ITV has announced a deal with AEW (All Elite Wrestling) that will see their new weekly wrestling show air on the network. 

They did so on Wednesday by confirming that the show will air for free starting next month. The run will start with the full two-hour show on ITV4 on October 6th then followed by a one-hour highlights program on ITV on October 7th. 

The shows will run sequentially leading up to PPV events including the Full Gear pay-per-view. It was noted that more details including schedule information to follow soon.

This means that fans in the UK will have to wait four days to watch new episodes of the show. 

AEW President Tony Khan has commented on the deal by issuing a statement on his official Twitter account: 

“We’ll work together to ensure there will always be a free to air broadcast of the most recent episode of AEW: Dynamite before Saturday PPVs including Full Gear. We’ll also be announcing a live viewing solution soon for the UK + many other countries with great AEW fans. Thank you!”

AEW Raids Impact Wrestling’s Production Division (Exclusive)

Starting Wednesday, October 2 in Washington, D.C., at the famed Capital One Arena, AEW will begin airing live two-hour weekly matches on TNT at 8 p.m. ET. 

All Elite Wrestling Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes has already confirmed that the show will be rated TV-14.

After All Elite Wrestling’s recent pay-per-view All Out had concluded, the promotion held a post-show media conference. During this conference, AEW President Tony Khan addressed the company’s commentary plans going forward.

He admitted that, at this time, “It’s not exactly clear” what their commentary situation will be.

Khan explained, “Tony [Schiavone]’s just joined us, and Alex [Goldenboy] is new to us too. Alex is definitely going to be doing Full Gear. Tony will be at the Georgia football game that day, but Tony’s going to be a big part of Wednesdays. And I expect Tony to be with us on Wednesdays, and Goldenboy will be at Full Gear, it’ll be the same commentary team it was tonight on PPV.”

When it comes to the television team once AEW debut on TNT in October, Khan addressed the demand fans have for hearing Jim Ross call the show every week:

“[…] on TV, I think there’s been a huge demand for fans that want to hear Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone call wrestling together again. And Excalibur also brings a lot of knowledge and really intelligent insight into what’s going on in the matches, and I think he’ll be a really good addition to those guys as well. So I expect we’ll mix it up for PPV and TV.”

All Elite Wrestling debuts on television via TNT on October 2nd.

Tony Khan took part in a post-event media scrum in Chicago following All Out last night. He commented on PAC’s status with the company after replacing Jon Moxley on the PPV, win/loss records and how the promotion will track statistics moving forward.

His comments were posted online by Chris Van Vliet:

Tony Khan on Win/Loss Records in AEW

He also commented on how wins and losses will be tracked across different match types. Khan spoke in regards to the win/loss graphics which were displayed during wrestler ring entrances as well.

“We did have on several of the matches, records, and they were specific records and there’s actually a list of two records, there was a record specific to the type of match it was, so for single’s there was a single’s record, there was a tag record for tag team matches and then the trios match which opened the show, there was a trios record because SCU was 1-0 in trios. So single’s records, tag records, trios records, and then we have overall records when applicable.”

“We’ve started to establish it more like a sport, does that make sense?” He asked.

Tony Khan Commenting On PAC’s Status With the Company

Khan commented during the interview that he expects PAC to be a major player in AEW moving forward.

“I do expect PAC is going to keep wrestling here,” Khan said in regards to PAC’s status with the company.

• CM Punk Talks Possible WWE Return, Fans Asking If He’ll Make Comeback

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has announced that they have signed Dustin Rhodes to a multi-year contract extension. This new arrangement will see the former Goldust perform multiple roles for the promotion. Alongside competing in-ring, he will now also be a promo coach and match producer.

AEW President and CEO Tony Khan commented on the extension, highlighting how Rhodes has “rejuvenated” his career whilst with AEW. He also stressed the talent and knowledge that Rhodes will be able to provide them.

“Dustin Rhodes has had an incredible wrestling career that has spanned decades. His amazing journey brought him to AEW, and he’s rejuvenated his career here,” Khan stated.

“In addition to all of the wisdom he’s shared with us as we’ve launched All Elite Wrestling, he’s come here and worked so hard for us. His comeback match against his brother Cody at Double or Nothing was one of the most acclaimed bouts in recent years, and it marked a new chapter for all of us.”

