During a recent interview with Pwinsider, AEW President Tony Khan commented on AEW being farther along than he thought it would be with just two years in business (compared to WWE’s almost thirty years), how important the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA is to AEW, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On if he’s where he thought he would be two years in: “I believed we would go a long way in two years. I’m not sure I believed in two years, we would’ve reached as far as we have. These were long term goals and two years is a long time. But for long term goals, I would say we’re ahead of schedule and I’m really excited about the anniversary show to be going back to Philadelphia to celebrate the two year anniversary of Dynamite. It’s one of the most special wrestling towns and to be able to celebrate the anniversary of Dynamite there is very special to me with a lot of the hardcore fans I grew up with.”
On how important the Liacouras Center is to AEW: “It’s been very important. It’s great to go back there. We had the third episode ever of Dynamite there two years ago, and it was a very, very special card. There was a great tag match that I felt really strong about that I loved. Jon Moxley and PAC versus Kenny and Hangman, the first ever Kenny and Hangman tag match and it did a big number. We also had a great main event, Chris Jericho versus Darby Allin in a Philly street fight for the world title. And it was one of the several matches that really put Darby on the map as a big star and I’ve always really loved that show. It was really special to go to Philly for me. And I’ve been wanting to come back and do this show there for a long time. This show’s been rescheduled and postponed because of the pandemic, and I do think for the fans now, it’s going to work out because they’re going to get one of the best cards we’ve ever put together with the Casino Ladder Match, which has got a stacked group of wrestlers in it, with the 8-Man Tag, eight of our top stars in this big four on four match that’s been building up since the end of All Out, Shida going for her 50th win, what a great opponent it would be to get it against if she was able to get a win against Serena Deeb. That’s going to be a great match. And Sammy Guevara defending the TNT title for the first time ever in a true open challenge against Bobby Fish, who’s one of the top wrestlers, even a top independent wrestler, top wrestler for new Japan, a top wrestler for NXT, the top wrestler in all these companies, never been to AEW until this week, Wednesday Night Dynamite on the two year anniversary show. So, there’s a lot of great wrestling and I’m going to have some fun announcements, and it’s going to be a really special show. And I can tell you right now, I have one huge announcement on the show. It is going to be a lot of fun, and it should be just a really, really good night of wrestling for Wednesday Night Dynamite, two year anniversary show.”
On the Joker mystery appearance in the Casino Ladder Match on Dynamite: “I will not give you any insight into who the Joker is going to be. I will not tell you that, but I will go back to the announcement, actually, instead and tell you that it’s been something a long time coming. I’m very excited about it and proud of it, and it’ll really add a lot to the company, I think.”
