SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following are highlights from AEW CEO and booker Tony Khan’s media call ahead of All Out…
-Tony was asked about why he waited as long as he did to announce the big matches so close to the All Out PPV. Tony said a lot of it was due to people coming back from injury. He mentioned C.M. Punk coming back from injury and now there’s questions as to whether or not Punk came back too soon. Tony said his comeback has given us a lot to talk about going into the PPV the last few weeks.
Tony said it wasn’t possible to get Jericho vs. Danielson started the way he wanted to until July 27. Tony said he found out Danielson would be coming back at the end of July. Tony mentions Jericho and Moxley have stepped up for the company during a time when they had injuries. He mentions the great Moxley vs. Jericho match at Quake By The Lake in August for the AEW Interim World Championship.
Tony said they would have liked to get the stories out sooner, but they hit the beats that they wanted to. He also mentions waiting on Omega to come back for the Trios Tournament from his injuries as another big return to build up All Out.
-Brandon Thurston from Wrestlenomics asked Tony about the Rampage ratings. Tony said in anticipation of a lot of top stars being out, they kept the company strong with Dynamite having strong ratings. Tony said he doesn’t have last night’s numbers for Dynamite, but they had 13 straight Wednesdays where they’ve been one of the top two shows on cable. Tony said it has been due to all the stars coming back. Tony said the stars he has had, he’s had to put on Dynamite every single week like Moxley and Jericho. Tony mentioned Omega, Cole, Danielson, Punk being out with injuries. He said these wrestlers have had some of the highest ratings in the history of Rampage.
Tony mentioned Moxley has done some of the highest numbers on Rampage. Tony mentioned Cole and Jungle Boy had also been fixtures on Rampage but have been used on Dynamite. Tony said that after Rampage tomorrow, the roster will be as strong as it has been and he will be able to use bigger names on Rampage again. Tony talked about using Punk, Danielson, and Cole on Rampage and then they all went away with injuries. Tony said now he can put his full attention on Rampage. Tony said in April he was hoping for things to do better, but then Punk, Danielson, and Cole went out with injuries.
Tony said with the star power coming back this week and the coming weeks, there will be more stars on Rampage. He pointed to Yuta vs. Moxley as a big ratings draw. Tony said he could support four hours with their full roster as we saw with Grand Slam last year.
-Tony was asked about the two women’s matches on the card. Tony said he’s excited about both matches. He said Athena vs. Jade Cargill will be a great style matchup. Tony said we will have an interview with them with Mark Henry on Rampage tomorrow. Tony talked about the interim title four-way on the All Out card with Jade Cargill, Hikaru Shida, Jaymie Hader, and Britt Baker. He said he felt the same way he felt when Punk got hurt. He said he wanted to protect the champion and the championship and keep the title situation hot. Tony said with the four women in the match, it should be very exciting.
-Tony was asked if he feels the quick match between Punk and Moxley leading into a match on PPV was a risky strategy. Tony said it’s different from what they’ve typically done. He said he’s done go-home shows where everything is already done, but in this case it was a fast and furious buildup from start to finish on the go home show Dynamite for All Out. Tony said the anticipation has been even stronger going into their fifteenth PPV. He said he wouldn’t do it every time, but it made the build exciting and raised questions about both men and the title. Tony said it has also been a great ratings draw.
-Tony was asked by Jaychele Nicole if the representation of people of color on the All Out card was intentional. Tony said wants to build the best roster of diverse stars in wrestling. Tony said he didn’t dream the level of free agent and homegrown stars he’d be able to use to build up the card. Tony mentioned that internally they have been building up Dante Martin and Powerhouse Hobbs internally. He points to the AEW World Tag Team Championship with The Acclaimed vs. Shane Strickland & Keith Lee. Tony said he couldn’t have imagined signing Strickland and Lee a year ago, but now they’re in the company. Tony says most of the matches with people of color feature home grown talent vs. wrestlers that are already stars. He also mentioned Jade Cargill vs. Athena as another example of that.
