AEW President Tony Khan Talks Being Open To Partnerships, Use Of Wins And Losses, Goldberg Rumors

Following the All Elite Wrestling rally earlier this week, AEW President Tony Khan was a guest on the XPac12360 podcast, discussing it in more detail. Below are some highlights from Khan’s first in-depth interview as the AEW President, with a H/T to WrestlingInc.com for the transcriptions.

On being open to partnerships:

“No. No. We’re looking to start something new I am not looking to absorb. I am open to partnerships. There are a lot of people doing exciting things all over the world and especially internationally; I am very open to partnerships. And domestically, I think I’ve seen the future and it’s what we’re doing. I am very, very happy with where we’re at today. Yesterday was a real big day for us as a company and we have a lot of work to do moving forward between now and May 25th, Double or Nothing in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, Memorial Day weekend. It’s going to be a real good time. But yeah I am not really looking to acquire a lot of other companies or even libraries, but as far as partnerships and things of that nature I think there’s a lot of exciting things that people can do.”

Possibly signing Goldberg:

“I have spent some time with Bill, I really like Bill, a lot, and he’s one of the greatest drawing cards ever in the business. He’s a huge star, a household name, and yeah, if the situation was right, obviously. I haven’t agreed to anything with Bill, but I like him a lot.”

Use of wins and losses:

“[Pro Wrestling] hasn’t been taken seriously as the true athletic competition it is, in other sports wins and losses matter and I feel like wins and losses are a huge part of the equation. I really want a win and a loss to be taken seriously and the win/loss component should be a huge part of the competition to build up to the championship. Something we will take very very seriously. In my background in sports, I am huge believer in statistics and I think that’s one area where in wrestling we’ve seen some cool stuff get over. To me, I think there’s real opportunities to do some interesting things just in terms of building up athletes the way UFC has as legitimate competition.”

The challenges AEW will face:

“It’s gonna be a challenge every week to provide a compelling product, as we go forward and deliver something people want to see regularly, that people will pay to see, and that will make it a profitable business. I think that’s very important, I think it will be on the company to deliver something that people want to see and I think we have the performers that can deliver that, we have the brainpower within the organization to deliver that. So, I think it’s not gonna be easy, everyone has to work really hard, but I think that’s the challenge that everybody’s up too.”