Tony Khan recently reacted to WWE’s attempts to counterprogram AEW.
During the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door media call, Khan was asked about his thoughts on WWE’s most recent attempts to go head-to-head with AEW’s pay-per-views. While he didn’t directly answer the question, Khan did tout his promotion’s success in 2025, attributing it to collective effort.
“We’ve had a great 2025 in AEW, and I believe that, in large part, that’s because everyone in AEW is really focused on making AEW a tremendous promotion and continuing this excellent year we’re having,” Khan said.
Tony Khan says AEW is super focused on what they’re doing
The AEW head honcho took the opportunity to praise the new media rights agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery before emphasizing the importance of being committed to making All Elite Wrestling the best wrestling promotion in the world.
“All these things have come together to build a lot of excitement inside AEW and outside AEW, and all around the company,” Khan said. “I want to be able to continue that, and the most important thing for us is to talk about AEW and work really hard on AEW every week. It means not necessarily focusing on what every wrestling promotion is doing, but I do like watching wrestling and keeping up with what other wrestling promotions are doing,” he said.
Khan continued, “We’ve been in business since 2019, and in every one of those years, there have been other wrestling promotions at times doing very cool things. At the very best of AEW, we’ve been super focused on what we’re doing. Not being the only wrestling company in the world, but trying our best to be the best. I know we have the best wrestlers, and this year I think we’re doing the best TV shows and pay-per-views. I know we have the best fans.” [H/T Fightful]
WWE has counterprogrammed AEW pay-per-views on more than one occasion this year, with NXT Battleground coinciding with AEW Double or Nothing. The next WWE PLE, NXT Heatwave, will take place this Sunday, the same day as Forbidden Door. Also, the recently announced WWE WrestlePalooza PLE will counterprogram AEW All Out on September 20.
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