He explained, “Dustin and I had agreed weeks ago after Fight For The Fallen that we both wanted him to stay with All Elite Wrestling. He’s already done so much for us, and I’m thrilled that it’s official now that Dustin will be on our team going forward, both backstage and in the ring!”

Rhodes recently wrestled on AEW’s Fight For The Fallen event. He and his brother, Cody, lost a tag team match against The Young Bucks.

Tony Khan and several other AEW Officials including the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega recently spoke to the Decider ahead of the upcoming All Out event and the launch of their weekly TV show on TNT.

One thing AEW has been advocating strongly is a lighter schedule for wrestlers compared to the current schedule of WWE where talents are on the road for up to 6 days a week.

Talking about this issue, president Tony Khan said that they are basing their company to be more wrestler friendly and they are not going to have constant touring of five or six nights a week:

“We’re basing the company to be way more wrestler-friendly and in terms of the scheduling, because we’re not going to have a constant touring of five nights a week or anything like that, six nights a week never, and really focusing on that and building the big events, big pay-per-views and streaming specials.”

So far AEW has produced three wrestling shows including their inaugural event Double Or Nothing, Fyter Fest and just recently, Fight For The Fallen.

While there were some complaints about the pricing of Double Or Nothing, the company balanced it out by giving away the other two shows for free and as it turns out, they took a big financial hit while doing so.

Discussing the finance of these two shows, Khan also revealed the reason for it claiming that it was for the company: ” I took a big hit, and I was willing to do it as a company because I believed in our brand of wrestling,”

Apart from this, the AEW officials also talked about Being The Elite being different than their TV Show, competition with WWE and more. You can check out the full story at this link.

Fyter Fest is said to have been the second most viewed event of all-time on the B/R Live streaming service. The event fell short to only the Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson head-to-head golf PPV from November. The success of the event on B/R Live was addressed recently in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

“Fyter Fest ended up being the second biggest event ever on B/R Live,” wrote Dave Meltzer. “The only event the service has ever had that added more subscribers was the day they did the Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson golf head-to-head match this past November.”

AEW Touring Schedule

AEW is looking to run up to 120 live events per year. This was also addressed recently by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

“The goal right now is to run 100 to 120 live events per year, probably four PPVs, 51 television shows and many Saturday night house shows and on occasion more than one house show a week,” Meltzer continued.

The idea of running AEW house shows was also addressed recently by company President, Tony Khan.

• Tony Khan Comments On AEW Touring Schedule

“(House shows are) not my core business focus and I’ve kind of made it part of the business plan is that I don’t want to put too much mileage on the top performers by having them perform on shows where it’s not going to generate as much revenue where it doesn’t make as much business sense to put the mileage on your guys and I also don’t want to put out an inferior house show product that isn’t the top people,” Khan said last month on the Steve Austin’s podcast.

During the interview with Austin, Khan also noted the company is looking at running 100-120 shows per year.

“When we get into weekly TV I’d like to get in a good rhythm of where we’re doing let’s say 100-120 shows a year,” Khan continued.

During a FOX meeting last week, the concept of moving WWE’s popular black-and-gold brand, NXT, to TV was reportedly discussed.

There is apparent interest in bringing the show, which currently airs on the WWE Network, onto Fox Sports 1. Most notably, they would want to air it on Wednesday nights.

This proposal comes off the rumor that All Elite Wrestling (AEW) will apparently debut their flagship TNT show on Wednesdays.

AEW has not yet officially announced which day they will air their show on, but the promotion has filed a trademark for ‘Wednesday Night Dynamite,’ making it the most likely contender.

Dave Meltzer, of Wrestling Observer Radio, noted that Vince McMahon would be undeniably upset if NXT competed against AEW and lost to the growing promotion in the ratings. To try and ensure victory, WWE will apparently be using every trick they can to secure NXT comes out ahead.

One part of their plan is to use main roster Superstars from both RAW and SmackDown on NXT—though whether that means for one-off appearances or long-term feuds is undetermined at this point in time.

During the Fight For The Fallen post-show media scrum, Tony Khan mentioned that AEW intends to announce further details of their TNT debut in October at All Out.

AEW President Tony Khan has opened up on when fans can expect to hear an official announcement on what night their weekly TV show will air on TNT. There have been rumors that it will air on Tuesday or Wednesday night. 

