldberg joining AEW.
Khan also spoke about AEW partnering with other promotions, talk of AEW wrestlers receiving healthcare and male and female competing on an even financial playing field.
Partnering With Other Promotions
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently reported that AEW turned down a proposal to purchase Impact Wrestling. Khan flat out denied that AEW is interested in acquiring other wrestling promotions, saying “No. No.” at the prospect.
“We’re looking to start something new I am not looking to absorb… I am open to partnerships. There are a lot of people doing exciting things all over the world and especially internationally; I am very open to partnerships. And domestically, I think I’ve seen the future and it’s what we’re doing. I am very very happy with where we’re at today … I am not really looking to acquire a lot of other companies or even libraries but as far as partnerships and things of that nature I think there’s a lot of exciting things that people can do.”
Healthcare & Equal Pay
Coming out of Tuesday’s Double or Nothing press conference, there have been conflicting reports about whether or not AEW talent will be given health care coverage. Khan clarified the situation, noting that some AEW talent will be independent contractors (and allowed to wrestle elsewhere), but some AEW wrestlers (Cody and Brandi Rhodes, The Young Bucks) will have full-time office jobs with AEW and will have similar benefits to other sports executives. “At the end of the day a lot of people are doing office jobs so a lot of wrestlers are gonna end up with healthcare out of this.”
As for the talk of ‘equal pay for men and women’ in AEW, Khan said it’s entirely based on performance and merit, but the ‘base pay’ is the same for everyone. From there, it’s up to the talent to perform. If certain people draw more money for the company, they will get paid more. But it will be an even playing field for everyone no matter their gender.
You can listen to Tony Khan’s appearance on X-Pac 12360 below:
