All Elite Wrestling will soon introduce a new championship title: the AEW TNT Championship.

On Monday evening, All Elite Wrestling announced via a press release and on the latest episode of the “Road To” YouTube series that an eight-man tournament will kick off on the Wednesday, April 8th episode of Dynamite to crown its inaugural TNT Champion. 

It was noted that the single-elimination tournament will feature the biggest names in AEW all vying for the inaugural TNT championship belt. 

Competitors in the first half of the tournament bracket will be revealed this Tuesday, March 31, on AEW’s YouTube show, AEW Dark.

The second half of the bracket will be announced this Wednesday, April 1, during the live AEW Dynamite show on TNT. 

The finals of the tournament will take place at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view event on Saturday, May 23, in Las Vegas.

“It’s been a privilege working with Kevin Reilly and TNT to bring fans the best live wrestling show week after week on AEW: DYNAMITE, especially during these tumultuous times,” said Tony Khan, president and CEO of AEW.

“I’m glad we’re now able to announce the TNT CHAMPIONSHIP. The first ever titleholder will be determined by an unforgettable tournament that fans will not want to miss, and that our wrestlers will be desperate to win. I’m excited for the announcement of the full bracket live on Dynamite this week. And, it’s only fitting that the champion and the title belt will carry the logo of the globally-respected TNT brand, and that they’ll represent not only AEW but also the great quality programming, massive reach, and storied history in the wrestling business that are all associated with TNT.”

The AEW TNT Championship is the latest show of solidarity between All Elite Wrestling and its cable television partner. Just three months after the premiere of AEW Dynamite, AEW and TNT entered into a new longterm partnership that will keep the show on the network through 2023.

AEW Executive Vice Presidents The Young Bucks recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast. The tag team discussed a number of topics on the show surrounding their own careers as well as the initial growth of the upstart All Elite promotion.

One of the more intriguing elements of the conversation revolved around Tony Khan’s lofty ambitions for the company in the United Kingdom.

Tony Khan Taking AEW To the UK?

Khan’s family own and operate the Premier League football (soccer) team Fulham FC. Fulham are a club based in London, England and have a stadium with a 50,000 capacity. Craven Cottage traditionally seats around 25,000 during football matches, however The Bucks would refer to a 50,000 number. This likely could be attained if the pitch was utilized for ringside seating.

“He took us to one of their arenas when we went over there [the UK].”

Nick Jackson

“That night I think we had dinner [in the UK]” Matt Jackson began. Nick Jackson would also confirm that before AEW was made official the pair were flown to England and locations were already being discussed. “He took us to one of their arenas when we went over there [the UK].”

Matt Jackson would then confirm that was one of the reasons they got behind the AEW project, due to Khan’s ambition. “And it was like, I think that night we looked at each other. We’re like, I think this is it right?”

Nick Jackson would then talk about Fulham’s ground Craven Cottage specifically, saying “we’re at Fulham arena whatever you call it, it sits like 50,000 people and he’s like, ‘we’re gonna fill this one day with people, for a wrestling show.’ I thought ‘I like this guy, he thinks big.'”

Matt Jackson would finish by praising the overarching nature of Khan’s style in pro wrestling thus far. “He doesn’t want us to just be wrestlers” Jackson admitted. “He wants us to be more than wrestlers, like nobody else can offer us that.”

Do you think that AEW will run big stadium events in the UK at some point soon? Let us know in the comments.

Also Check Out:

• AEW Dynamite Results & 5 Takeaways (3/25)
• AEW Rankings for March 25th

AEW has announced that they are postponing the special “Blood & Guts” edition of Dynamite to a later date because the timing and circumstances for it are not right.

The company president Tony Khan released a statement on the matter on Twitter saying that their goal with Dynamite is to produce great shows for their fans.

He continued by announcing that the Blood and Guts match which was originally planned for next week’s episode of the show will happen when the time is right:

“We plan to continue answering that calling with live weekly shows every Wednesday night on TNT, but the time and circumstances aren’t right for the card we had planned next week for Blood and Guts.

That show will happen when the time is right, but what you can count on instead this coming Wednesday night is a great live episode of AEW Dynamite.”

While this match has been postponed, the company has announced a confrontation segment between Chris Jericho and the newest AEW star Matt Hardy for the next episode of their TV Show.