According to Khan, who was asked about it at the post-event press conference following Saturday’s AEW Fight for the Fallen event, the announcement is coming and will likely be made before the All Out pay-per-view event on August 31st. 

“Yeah, we’ll definitely make an announcement before All Out of the night and some dates, it will be really exciting,” Khan stated. “Hopefully, announce what we’re going to do. A really big debut showed planned and after that I’m really excited because I think there’s been a void for a long time.”

AEW Fight For The Fallen Results & Live Coverage (7/13)

Back in May, it was officially announced that AEW would air a weekly TV show on TNT later this year. With AEW airing on TNT, there have been some comparisons to AEW and WCW as they both broadcast their product on the television network. 

With such a good TV deal and big money backing them, many fans think we are upon another Monday Night War even though AEW will air on a different night than RAW or SmackDown Live. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcription

Tony Khan took part in a post-Fight for the Fallen media scrum last night. He spoke about what AEW on TNT will look like, signing new talent, and how South Park inspired the look of Fight for the Fallen.

Khan was asked about the unique look the stage had at Daily’s Place for the show last night. He then mentioned the look had been inspired by an episode of South Park.

“Who has seen the wrestling episode of South Park?” Khan asked the media in attendance.

Tony Khan On AEW Using Open-Air Amphitheatres In The Future

“My thought is with an amphitheater the challenge is where do you put the ring and how do you present to the crowd and to me what’s great about it is you put the ring in the pit you open up so many possibilities for what you can do with the staging.”

Khan mentioned that the type of open-air amphitheatre venue could be used in the future.

“It opens up a lot of venues but obviously this is like our home venue.”

Tony Khan’s full media scrum can be viewed in its entirety in the player below:

• 8 Takeaways From AEW Fight For The Fallen

Tony Khan says Fight for the Fallen’s show tonight is not designed to make a profit. Rather, Khan says a large amount of the proceeds will be donated to the Victims Advisory Assistance Council in Jacksonville.

Khan spoke with First Coast News in Florida recently about the event.

“I know we’re all here for the wrestling but we’re doing some other really awesome stuff with it too,” Khan said during the interview. “A great example of that is Fight For the Fallen. We’re donating a very large amount of money and this show is not designed to make a profit, it was never designed to make a profit, it’s not going to make any money. We’re in fact going to donate money made to the Victims Advisory Assistance Council, which the mayor has set up. And the VAAC will help benefit the victims of local crimes.”

Last August, the city was rocked by a shooting at Jacksonville Landing which left 2 dead and 10 injured. The shooting took during a gaming tournament featuring Madden NFL 19.

“We were looking for a partnership with the city where we could take the money we make from this event and donate a large portion of what we take in to benefit these people who have been victims of very unfortunate things.”

Khan would then continue to say that the shooting at the Jacksonville Landing and his commitment to the city is his motivation for throwing tonight’s charity event.

The full interview can be viewed in the player below:

AEW Fight For The Fallen Lineup

• Cody Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes vs. The Young Bucks
• Kenny Omega vs. CIMA
• Brandi Rhodes vs. Allie
• Adam Page vs. Kip Sabian
• Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky vs. Pentagon and Rey Fenix
• Britt Baker and Riho vs. Shoko Nakajima and Bea Priestley
• Chris Jericho will have a live mic
• Dark Order vs. Jack Evans and Angelico vs. Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus (Winners advance to All Out for an opportunity at a first-round bye in the AEW World Tag Team Titles tournament)
• MJF, Shawn Spears and Sammy Guevara vs. Joey Janela, Darby Allin and Jimmy Havoc (Pre-Show)
• Sonny Kiss vs. “The Librarian” Peter Avalon with “The Librarian” Leva Bates (Pre-Show)

Last night at AEW Fyter Fest, Cody took a chair shot to the head delivered by Shawn Spears. Cody and Darby Allin had just wrestled to a 20-minute draw when Spears appeared in the ring and delivered the blow. After the match, AEW would later Tweet that it took 12 staples to close the wound but Cody did not suffer a concussion.

In a post-event media scrum, AEW President Tony Khan explained that the chairshot to the head was a mistake.

“We called the doctor immediately, it was obviously really regrettable what happened,” Khan said. “I don’t know if this is the time to go into what happened but we had taken precautions in this situation – in that specific situation. A doctor was available and Cody does not have a concussion, he has staples, and we’re all very grateful for that.”

