Tony Khan understands he can’t please everyone, but he’s focused on putting things on AEW Dynamite that will draw the most ratings.
During Tony Khan’s AEW All Out Media Call this afternoon, Khan was criticized about the lack of time Thunder Rosa got to announce her injury and the interim AEW Women’s World Championship compared to CM Punk earlier this summer. This was something Khan took an issue with.
“Well, I strongly disagree with that,” Tony Khan began. “I give the TV time based on what I believe is going to draw the most ratings, and if you want my honest opinion on an eight-minute Thunder Rosa promo versus the eight-minute CM Punk promo, then you’re gonna get an honest answer. And I think that an eight-minute CM Punk promo is probably going to do a better rating.
“Now, as far as match length. I think Thunder Rosa has had some great matches as champion, and to come out and do a live eight-minute promo, I’m not sure that would have been good for the television show, to be honest with you. And especially given where we’re at that Thunder Rosa, I found out she was injured a few hours before a live television show. I don’t really have time to put an eight-minute promo in. I had just a couple of hours’ notice versus CM Punk. I knew days earlier that he was pretty badly hurt. And we had already made a plan days earlier for that.
“Furthermore, a lot of people criticize the way Jon [Moxley] — his match with Tanahashi. So I guess you can’t please everybody no matter what you do, and I’ve actually seen more people excited about the four-way match with [Hikaru] Shida versus Britt Baker versus Jamie Hayter versus Toni Storm than they were for the original match. And I think the four-way is one of the more anticipated matches on the card.
“And I’ve seen people way more excited about that honestly than, in some cases, the way we got through the Casino Battle Royale match. I think Kyle O’Reilly is one of the best wrestlers in the world. I know some people complained when Kyle had that opportunity, to be honest. Mox versus Kyle was one of my personal favorite TV matches. I have watched that match so many times. I loved all the details of it.
“But a lot of people didn’t think it was the right way to get to the interim, but I think it was tremendous and now gone through a great summer with a great Interim Champion. So there were people criticizing that too. I’ve seen probably less people, although there may be some criticizing how we got to this. But you can’t really please everybody, but I do think in this case, it’s really been very positive.
“Given the situation, we’re in where you find out the champion is out a couple of weeks before the pay-per-view, and you have to scramble, so I actually had less time in the case of this to get the situation resolved than I did with Jon where there were a few weeks before Forbidden Door to build it up.
“And there was more time before the TV show to prepare the promo. I think if you want my honest opinion, and that’s just a fact, as far as what’s going to draw rating with somebody talking for eight minutes, and then building the matches like I’m super excited for the Britt Baker versus Hikaru Shida versus Jamie Hayter versus Toni Storm. And I think a lot of people are probably more excited for that, and they were for how we got to the first interim title. But you’re definitely entitled to your opinion.”
READ MORE: Tony Khan: The Fans Are Always Right, Their Opinions Are Always The Most Important Ones
What do you make of Tony Khan’s comments? Do you believe an eight-minute Thunder Rosa promo would have been bad television? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the AEW All Out media call with a link back to this article for the transcription.
