AEW Stops Taking Shots At WWE; Tony Khan Explains Why
In an interesting discussion with two former WWE veterans recently, AEW CEO Tony Khan explains why he no longer competes with WWE.
WWE and AEW are rival wrestling promotions, and the latter was built on a rebellious footprint to go toe-to-toe with WWE when the promotion was founded by CEO Tony Khan in 2019.
WWE stars like Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega helped Khan kickstart the promotion, and in its early years, both wrestling promotions would take shots at each other, and stars would jump ship from one company to join the other when they felt underutilised.
AEW was the first rival wrestling promotion to directly compete with WWE on television in almost 20 years after WCW Nitro was dissolved in 2001 and bought out by WWE.
However, in recent times, AEW has established itself as a brand and, as it has from its inception, caters to hardcore wrestling fans rather than put out mainstream family entertainment like WWE does for its vast global following.
In a recent extensive interview with Vince Russo and Johnathan Coachman on Coach & Bro, Tony Khan talked about why his company has stopped firing shots at its fierce rival.
Tony Khan Opens Up About AEW and Its Current Status
Khan candidly approached a question by former WWE writer Vince Russo. Russo pointed out that WWE is at a low point currently, with WrestleMania 42 tickets underselling, creative problems backstage leading to negative press, and went on to ask Khan why he isn’t taking advantage of the situation to try and make AEW the number one promotion in the world.
Russo believes that the number 2 spot is forgotten when held by a wrestling promotion, and there’s only room for the number 1 spot to shine.
Khan gives a thorough response, saying that he has completely changed his approach over time as his company has developed.
So I changed my approach, Vince. In the beginning of AEW, there really was a very collective rebel spirit. Now I think AEW is very established, and people know AEW has a really quality product.
He explained that WWE’s approach could work for them, not necessarily for him, and that he would rather take a different route.
But I do feel that it’s possible that Vince Russo and Vince McMahon and DX could succeed by zigging at one point, whereas I might succeed by zagging at another point. There are different ways to get to success, and I’ve got my ideas and my ways, and I can learn from different people
I might not incorporate every aspect of it, but I do want to listen to the ideas. I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, but I also think AEW fans would agree I’ve refined my own media strategy, and I think people have seen me trying to take the high road. Some of it is the fact that I believe in taking the high road when possible. I feel like by taking the high road, that’s rubbed people the right way.
Khan says that despite people’s opinions on the matter, including Russo’s, he would prefer to approach people with kindness as it has worked for him thus far.
Different people can say different things. I don’t know what it is about me, but for me, you know, this is good—and I’m not saying I’m trying to kill everyone with kindness—but being nice to people has gotten me a long way, and I’ve been doing it more lately. (45:11 onwards)
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