Nick Jackson On Cody’s Chairshot To The Head

During his post-event media scrum, Nick Jackson insinuated the chairshot was not as unprotected as it perhaps appeared.

“You think it was unprotected,” Nick said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Tony Khan On Differences Between TV and Streaming Show

Khan would also stress that such violence won’t be apart of AEW TV when it begins in the fall.

“No, definitely not. This was not TV, it was a streaming show,” Khan said when asked if the hardcore wrestling at Fyter Fest would be part of AEW TV in the fall. “It was effectively a PPV in a lot of the world. In the US, it was presented free, but this was a PPV. You can expect different rules for PPV and we said going in these are non-sanctioned hardcore matches.”

“We wouldn’t have offered that on TNT, a 100% no,” Khan stressed.

Khan also addressed time limits, issues related to production, and more:

Tony Khan can see AEW running up to 120 shows per year. The President of the new promotion does not want to make house shows a core component of his business and does not want to put too much mileage on his top stars. Khan commented on AEW’s touring schedule recently on Steve Austin’s podcast.

Austin asked Khan if the weekly TV show will be filmed on the road or in-studio.

“We’re going to get out and we’re going to travel across the United States and we’re going to travel outside the United States eventually too but I’m initially focussed on travelling inside the United States and doing the kind of wrestling show nobody has done in a long time if ever – nope probably never before,” Khan answered.

Tony Khan on AEW Touring Schedule

As for doing house shows, Khan had the following to say:

“(House shows are) not my core business focus and I’ve kind of made it part of the business plan is that I don’t want to put too much mileage on the top performers by having them perform on shows where it’s not going to generate as much revenue where it doesn’t make as much business sense to put the mileage on your guys and I also don’t want to put out an inferior house show product that isn’t the top people.”

• AEW To Hold Tournament To Crown First Tag Team Champions

“So, if you do see us do house shows they are going to be top shows with the top people, which means we’re not going to be doing 5-6 a week of them.”

Khan is looking to ramp up to 100-120 shows per year.

“When we get into weekly TV I’d like to get in a good rhythm of where we’re doing let’s say 100-120 shows a year.”

The full podcast can be listened to here.

AEW will hold a tournament to crown the promotion’s first-ever tag-team champions. With tag-team wrestling set to become a major part of the company, Tony Khan appeared on Steve Austin’s podcast recently to discuss the division. Khan mentioned a tournament will be used to crown AEW’s first tag-team champions.

“We’re going to establish a great tag team division. When we launch our weekly television show in the fall, we’re going to be doing a tag team tournament that’s going to have some of the greatest tag team matches ever on TV.”

Khan continued to talk about a possible format for the tournament.

“It’s going to be a main focus of our TV. There will be teams competing to get a first-round bye in that tournament, which is a big deal. We’ll have some of the best tag teams in wrestling competing for our Tag Team Championships coming up in the fall.”

AEW’s Tag Teams

The teams for the tournament have yet to be announced but the tag-team division for All Elite Wrestling consists of the following teams:

• Matt & Nick Jackson (the Young Bucks)
• Pentagon Jr. & Fenix (the Lucha Bros)
• Cody & Dustin Rhodes
• Chuck Taylor & Trent Barreta (The Best Friends)
• Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky (SCU)
• CIMA, El Lindaman, T-Hawk (Strong Hearts)
• Angelico & Jack Evans (Los Güeros del Cielo)
• The Dark Order (formerly Super Smash Bros)

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) are actively trying to provide an alternative with their promotion. This extends to how they are choosing to engage with their fans and how they intend to portray their storylines and promos.

Tony Khan recently caught up with Busted Open Radio. During their conversation, the AEW president stressed the importance of implementing social media strategy, saying that their ability to connect with a younger audience was a purposeful decision.

“I think there is something about social media now where people are more engaged with their celebrities and their sports stars than ever before,” he said. “People can spot a phoney, and I think young people can spot a phoney. I think young people can spot when people believe what they are saying and when people aren’t believing what they are saying, and when I was a kid, I really did believe what Ric Flair and Randy Savage and Bret Hart said in their promos. I think there has to be some believability.”

