All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan participated in a media call on Thursday afternoon to promote Saturday’s AEW Full Gear pay-per-view.
Here are some highlights from the Q&A. The questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: Full Gear has a stacked card with 10 matches. Is this the ideal length for an AEW PPV? (Chris Mueller, Bleacher Report)
TK: They’ve received great reviews for their quarterly pay-per-views. He really likes the format and length they’ve been working with: a 4-hour main card, plus a Buy-In kickoff show featuring a match or two. This has been working really well for them and expects it to continue this way.
Q: Why is now the right time to pull the trigger on Hangman Page? (Jon Alba, AdFreeShows)
TK: They’ve talked about homemade stars – Hangman is the epitome of a homemade star. He had some exposure before AEW, but not on national television. He’s blossomed in AEW from the beginning. The fans have been along for the ride and seen him grow. He was one of the challengers to determine the first AEW World Champion. Today, it’s a different company and Hangman Page is a different person. Page and Omega have something special between them. They had great chemistry as a team and you could tell they’d be great rivals. Khan picked up some character elements from Being the Elite, including Hangman’s drinking. People are ready to see him rise up from the lowest lows and conquer his biggest obstacle yet.
Q: Will we see an AEW pay-per-view from California or the Pacific / Mountain time zones in the near future? (Jonathan Hood – ESPN Chicago)
TK: Double or Nothing will take place from Las Vegas once again next year. There’s a good chance AEW will bring Dynamite and Rampage to the west coast round that time.
Q: Is AEW interested in acquiring the ROH video library, or signing ROH talent that is being released from their contracts? (Sean Ross Sapp, Fightful)
TK: Ring of Honor has a lot of great stuff in their library and some very talented performers that have worked for them this year. “We’ll see what happens on the business side.” He said to stay tuned to AEW. He’s good friends with many people in ROH.
Q: Any plans for AEW to present an All-Women’s event? (Ella Jay, SEScoops)
TK: AEW has made great strides with building their women’s division and featuring women prominently on television and pay-per-views.
When the NWA presented their all women’s pay-per-view, he provided them with a lot of that talent and paid them to wrestle for the NWA. The highest paid wrestlers on that show were sent and paid by him. He doesn’t think the NWA did a great job acknowledging that. He feels like he picked up the tab for everybody at dinner and nobody thanked him.
Q: Could we see Bray Wyatt in AEW? (Nick Hausman, WrestlingInc)
TK: He likes Windham a lot, but has never spoken to him about joining AEW. He thinks Windham is a wonderful person and a great talent.
Q: Will AEW Dynamite have a new look when it moves to TBS in January 2022?(Sebastian Diaz, Over the Top Rope)
TK: The great wrestling that people have come to expect from AEW will remain the same. As for show’s presentation – the staging, the graphics, the music – fans can expect some tweaks. He said, “It will be fun!” and if he hears that fans don’t like the changes, they will go back to the current look.
He said to expect less “time shifting” (preemptions) on TBS and plugged the “Battle of the Belts” special that will air Saturday, January 8th on TNT.
Q: When will the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament take place? (Russ Weakland, Hollywood Life)
TK: Fans can expect some big news shortly after Full Gear. There’s so much going on with the PPV, he doesn’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet regarding the Owen tournament. The Owen will be a big prize in AEW. They have some interesting announcements coming at next week’s Dynamite or Rampage. They have “something fun planned” that everyone will really enjoy.
Q: When Eddie Kingston first joined AEW, could he envision what Kingston’s contributions would be? (Mark Madison, Pro Wrestling Post)
TK: Yes, pretty quickly. He didn’t know Eddie before he answered Cody’s TNT Championship Open Challenge, but they connected immediately. They’re now close friends.
Q: Will AEW continue taping Dark from Universal Studios? (Jim Varsalone, Miami Herald)
TK: Yes, they plan to continue taping from Universal Studios, when they can and when it makes sense. On weeks where they have live Rampage tapings (like this week), they tape Dark before Rampage.
Q: Are there plans to keep Dante Martin & Lio Rush as a tag team? (Bill Prichard, WrestleZone)
TK: It’s a story. Without saying too much about where things are going, he’s enjoying the pairing. He worked closely with them on their Dynamite match this week. He sees a lot in Lio Rush and actively recruited him to come out of retirement.
Q: How is the relationship with NJPW? Could we see AEW talent at Wrestle Kingdom in January? (Samantha Shipman, DailyDDT)
TK: “It’s a great relationship.” It was rocky when AEW first launched, but things have smoothed over. Enjoys working together and they talk on a regular basis. Expect more talent sharing in the months ahead.