Matt is expected to join the Elite and face off against the Inner Circle when the Blood And Guts match finally happens. No word yet on if the other announced matches for the show will take place as planned or if they have been postponed as well.

You can check out the company’s full statement below:

Eric Bischoff has not taken lightly to the All Elite Wrestling’s president Tony Khan’s comments. Khan had recently told the Financial Times that he plans to run the company in a different way than Eric Bischoff ran World Championship Wrestling when he was the president.

This statement didn’t sit too well with Bischoff, who has responded back to Khan on a recent episode of his podcast, 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff.

Back in late February, Bischoff said that he AEW had a long way to go to even reach WCW’s success. Bischoff said that Khan has not been in the wrestling industry for years like him, and he isn’t sure that Khan would be able to change the wrestling industry.

“Call me in a couple of years and let me know how you’ve changed the industry. Call me in a couple of years when your show is one of the top, if not the top original piece of programming on the TNT network,” Bischoff said. “Call me in a couple of years when you’re number two, number three, number four in all of the cable programming for the night in primetime, and then let’s talk about it. But until then, hmm, I’ll just have another cup of coffee and see what happens.”

• Related: Booker T Believes Eric Bischoff Doesn’t Deserve A Hall Of Fame Induction

After this scathing statement, Bischoff just couldn’t let go and talked about the matter again on the next episode of his podcast which aired last week. Bischoff stated that WWE wouldn’t have been the company that it is today if not for the pressure, the influence, and the template that Bischoff thinks WCW created that made the whole industry competitive and took things to the next level.

Bischoff said that Tony is doing what he did, such as using pay-per-view event names similar to WCW’s, a “low budget Nitro,” paying huge amounts of money to stars that they have never been paid before, etc.

Bischoff said, “You’re still seeing the impact of early Nitro across the board including in AEW as much as they try to suggest, as Tony Khan did recently, that we’re gonna do everything different than Eric Bischoff did. Well, guess what m-fer? You’re doing about as much as I did than anyone else in the industry.”

Bischoff continued by explaining that many of WCW Nitro’s innovations are being employed by WWE and AEW to this day.

“I’m not defensive about that. I think it’s just a fact when you look at things objectively. The things we did on Nitro [are what] you’re still seeing today. They’re things that change the nature, the landscape [and] the entire industry, and I think it’s even fairer to say, now that I’m into my third Starbucks, WWE wouldn’t be the company that it is today had it not been for the pressure, the influence and quite frankly the template we created that they were able to follow and take to the next level, so there I’m off my soapbox. Sorry.”

You can listen to a clip of Eric Bischoff talking about Tony Khan and WCW’s influence on AEW/WWE below:

H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcribed quotes

All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan has explained how the promotion is focused on being their own competition. Appearing on AEW’s official podcast, Unrestricted, Khan also noted how they don’t want to oversaturate the market. For now, a two-hour show is the “perfect amount of TV.”

“I also don’t want to oversaturate. I think there’s a sweet spot, so I’m never going to try to produce so many shows that you can’t keep track of what we’re doing. To me, a two hour Dynamite and now, the new one hour show we’re going to develop, is the perfect amount of TV,” Khan said. 

Tony Khan On AEW Being Their Own Competition

Tony Khan explained how there are plans in place to release new things on YouTube and BR Live. Ultimately, however, he believes AEW’s current output of Dynamite and Dark allows them to keep creating a consistent, strong product.

“We’re our own opponent. At the end of the day, people talk about you’re in a wrestling war or whatever, we just have to do the best show we can do.”

He continued, “We’re competing with ourselves to do the best shows we can, and when we haven’t done stuff that made sense or wasn’t our best work, we’ve had to refocus and say, here’s why that didn’t work and never do that again.”

AEW Dynamite airs every Wednesday night on TNT.

H/T to 411Mania for the transcription. 

Tony Khan addressed his wrestlers appearing for New Japan Pro Wrestling during last night’s post-event media scrum.

“We all definitely watch a lot of New Japan in this room. I think they are a great company and a lot of my people have worked shows there and I have no problem with guys – as long as its not interfering on a regular basis with what we do on Wednesdays and with our PPVs, guys working there. That’s some of the flexibility we have. Can’t have it all the time but I think it’s been fine for me, it doesn’t really bother me.”

Khan continued to talk more about NJPW.