This believability is an element Khan is adamant AEW bring back to the world of pro wrestling. His plan to achieve that? Not having their talent use scripted promos.

“When you see a guy reading off a teleprompter or a mental teleprompter, just trying to recite a script or trying to look up in the air when you forget a line. It is hard to suspend disbelief when the wrestler doesn’t believe in the real-life situation that is unfolding. So like I said, I am not surprised that we are drawing young viewers; it was part of the plan going in.”

AEW’s next show will be Fyter Fest. The show takes place on June 29th from the Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, Florida.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

While the wrestling fans have been seeing it as the first real competition WWE has had in decades, AEW Officials including Tony Khan and others have been maintaining that they are an alternative to the Biggest Wrestling Company in the World.

Being an alternative means that they will be doing things differently than WWE and it appears that this means there will be less comical segments on their show and more focus on in-ring action.

During his recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, AEW President Tony Khan discussed the more comical style of production and said their programs will be a serious, sports-based product:

“We’re going to provide, a serious, sport-based product with the best wrestling. Something you’re going to notice more and more in our shows is they’re going to take place in and around the ring. Like, we’re not going to go out of the arena, we’re not going to spend half the show backstage in dressing rooms, or backstage choreographed segments.

Continuing on the topic, Khan explained that there is plenty of time outside of the matches to focus on the storyline and funny sketches but he is really interested in focusing on wrestling when the bouts are taking place.

Listen to Tony Khan’s appearance on Busted Open Radio (5/28):

After taking over the wrestling world by storm on Saturday with their successful Double or Nothing event in Las Vegas, All Elite Wrestling says they have similar plans for the United Kingdom.

talkSPORT caught up with SoCal Uncensored ahead of the event and asked them about AEW’s plans for UK.

“I think when you look at who is involved and you look at somebody like a Tony Khan who has heavy ties to the UK and London specifically, I think that it is a foregone conclusion,” Kazarian said. “And one thing that we want to do is be different. And to be different, you take your product to the people. You don’t necessarily make the people come to you. You take it to where the fans are.”

Related: AEW: All Out Announced For August 31st in Chicago

“We’d love to do a Starrcast, I’d love to do a cigar event, a jam session; let’s do everything we’re doing over here in Vegas and do it in the UK. And I think it will happen.”

talksSPORT’s Alex McCarthy also went straight to Tony Khan after the event for a word who assured them there will “definitely” be a UK PPV. The venue or the date has not been set yet but the important thing we need to know is that it will happen.

It would only make sense for the company to broaden their horizons by making their presence felt on a different continent. And with Khan spending a lot of time in London with Fulham F.C., it only makes sense for the company to eventually visit the islands.

Also read: Cody Says AEW Won’t Do Monthly PPVs

It appears Turner Sports is going all-in on AEW.

After months of speculation and negotiations, All Elite Wrestling is expected to announce a television deal with Turner as part of the upcoming WarnerMedia upfronts in New York The news was first reported by The Wrap. SEScoops has reached out to AEW and Turner for comment.

According to the report, AEW will air a weekly show on TNT starting later this year.

The new professional wrestling promotion being funded by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan with his son Tony Khan acting as AEW president has received a ton of interest since first unveiling the company.

AEW was founded by former WWE superstar Cody along with the sibling tag-team duo the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) after they put on a pay-per-view on their own last year titled ‘All In’. The success of that show led them to explore starting their own professional wrestling promotion and eventually AEW was created.

Since first announcing the formation of the promotion, AEW has inked deals with several high profile professional wrestlers including former New Japan Pro Wrestling champion Kenny Omega as well as former WWE superstar PAC, who was previously known by the moniker ‘Neville’.

As far as Turner’s involvement, the company is now part of the giant AT&T conglomerate that also includes entities such as DirecTV, HBO, TBS and numerous other outlets.

Turner — under former owner Ted Turner — was a prominent force in the professional wrestling industry for decades while airing programming for NWA and then eventually WCW. Turner was in the middle of the infamous ‘Monday Night Wars’, which saw their WCW Monday Nitro go head to head with WWE’s Monday Night RAW.

Eventually, Turner got out of the pro wrestling business when they sold WCW to WWE.

Now it appears the new leadership at Turner from AT&T is interested in getting back into the deep end of the professional wrestling business with this new deal with AEW. Of course, WWE remains the biggest pro wrestling entity in the world but now it appears they will have a direct competitor after AEW landed a television deal of their own.

