Tony Khan Reveals AEW Will “Gross Over $100 Million This Year”
All Elite Wrestling is doing very well business-wise in 2022 with AEW President Tony Khan sharing the news that the company will gross over $100 million this year.
Khan very proudly spoke about some of the financial success that AEW has had this year. This will be the first full year where AEW will have live television shows with fans over a twelve-month period.
In 2019, AEW’s television show Dynamite started in October. In 2020, there were no longer major events due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March causing AEW to produce shows in front of limited or no audiences for over a year. By the time we reached the summer of 2021 with much of the population vaccinated, AEW was touring again all over America. That’s why 2022 should lead to AEW’s greatest financial year ever due to the ability to produce live Dynamite shows (and sometimes Rampage as well) every week.
It was also mentioned by Khan on Twitter that tonight’s All Out event will be AEW’s third straight million-dollar pay-per-view gate.
To promote All Out, Khan talked to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio where Khan revealed how successful 2022 has been for AEW:
“This is the first time there have been two wrestling companies that have the ability to be the number one show that night on cable and two wrestling companies that are grossing the kind of money…I’m not grossing a billion dollars, but I’m going to gross over $100 million this year. That’s pretty unprecedented and it’s been over 20 years since anybody is doing that. To me, success is sustaining it.”
The part about “over 20 years” is in reference to when WCW had their best years from 1996 to 1998 before they went downhill leading to WWE buying them out in March 2001.
While also responding to critics, Khan spoke about how it’s important not to show weakness while maintaining complete and total control.
“I have seen that the most successful way to run a wrestling promotion is to manage everything from the top down and not let people screw you. If you turn your back in this business, people will screw you at every turn, I’ve learned — not just the people that work for you, but anyone from the outside if you show weakness.”
When the discussion made it to Khan purchasing Ring of Honor earlier this year, Khan didn’t reveal how much he paid but added that he paid less than what Jim Crockett paid Bill Watts for Mid-South Wrestling in 1987. It was noted by Meltzer that Crockett’s purchase was $4.2 million. Khan did not reveal the exact amount he paid for ROH.
AEW All Out is available for purchase on pay-per-view.