“Hasn’t really been a 2-way street,” Khan continued. “Haven’t seen a lot of their guys here. Don’t hear from them often but if you guys are watching this you’re welcome for all the great stuff I’ve done for you and if you’d ever like to send somebody here to do work, I would treat them respectfully like you’ve treated my guys because generally when my people worked there you’ve done right by them. You being New Japan.”

Khan’s post-event media scrum can be viewed in its entirety in the player below:

Tony Khan spoke to members of the media last night following AEW Revolution from Chicago. Khan spoke on a number of issues including his role

• Khan noted that while there have been reports that his role on the creative team has increased in recent weeks, he’s always been the final say. He is the filter because there are so many ideas from wrestlers that you can’t do them all.
• The word “War Games” will not be used in relation to the 2-ring event on March 25th, 2020. The term they are using is “Blood and Guts Match.”
• Had mixed feelings toward Cody’s neck tattoo. It could be a hindrance if he wants certain acting roles, however, but said it works great if Cody just wants to be a “badass wrestler.”
• Khan would like to keep All Out in Chicago, says the market has been great for them.
• They are trying to hit different markets for Dynamite but moving it internationally could be tough because of time zones and wanting to keep the show live.
• Colt Cabana has signed. He is coming in as a wrestler, announcer, and coach. He also has the ability to work other places as well.
• No update on negotiations with Jeff Cobb but talks are ongoing.
• Awesome Kong helps to produce the women’s matches but is currently filming the final season of Netflix’s GLOW.
• He checks in with TNT from time to time when there are ideas that are little “out there” but they have been very supportive.
• Khan described the Dark Order has a “huge evil corporation” and said it is really developing into something he thinks fans will like. He would not speculate or comment on Matt Hardy, however.
• He said everyone at AEW watches a lot of NJPW and he has no problem with his guys working there. He noted that it hasn’t been a 2-way street with them, however.

• Tony Khan On Possibly Moving Dynamite To Monday Nights

Khan’s post-event media scrum can be viewed in its entirety in the player below:

Cody Rhodes created some buzz recently when he said that he wouldn’t mind taking Dynamite out of its current slot on Wednesday nights and move it to Monday. However, the AEW President Tony Khan doesn’t seem to be a fan of the idea and it appears that he believes that Wednesdays are the best spot for them.

The AEW CEO was asked about Cody’s comments during the post Revolution media scrum and he said that while Cody is one of his best friends, as the president he is saying that they are on Wednesday nights: (Transcription: SEScoops.com)

“I think Cody brings (a lot) to the company both on-screen and off-screen. He is one of my best friends.” said Tony Khan. “That may be his view for 5 years. As his personal view and that might even be his view as the executive vice president but as the president and CEO, I am telling you we are on Wednesday nights, I want to be on Wednesday nights.

I have no intention of moving for a variety of reasons and I am really happy with where we are (in the) the relationship with TNT. It’s a night that works great for them. We have been a top performer for them. We are doing great on Wednesdays and I want to stay there. “

• Also Read: 7 Takeaways from AEW Revolution

Tony Khan continued by explaining how he believes Monday Night Football is the greatest franchise on cable and he never wants to compete with them. Apart from this, the AEW president also discussed Jon Moxley’s Championship win at Revolution and revealed how he feels about Cody Rhodes’ new tattoo. You can check out his full interview below:

Tony Khan is said to be taking a larger role in the creative side of things backstage in AEW. According to a report from Fightful, Khan’s role has evolved from being the final say to coming up with ideas and developing storylines of his own. He is also said to have been more outspoken concerning the ideas of others as of late.

In addition to Khan’s evolving role on the creative team, Kenny Omega is said to have been pushing for certain storylines behind the scenes as well. The recent Britt Baker heel-turn is said to have been Omega’s idea. The lines blasting Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone are said to have come from Khan, however.

Baker attacked Yuka Sakazaki after their match this week, breaking off one of Sakazaki’s teeth in the process.

Regarding the Hangman Page storyline, it is being reported that AEW management is having fun working on the angle and coming up with ideas for Page. On the most recent episode of Dynamite, Matt Jackson confronted Page in the back about his drinking. Page appeared to be taking Matt’s comments to heart before he then began drinking beer directly from a full pitcher.

The main event of next week’s Dynamite from Atlanta will be the first-ever AEW steel cage match. Cody Rhodes will face Wardlow in the match.

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) President and CEO Tony Khan has revealed which wrestlers adorn his personal wrestling Mount Rushmore. 