The first major AEW show since announcing the launch will take place on May 25 at the ‘Double or Nothing’ pay-per-view from Las Vegas with the show airing on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

An official announcement of the television deal will reportedly be made at the WarnerMedia upfronts in New York with Tony Khan and several of the wrestlers from AEW expected to appear.

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) presents Double or Nothing next month live from Las Vegas, NV. It will the first live event under the AEW banner.

A month out from Double or Nothing, company president Tony Khan spoke with sports and entertainment reporter Chris Van Vliet about everything AEW. Below are some highlights followed by video of their discussion.

AEW’s TV Deal

AEW has spent the past several months announcing talent acquisitions, live events and match-ups for those shows. It’s an exciting process, but the general consensus from wrestling pundits and industry power players is that the entire venture hinges on AEW securing a meaningful television deal. So where does that stand?

“I’ve negotiated some things and I am very excited about what we are doing. I do think it’s very important to give wrestling fans a better quality of life. I think 20 years ago was honestly in many ways not nearly as good of a time to be a wrestling fan. There was not nearly as much wrestling out there and available if you were really looking for it. If you are really looking for great wrestling now there has never been a better time to be a wrestling fan.”

Tony’s 5-Year Plan for AEW

The launch of a major league wrestling organization is a massive undertaking. With tens of millions of dollars on the line, you don’t just “wing it” and hope things work out. You need a plan. You need a vision for where the company will be 1, 2, even 5 years out. Tony Khan is no stranger to managing professional sports franchises and shared his longterm strategy to make AEW a success.

“The 5-year plan for AEW is that we will have built up a brand, we will have built up a roster, we will have established ourselves as a top brand in wrestling for people who want fast paced exciting action and want a product that is more of a sporting based product. I’ve talked a lot about how I want wins and losses to matter because at the end of the day, that’s why you’re having the match.”

He continued, “There’s going to be a winner and a loser and it matters. It should matter to your standing in the company and it should matter to your standing in your chase for the championship which at the end of the day is what everyone is trying to attain.”

Staying Off Television

One of the most overdone tropes in pro wrestling is the owner putting themselves on television. Even worse is the evil authority figure. As the President of this upstart venture, Tony Khan might feel the temptation to make himself an on-air character in AEW. Khan once again shows that he’s tuned in to what wrestling fans want and plans to stay off AEW television.

“I have thought about it and I’m not going to do it. We have some of the greatest on-air performers in the world and look, I am who I am in the promotion. I am the president and the CEO and the founder of this company but it’s not going to be me all over TV and I’m not going to be doing a lot of interviews or backstage segments on television.”

There’s much more to the interview, including Tony’s thoughts on AEW having a ‘wrestler-friendly’ schedule, the signing of Dustin Rhodes, CM Punk’s return to wrestling over the weekend, WCW, ECW and more.

Check out Chris Van Vliet’s YouTube channel to see his recent interviews with John Cena, Johnny Gargano, Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam and more.

Watch: Tony Khan talks about AEW’s TV Deal & 5-Year Plan

All Elite Wrestling will present their first official event next month. According to recent comments on Wrestling Observer Radio, however, AEW President Tony Khan had someone other than the Elite in mind originally when deciding to start a new promotion.

“If (CM Punk) wants to wrestle, he was Tony Khan’s first pick before Jericho, before the Young Bucks, before anyone,” said Dave Meltzer. “If he wants to wrestle he can wrestle and make very good money if that’s what he wants.”

CM Punk Masked Run-In

A video featuring a masked Punk making a run-in at an independent event recently has caused a stir. The event was being promoted by Silas Young (who would later confirm it was Punk under the mask). Punk had performed earlier in his career in the same venue and this weekend’s event was scheduled to be it’s last.

He made his run-in during the Ace Steel vs. Daryck St. Holmes match.

CM Punk Statement On Return To Wrestling From 2016

In 2016, Punk made some predictions about a potential return to pro-wrestling that seem to have come to fruition.

“Its not going to be anything televised,” Punk said to ESPN Radio. “It’s gonna be me in a ninja f*cking outfit, wrestling one of my buddies.”

