Tony Khan Takes Aim At WWE
AEW All Out might have gone with a bang in the ring but the headlines have been stolen by some shots fired in WWE’s direction by Tony Khan after the show.
Labor Day weekend is something of a special occasion in itself for AEW. Since the company’s inception, it has held its All Out show over the weekend at the start of September, following on from what Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks did with All In in 2018.
However, this year All Out did not have the weekend to itself by any stretch. WWE was in Cardiff on the day before All Out with their huge stadium show Clash at the Castle which saw Roman Reigns retain his Unified WWE Universal Championship. On Sunday, NXT was also in action with Worlds Collide as NXT UK came to an end with its championships unified with the NXT proper versions.
One man who did not fail to notice the competition was AEW President Tony Khan who took aim at WWE with some barbed comments at the post-All Out media scrum:
“There’s a big difference between this year and last year. We were the first professional wrestling show and the only professional wrestling show on Labor Day weekend last year, and we were the third professional wrestling show of the weekend this year. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
“When I talk about things I wasn’t thrilled about, I was a little surprised we were the third professional wrestling show this weekend, and it’s probably a little bit more challenging in the marketplace when it becomes a little more crowded.”
“Our performance — in prior years, we never had this kind of competition. This was kind of a first for us in AEW to see this kind of a crowded marketplace. I’m not sure if this is what we’ll see from now on. I am very happy with the numbers we did, given the competition we had. The number is the number and I have to face the competition that is out there.”
“When I compared myself to Jim Crockett Promotions this weekend, I think I got a taste of the same medicine Jim Crockett Promotions took, but I have a lot more f*cking money than Jim Crockett did. I’m serious. I’m not gonna sit back and take this f*cking sh*t.”
Tony Khan then went on to describe his own interactions with WWE and says he has plenty of money to fight with if that’s what his competition wants:
“I’ve had a number of interactions with [WWE]. I’ve said a lot of nice stuff, and I don’t regret saying nice stuff because I’m super honest about pro wrestling. And when I saw good stuff there, I’ll be the first to say it. I am just not feeling the same love. I don’t want to get into it. I just haven’t felt the same reciprocation from them.”
“If it is, when the fight is brought, I will continue bringing fights of my own, and I have unique ways to do that. I have a lot of money to fight with. And this is not a game to me. This is my life, and I don’t think it’s a joke, and I take it really seriously.”