Instead of watching the World Series, I was watching Steve Austin versus Dustin Rhodes in a 15-minute Broadway for the WCW TV title at Halloween Havoc 1991.
Tony Khan
I think there is something about social media now where people are more engaged with their celebrities and their sports stars than ever before.
When you see a guy reading off a teleprompter or a mental teleprompter, just trying to recite a script or trying to look up in the air when you forget a line. It is hard to suspend disbelief when the wrestler doesn't believe in the real-life situation that is unfolding.
I think what we have going in the Casino Battle Royale is going to show people an exciting, different take on the traditional battle royal format, different than what anybody has done. It's not going to be two hours of battle royals. It's going to be really, really action-packed.
Look at baseball, with its defensive shifts - outfielders looking at cards on the field much like a quarterback would. It's possible that someday defensive backs will be playing with similar cards based on where receivers are lined up and what those receivers' route-running strengths are. The possibilities are endless.
We're bringing a focus on wrestling. We're bringing an emphasis on wrestling matches and action taking place in or around the ring. We'll do great interviews too, but in these segments, we can do it all in the arena and around the ring. We can do some stuff backstage; we just don't spend half the show backstage.
I think we are doing some very edgy things and I think what you see on our social media is not necessarily what you will see in our television product which I do expect to be much more advertiser friendly than ECW. But that doesn't mean that we won't push the envelope sometimes, that doesn't mean that you won't see really exciting high spots.
The Young Bucks are super involved with tag team wrestling in our company.
I think a lot of wrestling companies probably function with one person who at the end of the day has to make calls and go over everything. But we're a bunch of people working together, we have a system.
We want to offer people a show that doesn't insult their intelligence, and really, it's a fun show to watch. It's a fast-paced show to watch and has the best wrestling action, but also has the best wrestling personalities. I want everyone to know that AEW is for everybody.
To have TNT and ITV, this is the best distribution any wrestling company has had bar none.
I don't want people to think that this is just going to be great matches, there is going to be a lot of great matches. But it is also going to be some of the most entertaining guys in pro wrestling and these guys are going to be unleashed.
Yeah, there are a couple of wrestling shows out there with very, very good production values in RAW and SmackDown, but I think we're going to offer something completely different from what they offer, a very, very different kind of product that visually is going to look as good or better in a lot of ways.
At any given time, I have to be looking at different things constantly, and it involves a lot of flying, and it doesn't involve much sleep.
I know AEW will be welcomed by wrestling fans here in the U.S. and throughout the world who are ready for something new and authentic. AEW will work hard to deliver on that promise.
People can spot a phony and I think young people can spot a phony.
Wrestling fans are a community unlike most others. I've been a part of this community since I was 7 years old, and I can tell you that wresting fans see the world every day through a special lens.
Vince McMahon is one of my all time idols in terms of building a brand and sustaining a great company.
What's a one person wrestling company? There's not such a thing.
I would like for everybody to be able to say that I've never lied to them.
How can you question Chris Jericho's work ethic?
At my heart I love wrestling more than anything else.
We are going to be offering a great sporting centric product. We are going to be focused on the athletes, focused on the work and we have some of the best wrestlers in the world and I really want to showcase them. But they also are some of the most dynamic personalities.
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.
I think young people can spot when people believe what they are saying and when people aren't believing what they are saying, and when I was a kid, I really did believe what Ric Flair and Randy Savage and Bret Hart said in their promos. I think there has to be some believability.
I've been talking about trying to do fantasy wrestling for years. It's going to be really, really exciting as we build our fan base.
A lot of what made ECW great was the work and we're going to have the best caliber in ring stuff in the world.
It's the best, being able to work on so many different things I love. There's nothing else I'd rather be doing.
I love the draft process. I love the regular season. I love preparing for the games. I just love football.
The difference between football and baseball is that pretty much every possible situation in baseball has probably happened by now, maybe thousands of times over the years.
I imagine pretty much every analytics guy in football has offered a suggestion based on data, and the coach has probably gone a different way because of momentum or because he just doesn't trust the spreadsheet.
I urge everyone who believes in what we're doing, or wants to believe in dreams coming true, to support AEW by spreading the word and passing the wrestling bug onto someone else.
The wrestling community is a constant; its members are diverse, we are physically located on all corners of the planet, yet we are constantly connected.
I have been a fan of Dustin Rhodes my whole wrestling-fan life.
The reason that there is a lapsed fan is because the wrestling that people want to see isn't out there, and it isn't just one thing they are missing it is a lot of things that they are missing.
People ask me if I get nervous and I get a lot more nervous before a Jaguars or Fulham game. But I get more excited and have more fun at AEW than anything else.
People questioned if there was enough audience to sustain a major league, high-production value, second wrestling company, nationally, weekly. I think we've shown there is, there isn't any question now.
I want wins and losses to matter. That is the point of wrestling, everyone is striving to be a champion and your stature in the company is marked by your win-loss record.
I'm very familiar with World of Sport, some of the characters, and great athletes.
Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks had never done a show on television, yet they were able to draw a show with 11,000 people to suburban Chicago. Just based on word of mouth and through the love of wrestling they spread.
We have some of the best in-ring performers in the world, but they are also some of the best characters.
If I could pick one place in the world to do one show, this would be it. State Farm Center is my favorite place.
Fans see the competition between wrestling companies, which is the one thing traditionally everyone has known is real.
The AEW roster has much bigger stars and better wrestlers frankly than the NXT roster.
With 'Being the Elite' you'll see some of the most innovative stuff, but it's going to be very different then the weekly TV show. But that's by design and I want to keep it that way so you'll have outlets to see different things.
The vast majority of the top 100 shows are NFL games in this country.
I don't want to compare us to any other wrestling company. We're AEW and we're doing something very different.
I want people to tune into our show, looking forward to it all day, because of great matches.
It is the most important thing we can do to establish a promotion, is to establish the championship. It is what everyone is trying to obtain, how do you obtain the championship? By establishing a run of matches, a streak, by winning a big match, winning a title eliminator.
I believe you don't need to spend 6 days on the road to make a good living as a wrestler or 5 days on the road per week necessarily.