• CM Punk Returns To Wrestling At Indy Show (VIDEO)

All Elite Wrestling has generated a buzz in the sports entertainment industry before its first event has even taken place. Tickets are selling out, television rights are being shopped, and merchandise is popping up everywhere.

Eventually, that buzz will give way to an actual professional wrestling product but what will that product look like?

Tony Khan On His Vision For AEW

We have heard from Executive Vice President Cody on what his vision for All Elite Wrestling is, and now President and CEO Tony Khan has explained his own on Talk Is Jericho.

“It’s going to be a much more interesting time to be a fan of wrestling,” says Khan. “The time when [Jericho] came to national and international prominence in WCW and then on Raw, was the last time it was like that.”

Khan says that while not looking to challenge WWE in a wrestling war, he is looking to recapture the feelings and interest that fans had during the Monday Night Wars era.

“There’s still numerous podcasts and books being written about this era that’s been gone for 18 years now,” Khan says. “We still relive it week by week all the time. There’s just something about it.”

“I’m not saying that this is going to be that, or that were trying to do that again or copy that.”

“I just want people to feel that way again.”

Khan also says that fans should not expect to see All Elite Wrestling’s TV show going head to head with Raw or Smackdown.

“It doesn’t have to be that shows are on the same time of the same night,” he says. “If anything, put more shows on more nights of the week so there’s more wrestling for people to watch… There’s a lot of wrestling now, but there’s not as much high-budget, quality wrestling as there was 20 years ago.”

“That’s a problem, and that’s something we’re going to do something about.”

A Clear Vision For All Elite Wrestling

Khan, who grew up watching every promotion imaginable, cites Memphis Wrestling and Mid South Wrestling as particularly influential on his vision. To that end, he says that fans can expect a product with a serious bend.

“Great promotion, taking the stars seriously, the fans seriously, and treating the product as a legitimate sports property, and treating wins and losses as everything,” Khan says of his vision.

“Winning should make your day, make your week, make your year, and losing should break your heart.”

“If that’s not important, what are we even doing this for?”

You can hear much more from Khan, including stories of traveling to ECW events, his Jericho fandom, and why he chose to get into the wrestling business, on the full episode of Talk Is Jericho below.

When referencing this transcript, please credit SEScoops.com. This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Are you excited for Tony Khan’s vision for All Elite Wrestling?

All Elite Wrestling President and CEO Tony Khan appears on Talk Is Jericho this week, and reveals why the time is right to launch his wrestling company.

“There a number of factors, including economic factors,” Khan says. “I think for advertisers now, wrestling has become attractive. Advertisers can see there’s a huge base of wrestling fans all over the world that are really passionate.”

Khan goes on to say that the notion of wrestling fans being second class citizens in the advertising world has been dispelled.

“They’re good people, they’re educated people, and it’s a really diverse group,” says Khan.

Another factor in the timing of the AEW launch was the unique opportunity to have a group of talented performers all be free of contractual obligations at once.

“There’s a lot of really passionate fans around this group of wrestlers,” Khan says. “Jericho, The Elite, and a number of the competitors that we have coming into this.”

“You’ve got all these great talents with their contracts coming up, and we’re in a market where there’s TV money to be had to try to make a deal with a major network for a wrestling TV show. I think it’s the right climate for a number of reasons.”

“We’ve got a male and female roster with great engagement among the fans,” says Khan.

“To me, that makes it the right time to strike.”

You can hear much more from Khan on the full episode of Talk Is Jericho below.

When referencing this transcript, please credit SEScoops.com. This transcript has been edited for clarity. 

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is the talk of the professional wrestling community at the moment. A huge rally was held earlier this week in Jacksonville, just down the road from WWE’s SmackDown Live tapings, to celebrate the new promotion. AEW has some big names onboard with the endeavor. Those being Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Adam “Hangman” Page, Chris Jericho, PAC, and more.

Even Kenny Omega is expected to be joining AEW once his New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) deal expires. However, it looks like AEW might be attracting some interest from disgruntled WWE talent as well. Wrestling Observer Newsletter points out many WWE and NXT talents have adopted a “wait-and-see aspect” on AEW. Several frustrated talents have even been given more TV time on RAW and SmackDown as opposed to being ignored.

There are some talented stars on NXT and WWE’s main roster who aren’t sure of their position with the company, especially tag teams, who are interested. Of course, those who went through Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) and Ring Of Honor (ROH), and are friends with AEW executives, are the more open-minded of the bunch. Others who don’t have such experience are waiting on news of a TV deal.

