Tony Khan: “I think we pay well”

Tony Khan on How Proud He Is that AEW Pays Talent Well, Says It’s Insane How Little Other Promotions Pay, Says People Thought He’s Nuts For Paying Talent So Much

On the latest edition of AEW Unrestricted, Tony Khan discussed how well AEW pays their talent, and how many doubted that business model.

On how much pride he gets in paying his talent well:

“I think there are a lot of people from all across positions at every level of the company, and I think we pay well. I’ve always thought I would take really good care of people and I take a lot of pride in taking care of people and providing for people because there’s other wrestling companies that try to lock people down to contracts where they work for $100 a night, $200 a night, insane stuff. And the reason I bring this up is now with the security of this extension through 2023, as much as anything, I’m just so happy for everybody here that they know this is going to last.”

On how he was told the AEW business model wouldn’t work:

“It’s a business model people told me they thought was crazy and it wouldn’t work, the idea of bringing everyone in for weekly TV and not having everybody in one place and paying people really well. And people thought that the amount I paid per date, effectively, because we don’t do house shows, they thought it was nuts that you’d pay somebody that per date. But I think we’ve proven now, we put this deal together, that it is a viable structure. That we don’t need to wrestle five, six nights a week.”