Tony Khan On Why His Father Gave Him Funds To Start AEW

AEW President and CEO Tony Khan recently spoke with Business Insider on his decision to create AEW in January of 2019. According to Khan, there were so many wrestlers without a contract, while the others had their contracts ending soon, so it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

This is what Tony Khan said:

“There were so many wrestlers without a contract or their contract was ending by 2019.”

Tony Khan also talked about how his father, Shahid Khan, expected All Elite Wrestling to fail, but he convinced his dad to take a leap and since Tony will be inheriting the money anyway, Shahid said Tony Khan might as well “blow it now.”

This is what Tony Khan said:

“My dad expected it to fail but I convinced him to take a leap.” “He gave me the money because he said I’d inherit it anyway, so I might as well ‘blow it now.’”

Tony Khan then talked about how when he started All Elite Wrestling, the promotion was only looked at as a challenger and an alternative, but now they have become a large pro wrestling company. Khan also talked about how fans don’t have to choose what product or pro wrestling company to watch as they can watch any promotion they find interesting.

This is what Tony Khan said:

“One of the reasons AEW is really popular is that it’s a great blend of stars who have gotten experience from wrestling in other places and stars who have grown organically.” “It has to be a good blend of young stars and established stars. When we started, we were a challenger brand and an alternative. Now we’re just a large wrestling company. But fans don’t have to make a choice.”