For Tony Khan, staying organized has played a vital role in his work as the lead booker of All Elite Wrestling.
Khan, the company president, oversees both AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage, and he writes the shows himself. Given AEW’s massive roster, this task can seem pretty daunting, at least from the outside looking in.
In an interview with Forbes, Khan described his creative process and recalled how, due to his lack of experience with writing for TV, he leaned on the people around him when AEW first started. As the company has continued to grow, Khan noted that he has benefitted from working with “really smart people” and named veterans like Chris Jericho, Christian Cage, and Jon Moxley, among others. He went on to describe how he doesn’t understand how someone could rip up the script the day of the show and extensively rewrite the planned program. Khan wondered what those people do on the weekends leading into the show, as he tries to use Saturday and Sunday to make AEW TV the best it can be.
“So when we started AEW Dynamite in October 2019, I had never officially written a wrestling TV show. All of my experience writing TV shows and wrestling had been exclusively imaginary. And all the episodes of Dynamite and Rampage for that matter were shows that I had been creating at home for fun. It was a happy. And when it came to practical TV writing experience, I didn’t have it. So I did lean more on people around me. And I would try to trust my instincts but it’s hard when you don’t have as much experience. And I do take a lot of pride in the booking. I work with a lot of really smart people and what I think I do a good job of is being organized dealing with a lot of different people and going for ideas. I have a lot of great creative minds that are in the company that I have full-time access to, like Chris Jericho and Christian Cage and Jon Moxley has great ideas. And now CM Punk and Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole have come in with great ideas.
“So we’ve got a lot of awesome things happening right now and I’m proud of that and I try to keep it all organized and balanced. And I’ve found it’s helped me a lot, writing the shows myself. I don’t really understand the idea of having a lot of different people write the show and then a person would go in the day of and rip it to pieces and try to come up with new ideas. And to be honest when I hear about somebody going in and they have a TV show on Monday that they rip up, my first thought is, what were you doing all weekend? Because I work my ass off on the weekends and I have to come in with a plan for Wednesday and Friday night. And I wanna make sure Dynamite’s great and Rampage.
The AEW president elaborated by saying that he doesn’t do everything himself, but he is heavily involved with the process of putting the show together. He emphasized that ripping up a script the day of the show was confusing to him; while he sometimes changes his mind, he doesn’t drastically rework the whole show. Additionally, Khan stated that he doesn’t feel the need to control every words the wrestlers say on AEW TV because he believes this freedom produces stronger storytelling.
“So I don’t do everything myself, but I do make the final decision on everything,” said Khan. “I put the format together, I put an outline of what the show is gonna be for Dynamite and Rampage, I write it by hand. And I don’t understand why you’re gonna come in and rip up a show that you should have a pretty good idea what it is and you should have approved it, where Monday, we know what we’re doing. Things change on the day of the show. Not that I never change my mind on the day of, I do. But not where I’m gonna change everything. I might change one or two things around on instinct or because something happened but for the most part, I like to have a good idea what is going to be on the show next week and the week after.
“I really believe that the fans like that we try our best not to insult their intelligence and I do try to make the shows compelling and also logical. And I think that’s also one of the challenges because a lot of times people come to you with ideas, and it’s hard because everyone’s got their own approaches and their own philosophies, but there’s a tone to the show. So I really just want people to go out and make the points and keep the stories going. But I’m not so autocratic that I wanna control every word somebody says on television. I think that’s also why some of our interviews, our storytelling and promos are really strong, I believe.”
In the past, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has reportedly ripped up the script of RAW and SmackDown and rewritten the show at the last minute.
