Tony Khan recently appeared on the “Locked On NFL” podcast to talk about a variety of subjects, including how the media rights bidding for WWE SmackDown helped him kickstart AEW.
In 2018, Tony Khan, the AEW President, started working on the idea of launching AEW. According to him, he was convinced there were numerous excellent wrestlers available in early 2019 to establish a wrestling league. He recalled a conversation with his friend Kevin Reilly, then President of TBS and TNT, at a Beverly Hills party. Khan asked Reilly if he was considering bidding on wrestling TV rights, to which he responded in the affirmative, revealing his intention to bid for SmackDown.
In their conversation, Khan said, Reilly indicated that he was prepared to offer between 0 and 5 million annually. Khan, who keeps up with the industry, suspected the price would exceed 0 million, which it eventually did. Khan suggested launching a new wrestling league on TNT for a considerably lower cost, which later extended to TBS as well. That’s how AEW came to be.
In relation to AEW, Claudio Castagnoli will compete against PAC in an Owen Hart Foundation match during this week’s AEW Dynamite episode.
The latest lineup for the AEW Dynamite episode feature matches between The Young Bucks and The Acclaimed, Kazuchika Okada against an undecided fighter, a quarterfinals match of the Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament between Claudio Castagnoli and PAC, and many more. The Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament brackets for both the men’s and women’s category will also be revealed this week.
Tony Khan also tweeted about the upcoming Owen Hart Foundation Cup match between Claudio and PAC scheduled for this week.
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