Speaking with AL.com ahead of last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite, Khan listed Ric Flair, Bret Hart and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. They would join the current AEW World Champion, Chris Jericho, upon his Mount Rushmore. 

Tony Khan’s Favorites

Reflecting on how he became a fan of pro wrestling, Khan spoke about his favorite childhood wrestlers. He shared how The A-Team introduced him to Hulk Hogan at a time when he didn’t know what wrestling actually was.

“When I first really got into wrestling, my favorite wrestlers at first were Ric Flair and the Macho Man, Randy Savage. But the first time I saw wrestling was Hulk Hogan on ‘The A-Team,’ and I didn’t really know what wrestling was, and then I saw Hulk Hogan on WWF TV when I was a kid and that was the first time I’d seen pro wrestling.”

He continued, “Then I learned about other pro wrestling, like WCW and then later when I was like 13, I got really into ECW, I started trading tapes with people through the dial-up internet, junior-high up into high-school.”

Khan noted how, upon entering high school, his favorites changed to Austin, Hart and Jericho. With Jericho currently the champion of his promotion, Khan has since developed relationships with both Austin and Hart. It’s a development he admits is “kind of awesome.”

AEW’s Character Approach

Many AEW wrestlers have been highlighting the creative freedoms the promotion provides them. It’s a factor that stars like Shawn Spears and Jon Moxley clearly consider important to allow them to flourish without being weighted down. 

When asked how involved AEW are in crafting or adapting their rosters characters, Khan replied: 

“It depends. I think we’re really involved in the presentation of whoever it comes in, whether it’s a complete overhaul … I think we have a big say, like I have a big say, in what the presentation’s going to be.”

Khan continued, “I think what’s great is when we work with people who have so much experience and knowledge, like Chris is brilliant. And I’ve sat with Chris and with Cody and people and we’ve had really interesting talks about how AEW can help develop a unique presentation for them.”

He highlighted how AEW’s version of Chris Jericho is a different iteration compared to previous gimmicks. He then pointed to Cody Rhodes. Khan explained how Cody evolved during independent circuit experience, but believes his “presentation is off the charts” in AEW. 

All Elite Wrestling’s President Tony Khan recently joined the South Beach Sessions podcast. During the show, he was asked about when his father, Shahid “Shad” Khan, realized that AEW would be a success. 

Tony Khan On His Father’s “Leap Of Faith”

Tony recalled how that moment didn’t occur until the promotion had launched. Up until that time, Shad had been working on a “leap of faith” based off of projections Tony provided him.

“I had to tell him, ‘I expect people are going to buy these PPVs, I expect we’re going to get this television deal, right now is the perfect time to start a wrestling company because of the abundance of talent that’s available.”

It wasn’t until Warner Media executive Kevin Reilly got involved that Shad was able to see the potential the existed within his son’s ideas.

Tony explained how “With Kevin coming in, my dad was of course interested because here’s the president of WarnerMedia, the president of these huge cable channels, TNT and TBS, so he’s showing some interest in this, so my dad’s I think thinking, ‘Okay well I probably should show up and show some interest in this,’ but he knew when that happened, ‘Okay, well if the networks are taking a look at this, then this must be a serious deal.’”

Creating An Alternative

Despite his initial scepticism and concerns, Tony Khan shared how his father’s leap of faith had paid off. Although Tony had his own worries, he believed in wrestling fans and the wrestling community. He thought the promotion would be the alternative that fans have been wanting and that AEW would “make people sit up and take notice.”

Since the launch of AEW, many have praised Khan’s efforts and vision. Jim Ross even referred to Khan as “the smartest young wrestling guy I’ve ever been around.”

H/T to Wrestlezone for the transcription.

This weekend marks the first time in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s illustrious history that Wrestle Kingdom, the January 4th tradition; will actually be held as a two day event. As part of Night 2, AEW Champion Chris Jericho will be taking on NJPW ‘Ace’ Hiroshi Tanahashi.

As part of the build up to the bout, Tanahashi claimed that if he defeated Jericho he would ‘open the forbidden door’ and ask for an AEW Championship match. Up to this point the relationship between the two companies has reportedly been splintered at best. In the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio Dave Meltzer had further information regarding the two companies; apparently Rocky Romero (of NJPW) and Jericho went to AEW owner Tony Khan to ask if the Championship could be used in the build up to the Wrestle Kingdom match. Khan gave the green light to the idea and NJPW featured AEW and the belt on their website. Conversely AEW did not make any mention of Tanahashi or NJPW on their own site or television programming.

