Shad Khan Talks AEW, Not Competing With WWE, Says It’s Key ‘To Do Our Own Thing’
Shan Khan, the financial backer of All Elite Wrestling and the father of Tony Khan, recently spoke to Yahoo Finance about how he views the young wrestling brand. He talked about how the project started, and what he thinks is key for AEW finding its own identity.
Check out highlights below:
How AEW started:
It all started with my son Tony. It was his idea, his passion, his drive as a lifelong wrestling fan — so I’ve supported him financially. He kept talking about it, that we ought to do it, and here are the reasons why we should do it. I kept stress testing the idea, and then I struck a check to fund it because if you’re going to do it, it’s gotta be right. That was the most important thing. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, but his idea, his passion, and his drive, and it’s off to a great start.
His thoughts on WWE and how AEW can be different:
WWE is a great company, but we are not here competing with them. In the golden age of wrestling during the late ‘90s, there were 10 million fans. Now It’s down to 2 million. So we’re tapping into fans who were not engaged and quite frankly the younger fan who never got quite into it. Competition is good for everybody, but it’s very important for AEW to do our own thing.
Check out the full piece for more from Khan.
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