AEW President and CEO Tony Khan took part in a media call immediately following Revolution and talked about the company’s future plans on taking Dynamite on the road as well as adding more fans and shows down the line.
Tony Khan said they are going to take it every few months at a time and that right now he can’t say they want to rush out and pack arenas indoors, but he thinks doing outdoor shows they’ve had great success.
Tony Khan also said what he would like to do is slowly increase capacity, but to not put the pods too close together yet and as the promotion learns more and more about the transmission of the virus then they can go and make a plan for touring.
This is what Tony Khan said:
“I think we’re going to take it every few months at a time.” “Right now I can’t say it’s where we want to rush out and pack arenas indoors. But I think doing outdoor shows we’ve had great success. There have been, I think seven, maybe eight months of running AEW events, now with live crowds, outdoors, social distancing, fans masks. There’s been zero known transmissions; AEW and the Jaguars we’ve been running these shows at roughly 20% to 25% capacity since the summer. We’ve had zero known transmissions and I think there’s something to do that.”
“At the Super Bowl and the College Football National Championship game, I did sit out in the crowd at both of those games in my pod. I felt it was a very safe experience. And I thought ‘would I have felt as good, right now, with everything going on about being inside in the same environment?’ Probably not.”
“What I’d like to do is slowly increase capacity, but not put the pods too close together yet. And as we learn more and more about the transmission of the virus then we can go and make a plan for touring. But right now for Double or Nothing I think it was just too soon to try and pack an arena.”
Tony Khan also talked about Red Velvet possibly signing full time with AEW after her performance last Sunday night at Revolution teaming with Cody Rhodes against Jade Cargill and Shaq.
This is what Tony Khan said:
“It’s very well overdue.” “It’s coming, it’s coming. She’s tremendous. I can’t say enough good things about Red Velvet.”
Khan then talked about being very proud of so many great young wrestlers on AEW Dark that have gotten to do more and more and develop themselves such as talents like Red Velvet, Will Hobbs, the Acclaimed and Lee Johnson, who have come up through this pandemic, worked on AEW Dark, and have made a name for themselves.
This is what Tony Khan said:
“As I talk about the extension of Dark, the one thing I’m very proud of is there’s been so many great young wrestlers that have gotten to do more and more and develop themselves.”
“We’ve seen a lot of people start on Dark that have made their way onto Dynamite and onto pay per views. Red Velvet, Will Hobbs, both members of the Acclaimed, Lee Johnson; so many others who’ve come up through this pandemic, working on Dark and made a name for themselves. They’ve become really important parts of AEW, and I think that’s really cool.”
You can check out Tony Khan’s comments in the embedded audio player below:
