Tony Khan says he doesn’t believe counter programming has hurt AEW

AEW booker and COO Tony Khan, appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday, said he doesn’t believe that counter programming has hurt AEW. WWE has counter programmed several AEW PPVs this year and Khan has responded by moving AEW PPV’s that were scheduled to go head-to-head with WWE PLE’s at night to the afternoon.

“I do think it’s done on purpose and I understand it and it’s part of wrestling and I think we’ve seen a lot of it but I think other wrestling promotions that have been the challenger wrestling brand in our lifetime have seen a lot of it, said Khan. “Jim Crockett Promotions, which was the forerunner to WCW, saw a lot of this.”

Khan was asked by Helwani if WWE counter parogramming has frustrated him and Khan said it doesn’t pointing to the success of the All In Texas PPV taking place in the afternoon. “I think it’s okay because for us it’s always worked out and we’re in a great position, said Khan. “It hasn’t ever been a thing where it’s cost us anything. And even when you do something like AEW All In Texas where we do the show in the afternoon, it really worked out for us great and it was one of the best days in the history of the company.”

Khan told Helwani that he doesn’t take WWE counter programming AEW personally because it is a practice that has been part of wrestling for a long time. “It’s very interesting, I think that it’s something that’s a part of the wrestling business and I definitely don’t take it personally,” said Khan. “I think it’s no more personal to me than it was to Jim Crockett or maybe less so than it was with Ted Turner, but definitely all of us have seen that kind of counter programming and could speak to that.”