Vince McMahon Indirectly Responsible For AEW Show’s Name
The former WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon unknowingly coined the name for an AEW show.
AEW came into existence back in 2019 when WWE was dominating the pro wrestling industry under the leadership of Vince McMahon. Tony Khan managed to give wrestling fans an alternative, and All Elite Wrestling went on to reach newer heights despite the Sports Entertainment Juggernaut as competition.
Meanwhile, Tony Khan revealed how he came up with the name for his AEW Blood and Guts show, thanks to Vince McMahon. During an interview with Yahoo Finance, Khan addressed the highest TV viewership of Dynamite last week, which was the highest since Blood and Guts 2024.
Tony Khan also recalled how Vince McMahon mentioned “Blood and Guts” during an investor call back in 2021, which inspired him to name his multi-man cage match concept:
Because last week was our highest viewership in years on TBS, and it was the most since our big Blood & Guts cage match in 2024… Well, it’s funny because the name actually comes from taking something and twisting it around, because Vince McMahon on an investor call said, we’re not like those Blood and Guts guys. And at that point I said, we have to use that. We have to use that. That’s such a great quote. So Vince actually named it,” Tony revealed. [h/t ITRWrestling]
Tony Khan on being inspired by Vince McMahon
In an interview back in 2021, Tony Khan revealed how he read a lot of books about Vince McMahon and how he built his company back in the 1980s:
He does care. I read a lot of books about Vince. I’ve never met Vince. There was a time when he was building his company in the ’80s. I’ve tried to undertake a similar amount of work, in terms of shouldering a ton of responsibility and taking a ton of one-on one-meetings.”
Tony also disclosed how he is inspired by Vince for handling all the responsibilities as the WWE Chairman:
You hear about Vince going to convince Hulk Hogan, going to convince individual people to come in and work for the WWF, convincing a sponsor to come on. Vince was taking all these meetings and all this responsibility, and he was a similar age to me, and I think I’m inspired by that.”
Back in 2022, Vince McMahon stepped down from the WWE creative head position, and Triple H took over. Vince later left the company amid s*xual allegations, and now TKO is the new owner of the Stamford-based promotion.