During a recent appearance on the Midday with Chad Hastings and Zay Collier podcast, AEW President Tony Khan discussed the creation of AEW. Khan never thought it would be possible to create a challenger wrestling brand that could go toe-to-toe with WWE, much like how WCW gave WWE a run for its money back in the day.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On creating a challenger wrestling promotion: “It was actually inconceivable to me that there would be another challenger wrestling promotion. After those companies went out of business, there wasn’t anything that represented a true challenger brand in the sport.”
On his early talks with Turner’s Kevin Reilly about AEW: “My first conversation was with Kevin Reilly who was at the time the president of TBS and TNT. I talked to Kevin Reilly at a cocktail party and brought it up to him, he’s a friend of mine, and I suggested in April 2018 that I think there’s a real opportunity. It’s just over five years ago. It’s crazy how time has flown.”