Meltzer also noted that there is still a lot of bad blood between the two entities, more than previously thought. Apparently there have been legal threats made from NJPW’s side, however it was not made clear what these were. Meltzer did also note that although there are a lot of barriers that a deal could still be struck between the two companies. Currently the use of the AEW belt is just a deal between Jericho and Tanahashi. With Jericho being ‘protected’ as Champion it is doubtful that Tanahashi takes the win over Jericho in the bout.

You can check out our live coverage of Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 2 here.

All Elite Wrestling’s Jim Ross recently joined The Morning Show on News 4 out of Jacksonville ahead of the promotion’s homecoming episode, which took place last night. During the interview, Ross spoke highly about the talent pool within AEW and the approach by promotion’s president, Tony Khan.

Ross credited Khan as having done an “amazing job of assembling a team” for AEW. He described the promotion as having “very aggressive ownership.”

Ross added how they have “a lot of really outstanding young wrestlers are still discovering who they are and where they’re going to be, what they’re going to be. It’s fun to see them grow and evolve, but we also got some great veterans. Hall of Fame level guys like Chris Jericho.”

Jim Ross On Tony Khan’s Contribution To Wrestling

When talking about some of AEW’s top competitors, Ross turned his attention to Khan’s attitude in bringing in top-level talent. “He’s a fan, and he’s very, very intelligent,” Ross explained. “Tony is the smartest young wrestling guy I’ve ever been around, and I worked for Vince McMahon for over a quarter of a century, so that’s saying something.”

Asked about what he feels the Khan’s bring to the wrestling industry, Ross stressed how they have provided a “breath of fresh air” to the business. He reiterated AEW’s interest in becoming a more sports orientated alternative and commented on the happiness amongst AEW’s roster.

AEW Dynamite airs Wednesday nights on TNT. Check out our recap of this week’s episode:

• 6 Takeaways From AEW Dynamite (1/1)

If you use any quotes from this article, please provide a H/T to SEScoops.

Tony Khan says that AEW management expected some backlash to the Lights Out match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley on the Full Gear PPV. Khan recently spoke to the WINCLY Podcast about the match.

“I expected it and that’s why we put it on PPV. We would never do anything like this on TV. Our friends at TNT know what we’re trying to do in putting hardcore matches in the main events of PPVs. There’s gonna be two wrestlers that wanna settle it so we’re not gonna sanction it. We’re gonna turn the lights off and turn a blind eye to it and not be liable for what occurs in the ring,” Khan said on the show.

“I think it’s a very logical thing and I’m not surprised that people are shocked. I think most people did love it. It got a huge amount of interest and it did exactly what we wanted it to do which was start a conversation. To me, I absolutely loved it.”

Moxley defeated Omega after Omega missed a Phoenix Splash and crashed headfirst into the exposed ring boards, allowing Moxley to hit his finish for the win.

• AEW Full Gear PPV Takeaways

Khan also mentioned during the interview that he gets more nervous for AEW events than he does for Fulham F.C or Jacksonville Jaguars games.

“At my heart, I love wrestling more than anything else. People ask me if I get nervous and I get a lot more nervous before a Jaguars or Fulham game. But I get more excited and have more fun at AEW than anything else.”

Khan’s comments regarding the match can be heard in the player below:

h/t to Wrestling Inc for the above transcriptions

CM Punk gave a little preview of his WWE Backstage role before the airing of this week’s episode of the show when he tagged both Vince McMahon and Tony Khan in one tweet about catching up on the recent happenings of the wrestling world.

During a recent interview with WrestlingInc, the AEW President talked about a number of things and also revealed his thoughts on this move from the former World Champion

Khan first explained how he has never brought Punk’s name in any of the interviews by himself and discussing the Straight Edge Star’s tweet, he claimed that he is not sure why he was tagged:

“I haven’t talked to him in a long time. I wish him the best and am not sure why he tagged me but it’s hard to talk about all of the great things happening in wrestling without talking about AEW.”

Khan also spoke about his mentions of Punk saying that he tries to be very honest whenever he is asked a question in media scrums and claimed that he has never tried to lead anyone to believe that the WWE star will be doing anything with AEW.

Apart from this, Tony Khan also revealed how AEW managed to secure the Bash At The Beach trademark made famous by WCW. You can check out his comments on the matter at this link.

AEW President Tony Khan made an appearance on the WINCLY podcast where he discussed a wide range of topics including the cool announcement made earlier this week about AEW using the Bash at the Beach trademark for an upcoming episode of AEW Dynamite. 

In this interview, Khan noted how it was AEW executive Cody Rhodes who was able to secure the trademark among other trademarks.

“Cody went on a trademark binge one night and he texted me, ‘Conrad and I were up all night trademarking stuff.’ One of the things that came out of it was Bash at the Beach. So, when he said that we thought of a way to use it… and the unique idea was to go to Miami in January,” said Khan.

AEW will air the January 15th episode of AEW Dynamite live on TNT with a special Bash At The Beach theme from Miami, Florida at the Watsco Center at the University of Miami.

As part of the nine-day experience for superfans, AEW will tape the Tuesday, January 21st episode onboard the Jericho Cruise and the show will air the following night, January 22nd on TNT. 

Khan mentioned how the promotion was able to get the trademark, which was the original rights to the trademark had lapsed. He brought up how MLW did the same thing with the WarGames trademark before they sold it back to WWE. 

Khan added that Daytona Beach is a great market for AEW and he looks forward to getting down there soon. 

AEW Bash at the Beach: 9 Day Event Includes Jericho Cruise, 2 Episodes of Dynamite

Things got interesting between Randy Orton and AEW President Tony Khan when they exchanged words on social media. 

It began when Khan replied to a tweet by CM Punk, who was hyping his appearance on Tuesday’s WWE Backstage on FS1. Punk says “no one is safe” when he talks about the good and bad of pro wrestling. He tagged Tony Khan in the tweet, along with Vince McMahon and the Backstage team.

Tony Khan fired back with a reference to WWE’s recent travel issues in Saudi Arabia.

The response by Khan got the attention of Randy Orton, who just signed a new longterm deal with WWE. Orton replied with a negative article about Khan’s father, businessman Shahid Khan. Tony called out Randy Orton for using AEW as leverage for a bigger WWE contract and referenced a recent story about Randy Orton allegedly using inexcusable racial language during a Twitch video game stream.

AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes commented on Tony Khan’s response to Randy Orton.

Update: Cody Rhodes has since chimed in on the thread, while Randy Orton got the last word in by calling Tony Khan, “Jacksonville Dixie.”

Randy Orton Staying With WWE

Orton had teased on social media that he could be leaving WWE for the rival promotion, AEW (All Elite Wrestling) before making a decision about his future. 

The WWE veteran stayed with the company that helped him turn out to be a big star when he signed an extension with WWE. 

This new deal will keep him under contract with WWE for the next five years. It was reported that the former WWE Champion had been weighing his options in the final months of a 10-year WWE contract.

In recent years, he has worked a more limited schedule for the company. 

• CM Punk Vows To Pull No Punches On WWE Backstage

It didn’t take AEW President Tony Khan long to respond to CM Punk and it got people talking on social media as a result. 

On Monday afternoon, Punk sent out a tweet on his official Twitter account hyping his scheduled appearance on WWE Backstage this Tuesday night on FOX Sports 1. In doing so, he tagged Khan. 

CM Punk Vows To Pull No Punches On WWE Backstage

Khan saw the tweet and responded by writing the following as well as taking a jab at WWE’s recent travel issues in Saudi Arabia: 

“No one is safe? Sounds like a plane full of wrestlers in Saudi Arabia!”

It was just reported last week that Punk was offered a lot of money by AEW when he had an in-person meeting with Khan. Instead of signing with the rival promotion, Punk signed with FOX Sports to be a special correspondent on WWE Backstage. The former WWE Champion isn’t under contract with WWE. 

Regarding the Saudi Arabia travel issues that Khan was referring to, earlier this month, the majority of the WWE crew had their flights delayed in Saudi Arabia for the Crown Jewel event. 

There were reports that some stars felt unsafe while waiting to leave the country for over 24 hours because they didn’t know what was going on.

While WWE officials have publicly stated that the reason for the delays was due to mechanical issues, there are some stars who felt that there was more to the delays than just those issues. 

CM Punk joining the WWE Backstage show on FS1 has made fans speculate whether this means that we will see him a WWE ring. 

It turns out that Punk could’ve signed with AEW (All Elite Wrestling) instead of FOX Sports. It was noted by Bryan Alvarez on Wednesday’s episode of Wrestling Observer Live that Punk was offered a lot of money by AEW.

