AEW President and CEO Tony Khan recently appeared on the “Culture State” podcast, where he noted that he had really high expectations when he started the promotion and he feels like the company more than lived up to them and even exceeded them.
This is what Tony Khan said:
“I had really high expectations and I think we’ve lived up to them and exceeded them.”
Tony Khan also talked about how they have had so many success this year, especially when they set the attendance records with their Grand Slam and The First Dance Shows as well as the records they set in the New York and Chicago markets. Khan also spoke about how having such great growth in PPV Events is really important to them and how the four biggest PPVs the promotion has ever done were the four PPVs this year, so it has been a great year for AEW and he is looking forward to next year.
This is what Tony Khan said:
“We’ve had so many great successes this year.” “We’ve hit high marks in attendance twice with Grand Slam and with The First Dance. So, great events that set our records in great markets, New York and Chicago. And those events were big landmarks – a record high for Rampage and a record high for attendance in both markets.”
“For us to have such great growth in pay-per-view is really important too.” “The four biggest pay-per-views we’ve ever done were the four pay-per-views this year. The quarterly pay-per-views really were such a huge success this year. And the two biggest pay-per-views we’ve ever done were the last two, so it’s been a great year for AEW and I look forward to another great year.”
Tony Khan also spoke about how much it means to him and how special it is when his father attends AEW shows because seeing him there enjoying the show and how proud he is of how it’s all gone, that makes him very happy.
This is what Tony Khan said:
“He loves coming.” “So that means a lot to me. So when I see him there enjoying it and how proud he is of how it’s all gone, that makes me very happy. Especially then, I do get to enjoy it a little bit. But that being said, that’s when I’m running around and chasing people and doing format changes and moving stuff around and coming up with ideas. So, I don’t get to soak it in then as much as I’d like, but that makes me really happy.”
Tony Khan then talked about how his recent hire in Eugene Shen has helped him with a lot of things he used to do like his day-to-day analytics and how he’s been doing a great job with their organization, and even though it is a lot of work, he loves it.
This is what Tony Khan said:
“I’ve hired Eugene Shen, who is a brilliant person working under me managing the day-to-day analytics.” “Doing a lot of the things I used to do and expanding on that work and building out strategy and analytics tools for the team. He’s doing a great job with our organization.”
“It’s a lot of coffee and a lot of hard work.” “But I love it.”