WWE talents who are in the best position at the moment are those whose contracts run out at the end of this year. AEW’s TV situation will be sorted out by then and it will be more evident what level the promotion is at.

What do you think about WWE talent being interested in AEW?

In late December, there was a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter which stated Impact Wrestling was looking to sell their company to All Elite Wrestling.

“It is not a secret that there were forces attempting to sell Impact to AEW a few months ago,” wrote Dave Meltzer. “But that proposal was turned down.”

Ed Nordholm then told talent on January 7th that Anthem was not looking to sell the company. The Observer clarified their story today.

“The only deal we know of regarding a potential sale was when Chris Jericho became aware of Tony Khan wanting to start a company and tried to set up a meeting with Khan and Impact,” Meltzer wrote in the latest edition of the Observer.

Meltzer would continue to say this discussion took place all the way back in September. This means Jericho has been involved in discussions involving the new promotion since shortly after All In.

“Anthem was willing to talk and this was in September but Khan, who at that point was exploring starting up, said that he would start up on his own and wasn’t looking at buying an existing company,” Meltzer continued.

Ed Nordholm On Impact Wrestling’s Future

Following the Homecoming PPV this weekend, Ed Nordholm addressed the roster at the following night’s TV tapings. He talked about the important role Impact plays in the expansion of the Fight Network. The combat sports station signed big deals in Mexico and the United Kingdom in 2018.

The latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter features a ton of new information about All Elite Wrestling. We’ve been covering this developing story all week and you can catch up on everything at our AEW News section. Here are the latest details from the Observer regarding the management structure of AEW:

– AEW President Tony Khan will be head of the creative team in what Dave Meltzer called the “Vince McMahon role.” During an appearance on Sean Waltman’s podcast this week, Khan spoke extensively about his vision for AEW (Recap).

– As noted earlier, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks will serve as Executive Vice Presidents. Cody will focus primarily on the men’s singles division, while Matt and Nick will handle the tag teams. With the Young Bucks holding such prominent positions in the promotion, expect to see AEW feature a strong tag team division. One more Executive Vice President is expected to be hired in the coming months.

– In addition to serving as Chief Brand Officer, Brandi Runnels will focus on the women’s division.

– Dana Massie (wife of Matt ‘Jackson’) will be the head of merchandise for AEW. She has been one of the driving forces behind the Young Bucks’ merchandise brand. Pro Wrestling Tees President Ryan Barkan is also working with Dana.

– Prominent wrestling business reporter Chris Harrington has been hired as the head of business development.

Visit f4wonline.com for details on how you can subscribe to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has been the talk of the professional wrestling community as of late. Tony Khan is serving as the President of the promotion. Cody and The Young Bucks have been named Executive Vice Presidents. Names like Chris Jericho, Adam Page, PAC, and more have already been announced as members of the roster. The new promotion has a lot of fans optimistic about the future of professional wrestling.

Especially with all the big names involved. Recently, Edge and Christian took to their podcast, “E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness” and discussed AEW. Christian said he has actually met AEW President Tony Khan a few times. “Captain Charisma” detailed a lunch he once had with Khan, who he could tell was a very big professional wrestling fan:

Meeting Khan

“Well, I’ve met [Khan] a few times,” Christian said. “I met him, strangely enough, through Chris Nowinski, actually. And, yeah, I had a little meal with Chris Nowinski and Chris brought him and he was telling me about stuff in matches that I had that I don’t even remember happening.

“I mean, that’s how big of a fan he is and he just wanted to talk to me about wrestling. And I was kind of more interested in the football side of it, so I was talking to him about football and he kept trying to switch the subject back to wrestling, and I kept trying to switch it back to football.

“Anyways, at one point in the conversation, I tried to talk him into firing his GM and hiring me as the General Manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yeah.”

It’s nice to hear that someone with a love for wrestling, such as Khan, is overseeing AEW. With the likes of Cody and The Young Bucks at his side, AEW certainly has a ton of potential. AEW’s first-ever show is slated to go down from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 25th. The pay-per-view (PPV) will be called “Double Or Nothing.”

What do you think about Christian’s story in which he had lunch with Tony Khan?

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions