The President and CEO of All Elite Wrestling, Tony Khan appeared on Stone Cold Steve Austins Podcast today with the podcast returning for another season.
In what was anticpated to be a newsworthy podcast, Tony didn’t disappoint with numerous annoucements about the future of All Elite Wrestling.
During the conversation with the Rattlesnake, Tony was very happy to be on the show and numerous times Steve said that Tony was very “knowledgable” about the business, which has been the widespread opinion recently. Steve watched Double or Nothing and he was “very impressed” with the show, of which Tony did agree and thought it was “one of the greatest shows ever”. Steve says that he doesn’t really follow the product (Wrestling) unless it’s for his podcast. Below are some more notes:
Explaining AEW Double or Nothing, Tony said that he lent Chris Jericho the jet so that he could get to the Fozzy Concert afterwards easier and that he spent mosst of his time with the Runnels/Rhodes family during the show and watched the entire show from the Guerrilla position. Tony credits Christopher Daniels (Head of Talent Relations) majorly by helping backstage during the show aswell as Brandi Rhodes (Chief Brand Officer) & Dana Massie (Head of Merchandise & Wife of Matt Jackson) for keeping things organised during the show.
Steve brought up the blood during AEWs Double or Nothing, between Dustin & Cody Rhodes, and explained it wasn’t done anymore to this extent. There was a short history lesson from Steve & Dustin as they came up together in the business, Austin said that Dustin got his “Legs cut from under him” during the mid-90s due to all the complains about his controversial gimmick but Dustin & HBK would tear the roof off any arena. Austin explains he didn’t really know Cody, but he gave him advice when he wanted it, including the Cody Vs Okada match. In short, Steve loved the match, the story, the style and the call from Jim Ross elevated everything. Steve praised the emotional rollercoaster of the match and said it was the best one in many years.
Steve says that the Young Bucks are one of the best tag teams in the world, that he is a massive fan of Pentagon Jr & the gimmick he has. Steve couldn’t praise the match & story enough, and loved the match.
Tony goes on to informally announce updates to the company going forward in both the ring and the organistation of the company aswell as some backstage notes on Double or Nothing:
- Tony states that there will be a Tag Team Tournament for the AEW Tag Team Championships when they start Television in the fall and he wants to establish a great tag team division, they’ve got numerous “World Class” tag teams ready for launch. Tony promises that we’ll see the “Greatest Tag Team Matches in History”.
- Speaking of which, the Womens Tag Team Championships will also exist but they “want to do it right”, starting by focusing on the Womens Singles Championship and take their time with it.
- Tony wants to focus on “Sports Orientated” product and keep the action in the ring. Notes that DoN didn’t really have many backstage segments and that’s what he wants going forward.
- (On Bret Hart) It was Codys idea, they batted around an idea of a legend to present the belt such as Streamboat & Flair, and then Bret was choosen to do the deed.
- Chris Jericho came up with the idea for his own entrance. The AEW backstage crew “was popping” during the show while hitting various perfect camera shots because of how amazing it looked on the show.
- (On Moxley) Steve says that he really didn’t like the previous Stone Cold Podcast with him during the Dean days, and Austin alluded to the Video Podcast being cancelled because of that show too. Steve says that that interview still haunts him because of how bad it was so he had a conversation with Dean/Jon about it after many years recently. Steve is really looking forward to having him on the show one day. Tony Khan compared Jons rebirth to Stone Colds in the 1990s after his WCW firing.
- Tony promises that their will be more interest in Wrestling “for the first time in decades” when the TV Show debuts in the Fall. Tony talks about the “Lapsed Fans” once again, who AEW are clearly targetting with their promotion. Steve is very glad to hear that “Wins & Losses” will matter in the company. Tony says that when Austin was on top, there was 10m watching “On a Monday” and now it’s only 2m. Austin does ask “Where did the 8m people go?”, and Tony believes that they are coming back to AEW & TNT, not just for the traditional television either but also helping “Cord Cutters”.
- TNT is gonna be a 2 hour Show, Khan still won’t confirm the day but as soon as TNT annouce it, we’ll have the ITV4 details too. The Show will travel across the United States and afterwards outside of the US.
- All Elite Wrestling will not have an “Off Season” however says that House Shows are not a main focus, and he’s looking at around 100 shows a year (Including TV) and Talent will NOT be used for every show, and they will be rested because AEW doesn’t want to burn out the talent so not all the main event talent will be on all the shows but they don’t want to short change the audiance.
- Tony Khan says that they CAN sustain their business model without any shadow of a doubt. Shahid Khan (Tonys Dad) was at DoN and gave Cody Rhodes a pep-talk before his match,
- His father Shahid has nothing to do with AEW and ZERO Power in the company.
- Steve finishes up by saying he is still with WWE and under contract, but wishes Tony the best of luck because Competition is the best thing for Wrestling. Tony plugs both Fyter Fest (Explains what it is) and Fight for the Fallen as the next two shows on June 29th 2019 & July 13th 2019. Tony again explains that both shows will be FREE* on B/R Live in the United States and also available on Fite TV elsewhere.
- AEW All Out will be on August 31st 2019, in Chicago. That will be the last “Big” show before their debut on TNT.