Tony Khan on Bray Wyatt, Paige VanZant, west coast expansion, 2022 plans, more
Tony Lhan Full Gear PPV Media Recap
# Tony Khan on branching out with women’s wrestlers and whether he’d contribute to movements like NWA.
Tony says he paid many of the wrestlers to appear at NWA Empowerrr and doesn’t think that was highlighted (by NWA) enough.
Compares it to paying for a dinner and having no one thank him.
# Tony Khan says he hasn’t had any conversations with Bray Wyatt at all about coming in to AEW, and hasn’t seen him in person in about a year when they were both at Chris Jericho’s birthday party
# Tony is asked the the look and format of Dynamite will change when the show moves to TBS. Tony says that what people love will stay the same. But they may do some changes to the look and presentation going into TBS. But he can always go back & change it back if fans don’t like it
# Tony confirms AEW will host a “Battle Of The Belts” in 2022, but does not mention any other details but says 2022 will be kicked off in a huge way
# Tony Khan on west coast expansion:
2022 will see AEW coming out to the West Coast, they would have liked to hit it earlier. 2021 is about making up for lost time and lost dates in 2020. Double or Nothing will return to Vegas, with Dynamite and Rampage as well.
# Tony Khan says there will be an update on the Owen Hart Cup after Full Gear. He says it’s going to be a big prize in AEW, and didn’t want Full Gear or the Owen Cup to lose focus by announcing things at the same time. He says fun announcements are coming.
# Tony Khan didn’t know Eddie Kingston personally before AEW, but immediately connected with him. They’ve become close friends. Cody Rhodes brought him a list of TNT Title challengers, and Eddie Kingston and Ricky Starks were two of the names he wanted most.
# The plan for Eddie Kingston was originally for him to be a manager/wrestler for the Lucha Bros./Butcher & The Blade. An Eddie Gilbert-type and Starks Always was gonna be paired with Team Taz
# Tony Khan will continue doing AEW Dark tapings at Universal when it makes sense. Dark will tape ahead of Rampage Friday night.
# Tony Khan puts over Paige VanZant, and hopes she can do more with AEW.
# Tony Khan says he loves the pairing of ATT and Inner Circle, and that it’s produced some of the loudest reactions they’ve heard in a long time.
# Tony is asked about the NJPW – AEW relationship going into 2022 Says “It’s a great relationship” Concedes that early on NJPW was probably pissed off at him but things have evolved Says as he built his reputation NJPW wanted to work with him
# Tony Khan says the TNT Championship and TBS Championship will be comparable.
# Khan thinks Tay Conti is one of the most improved wrestlers in the world and was surprised when she was released by WWE. He wanted to sign her immediately.
# Tony Khan says that Hangman Page’s paternity leave absolutely affected the main event scene, but they adjusted well and added major pieces to the roster.
