Tony Khan spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon, just over 24 hours away from ROH’s Supercard of Honor show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
After a week that saw AEW in the news quite a bit, from comments that CM Punk made to the release of numerous on-screen talents, there were many questions for Khan. While he didn’t provide much of a response to the former, he gave more information about the company’s recent cuts and also answered other questions from the press.
Here are the notes we have compiled from the call:
- Khan was asked about CM Punk, who spoke candidly about his AEW run earlier in the week on The MMA Hour. Khan declined to comment, saying he would prefer not to talk about Punk.
- He was asked about the talent cuts that took place earlier in the week. Khan said he needs to be mindful of the promotion’s budget while they plan to add talent to the roster. He also said that Anthony Henry, who was reportedly cut earlier this week while nursing an injury, will return to AEW and ROH programming once he can compete again. “We need a war chest,” he said. “It’s important to keep on the budget. I definitely value the people who work here and any time you have to make a cut it’s a tough call.”
- Khan was specifically asked about The Boys (Brandon Tate and Brent Tate) being cut, as they were involved in a storyline with Dalton Castle and John Hennigan at the time of their release. Khan claimed that The Boys “didn’t show up” to work on numerous occasions and that he made the call to release them.
- When questioned about the types of contracts that wrestlers have with the promotion, Khan said that some wrestlers are on per-appearance deals.
- He stated that he plans to announce more matches for the card’s pre-show (“Zero Hour”) soon.
- Khan praised Rocky Romero, who he said played a part in getting the six-woman tag match with STARDOM wrestlers on the card. He also mentioned that it has been easier to work with STARDOM since Rossy Ogawa departed the company earlier this year.
- Khan was asked about AEW bringing pay-per-view broadcasts to TrillerTV. He said that the move helps broaden the market for AEW, and hoped to grow the amount of PPV buys.
- When asked about a new TV deal for ROH, Khan mentioned that ROH has a current home but is open to bringing it to another platform. He emphasized the importance of the upcoming media rights deals that AEW will be dealing with in 2025.
- Khan refused to comment on whether AEW is still in an exclusive negotiating window for TV rights with Warner Bros. Discovery.