-Tony was asked if he has a plan B for injuries or does he take things as they come. Tony said his roster depth is his backup plan, but there’s more to it than that. Tony said with Forbidden Door he had to do a lot of rewiring, but with All Out, he found a way to get to where he wanted to. He said for Forbidden Door, they couldn’t get to the matches he wanted to do because of injuries to Punk and Danielson. Tony mentioned he had an idea for a Punk and Tanahashi tag match, but he doesn’t want to mention it in case it ever does happen.
-Tony was asked about some of the recent corporate changes in WWE, is it more or less likely for AEW to work with WWE as they work with other companies. Tony said he’s less optimistic about working with WWE given how they’ve treated him since the new regime took control.
-Tony was asked if he will unify ROH and AEW titles if Wheeler Yuta or Claudio Castagnoli win the Casino Ladder match. Tony said Claudio wouldn’t have to put his title on the line and if Yuta did it, it would have to be done under pure rules. Tony said it would be hard to do it. Tony said if Claudio wins, the ROH World Champion will be in great position to challenge for the AEW World Title.
-Tony was asked if the four-way Sunday is a way to shake up and freshen up the women’s division. Tony said he’s trying to make the best out of a bad situation with Rosa’s injury and he’s trying to look at it as a positive. Tony said it can freshen things up and create an exciting unification match down the line.
-Tony was asked about why Rosa got so little time to address her injury and the women’s championship wasn’t given an interim title tournament. Tony says an 8 minute Rosa promo wouldn’t do as well as a 8 minute Punk promo from a ratings standpoint. Tony said he found out shortly before the show. He said for Punk he knew days in advance. Tony said people seem more excited about the four-way compared to the interim title tournament. Tony said he wanted to build O’Reilly vs. Moxley during the AEW World Interim Title qualifying round and it was a match he personally wanted to see. Tony then talked about the little details of storytelling in that match.
Tony went on to mention that he can’t please everyone, but in this case the reaction to the changes he’s made for the AEW Women’s Championship match for All Out has been very positive given he only had a couple of hours to decide on Rosa’s promo compared to the couple of days notice he had when he found out Punk would be out with an injury.
-Tony was asked what went into bringing back the show name Zero Hour vs. using the Buy In name. Tony said the original All In PPV that Cody and The Young Bucks put on lead up to the PPV with Zero Hour. He brought it back when he bought ROH because it was IP they acquired with the ROH purchase. Tony said he sees Zero Hour as its own event and mentions it will be available on Instagram for the first time. Tony said he will announce one more match on Rampage tomorrow for the Zero Hour. Tony said it will offer a great free hour of wrestling to everyone and also be used to hook people in to buy the PPV.
-Tony was asked about Kingston vs. Guevara was set for the show and is there an opportunity for a resolution to that feud at some point down the line. Tony said he’s not sure. He said sometimes two people that don’t get along can make for a great match. Tony said he’s willing to do it if Eddie and Guevara are.
-Tony was asked about the backstage meeting last week before Dynamite. Tony said it was a housekeeping meeting. He said some reports were very accurate and others weren’t. Tony said it was good for everyone to get together and not everything from the meeting came out. Tony also mentioned talent had come to him about outside people contacting them and he wanted to address that at the meeting as well.
-Tony was asked about getting ROH represented on All Out and whether or not he was conscious of bringing ROH wrestlers onto the card. Tony said he wanted to build a card with the best wrestlers in the world and he wasn’t necessarily thinking about bringing ROH wrestlers onto the card specifically. Tony mentions ROH World Tag Team Champions FTR are on the car, as are ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta. Tony mentioned that Mercedes Martinez is out with an injury, but she will be out soon.
Tony was asked if any storylines are left that will form between now and Sunday. Tony said the PPV card has come together well. Tony said now they have the AEW World Championship match set for All Out and they also finalized a big trios match Sting & Darby & Miro vs. House of Black and the card is looking strong. Tony is open to adding stuff and you might see a little more tomorrow on Rampage.
Contact Sean at pwtorchsean@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @sr_torch
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.