WWE’s Nick Khan was recently a guest on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.” During the discussion, the subject of WWE’s stance on AEW (All Elite Wrestling) as rivals arose. Khan, in his response, chose to shift the conversation to Shad Khan, who is the AEW President Tony Khan’s father and the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Nick Khan spoke highly of AEW’s talented pool of wrestlers and showed respect towards Shad Khan. He mentioned, “They have a lot of wrestlers who possess a significant amount of talent, and this is something we appreciate. We believe that once their contracts are up for negotiation, quite a few would be intrigued by the idea of switching sides. We hold immense respect for the financier of AEW, who also happens to own the Jaguars and those other ventures.”
The WWE president’s comments elicited both accolades and reproach from fans on the internet. That said, most wrestlers from AEW or WWE abstained from commenting publicly. However, Ricochet, a key AEW wrestler, shared his opinion on Twitter.
Meanwhile, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan took a trip down memory lane as AEW Dynamite became the longest-running primetime wrestling show on TBS/TNT network, surpassing WCW Monday Nitro. He expressed amazement, saying, “This is the realization of a dream for a pro wrestling enthusiast who not only enjoyed watching WCW since he was 8 years old, but also favored it over the powerful WWF/E for most of the succeeding decade.”
Tony Khan also shed light on AEW’s thriving relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery, and shared his satisfaction with the quality of the recently launched Max simulcasts for both Dynamite and Collision.
It was previously announced as part of an enlarged media rights deal that AEW pay-per-view events would be made accessible on Max at a reduced cost. However, no specific date for the debut of these PPVs on Max has been publicized.
Currently, AEW organizes nine pay-per-view events every year. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Khan may be open to bumping up the number to ten but thinks nine is a perfect figure for now. No official announcement for the addition of a tenth event or when the PPVs will be launched on Max has been made.
In other news, the 289th episode of AEW Dynamite took place at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston. The episode titled “Spring Breakthru” was aired live on TBS and was also available for streaming on Max. It was a special moment in AEW’s history.