In fact, Alvarez noted that “Punk did, in fact, negotiate with AEW” and that Punk “met in person with Tony Khan about AEW and they offered him a lot of money and he ended up with this WWE on FOX gig.” 

Alvarez speculated that Punk signing with FOX Sports over joining AEW could indicate that he has no plans to wrestle again as he’s over the in-ring aspect of it. That is pure speculation but if Punk doesn’t want to wrestle again then signing with FOX to have a limited schedule talk show role for big money would make sense. 

WWE Issues Statement On CM Punk Joining Backstage on FS1

As noted, Punk has signed with FOX to be a special correspondent and he is not going to be on WWE Backstage full-time while Renee Young and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T will be the hosts of the show. Punk is not under contract with WWE. 

This report by Alvarez is interesting as Punk had previously talked about not getting what he thought was a formal offer by AEW. 

Regarding a potential wrestling return, Punk has not completely shut out the possibility of wrestling again. He has made it known that he’s always been open to it but for him to wrestle again would need to see him receive a big payday. 

AEW President Tony Khan has shed some light on how the 2020 pay-per-view schedule will look like for the promotion. 

He did so during a media scrum over the weekend after the promotion finished its third and final PPV event of 2019 with the Full Gear event at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Coming out of the show, fans and media already want to know when the next big show will be. It’s been known that AEW had previously only planned to hold four PPV events each year with ideally having them in each quarter. 

This is something that Khan brought up when asked about the schedule. AEW plans to run four events with one taking place each quarter. They also plan to hold Double or Nothing 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Memorial Day Weekend and All Out 2 in Chicago on Labor Day Weekend.

Khan stated that they want to do their best for their fans by giving them value for the shows and giving a great quarterly pay-per-view experience.

AEW charges $50 per event, which some people consider being high as many other wrestling PPV shows these days are offered via a streaming service for a cheaper price. 

“So in Q1 there will be something, we’ll make an announcement very soon.”

He noted that fans can expect them to put on shows that have the same caliber of Double or Nothing, All Out and Full Gear. 

Khan added, “There’s going to be another one on that Mount Rushmore of quarterly big pay-per-view shows.”

• The Young Bucks Mock WWE Saudi Arabia ‘Travel Snafu’ On Being The Elite (Video)

You can watch Tony Khan’s post-show media scrum from AEW Full Gear below:

AEW President Tony Khan recently had an interview with Fightingillini.com where he talked about the upcoming episodes of Dynamite, managing his different companies and more.

Ever since the beginning of their venture, AEW Officials have maintained that they are not competing with WWE and their wrestling product is an alternative to the company.

Explaining how the programming in AEW is different than the biggest wrestling company in the world, Khan claimed that they are offering a show which focuses on in-ring action and doesn’t insult people’s intelligence:

 “We’re bringing an emphasis on wrestling matches and action taking place in or around the ring. We’ll do great interviews too, but in these segments, we can do it all in the arena and around the ring.

We can do some stuff backstage; we just don’t spend half the show backstage. We want to offer people a show that doesn’t insult their intelligence, and really, it’s a fun show to watch.”

The AEW President went on to say that their show is a fast-paced program with the best wrestling action and the best personalities. According to him, it’s for everybody.

Apart from this, Tony Khan also talked about the start of AEW, revealing that he started thinking about setting up a wrestling company about a year and half ago.

He recalled running into the TNT President Kevin Riley during a party and the two ended up discussing the idea. You can check out Tony Khan’s full interview at this link.

The President of All Elite Wrestling Tony Khan has revealed that the company’s All Out and Double Or Nothing events are going to return yearly.

Double Or Nothing which was the inaugural event held by the promotion took place on May 25, 2019 at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Khan believes that the event will be a “tradition” and will always be held during the Memorial Day weekend in Sin City.

Speaking in an interview with Wade Keller of PWTorch, Khan said, “Double or Nothing is always going to be Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas. I think that’s a tradition that’s going to outlive all of us.”

Along with Double Or Nothing, the company’s recently held All Out PPV will also be an annual tradition. The event took place on August 31, 2019 at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago. Khan thinks that we will see All Out events for a long time.

“All Out is always going to be in the Chicago area, Labor Day weekend,” Tony said. “I think that’s a tradition that can live a long time.”

Furthermore, Khan also gave his thoughts on AEW’s upcoming Full Gear PPV event. He expects Full Gear to do well and if everything goes as expected it can be a quarterly PPV event from the company. “Full Gear is the next big quarterly pay-per-view we’re on. If Baltimore really gets….we’ve sold a lot of tickets. Hopefully, Baltimore can be a great market for us too. I expect Full Gear to be a huge brand.”

Full Gear will be taking place on November 9 at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho vs. Cody for the AEW World Championship have been already announced.

H/T to Fightful for the transcription.

Tony Khan took part in a post-event media scrum from AEW Dynamite. During the interview, he was asked if he had any benchmarks going into the show that he was able to check off.

“Yeah, like all of them,” Khan responded. “Everything I was hoping we could do, I think we did with this. The one thing I don’t know yet is the ratings but I’m really happy with the way the show came off and I’m really happy with the early feedback I’ve gotten.”

“I think as far as where we are at creatively, I think we’re in a great place, and I’m not surprised by that,” he continued.

• AEW Dynamite Dominates WWE NXT In Viewership For Week One

SEScoops was on-hand backstage and posted the following video of Khan discussing Wednesday night’s show:

Tony Khan Interview Highlights

Khan also spoke about Chris Jericho’s faction during the scrum:

“I thought the stable that we’re going to learn more about, they looked really good together, didn’t they?” Khan asked.

“It looked like a stable to me,” Khan continued. “The way they walked, the way they talked, the way they acted, they seemed like guys with a plan.”

Khan would continue to say there are many free agents he might want to sign but he’s not going to let the media know who they are. He would also mention that the promotion is hoping to air the dark matches taped from the event.

“They will be aired and I think as we go on we’ll smooth it out and we’ll develop, that it’ll be a new franchise I actually think we can get out of the good wrestling from these tapings.”

He noted that the dark matches will likely be available free online eventually.

Khan also confirmed that in addition to being a wrestler on AEW’s roster, Awesome Kong works full-time backstage as well. She worked as a producer on Wednesday night.

All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan divulged information over how AEW handle health insurance for its talent during a post-AEW: Dynamite media scrum following their successful premiere on Wednesday night.

“Of the people you saw tonight, a large percentage of them are insured with AEW because they work full-time for AEW,” Khan said. “This is my fifth show I’ve done in 2019, and most people haven’t been on all five shows. Of the people that have been on all five shows, most of them are full-time and have full-time benefits.”

He then explained that one of AEW’s top stars, Jon Moxley, isn’t covered by AEW. Instead, he receives healthcare from his former employer, WWE. This is because of his wife, Renee Young, who is a full-time WWE employee.

“Jon Moxley actually does get healthcare, but he gets it through his wife [Renee Young] who is a full-time employee elsewhere,” he stated. “But Kenny [Omega] does get healthcare and is a full-time employee as are a lot of people. Kenny is a part of my office and he works a full-time job. There’s other people like Britt Baker who’s full-time job is a dentist, and she’s come in and wrestle I wanna say four of the five shows.”

Khan added that there are some people working for AEW who have only done a couple of spots this past year, and so aren’t classified as full-time employees. He confessed it was a “complicated answer.”

AEW: Dynamite was successful in defeating WWE NXT for ratings this week. The two went head-to-head for the first this past Wednesday night.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

The first episode of AEW Dynamite featured some interesting matches including the 6 man tag main event which ended in a big brawl and the AEW debut of the former WWE World Champion Jack Swagger.

In the post-show media scrum, the company president Tony Khan talked about the various aspects of their debut show and also revealed that Jack Swagger has been signed to them for a while.

Khan revealed that Swagger, who also uses the name Jake Hagger has been signed to them for a while now and both the parties had successfully kept it secret till now:

“You know what’s pretty cool about secret keeping is that Jake’s been signed for like a really long time, Jake’s been signed to us for like a really long time now. Jake can clearly keep a secret and so can we. For quite awhile now Jake was signed.”

The AEW President then went on to confirmed that Swagger’s signing with the promotion will not affect his MMA schedule and he has adjusted his schedule to be able to do both.

Apart from this Tony Khan also talked about Jack Swagger joining Chris Jericho, Santana & Ortiz and Sammy Guevara calling this group a stable.

When asked if he is confirming their status as a stable, Tony Khan claimed that the way they acted seemed like a stable to him. They seemed like guys with a plan but we will have to wait and see.