Tony Khan fielded questions on his final media call of 2025 to promote this Saturday’s Worlds End pay-per-view in Chicago.
The call occurred hours after the news that Andrade is set to wrestle at Wrestle Kingdom 20 and team with members of the United Empire. Andrade had a one-night return to AEW in October, attacking Kenny Omega, and aligning with the Don Callis Family, but has not returned after the discovery of a non-compete clause after his WWE release. The performer had previously said it was a worldwide no-compete, so Monday’s announcement appears to signal the end of the global restrictions.
The call heavily focused on the ongoing Continental Classic, which wrapped up the round-robin stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom tapings this past weekend and will air on Dynamite on 34th Street this Wednesday, and Christmas Collision on Thursday. The semi-finals and final will be featured on the pay-per-view.
Beyond the in-ring results, Khan shared details on his process behind booking the tournament and the curveball of working around injuries such as Darby Allin and the impact it had.
Notes from the media call:
- Samantha Shipman asked about Andrade’s appearance on Monday’s NJPW show and whether that indicated a return to AEW soon. Tony Khan said to “stay tuned” and conveyed his respect for Andrade, but wasn’t willing to answer the question. Andrade will be wrestling on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom 20 as part of the United Kingdom and indicates his worldwide no-compete will be over by then.
- Brian Zilem asked about furthering the character of Kris Statlander and connecting to the audience. Khan said he’s enjoyed watching Statlander and Toni Storm evolve, with Statlander becoming a better wrestler and tapping into her personality more.
- Jason Powell inquired about the possibility of the Continental Classic being moved to a different part of the calendar when there are fewer taped shows. Khan argued about wrestling’s history of programming around big holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and is hopeful that these episodes will draw well this week on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and comparing it to major sports. Khan seems locked on keeping the tournament in December.
- Andrew Baydala’s question was about metrics in 2025; he was proud of and mentioned the U.K. audience rising ahead of their return to Wembley Stadium in August and receiving complimentary feedback from HBO Max since Dynamite & Collision began simulcasting and adding the pay-per-views.
- Bill Pritchard brought up the sale of WBD and where AEW stands with the parent company. Khan said they were in a “fantastic position” and would be on TNT & TBS for all of 2026 & 2027 and streaming on HBO Max. He is grateful to David Zaslav and Jason Campbell, who have allowed them to grow and expand, noting Zaslav wanted two more hours of programming when they added Collision in 2023.
- Mike Johnson wanted to know about Khan’s approach to booking the Continental Classic and being thrown obstacles like Darby Allin being injured. Khan starts thinking about it in the summer and begins to sketch out ideas, then assesses the health of performers, and has an outline by Full Gear barring any injuries. He’s worked collaboratively in the past with people like Bryan Danielson, but now sits alone in a room. On injuries, he brought up Juice Robinson’s last year and how Komander took his spot and performed well. This year, Allin’s injury was a major shift, and he had to rip it up and put it back together.
- Sean Ross Sapp brought up the comment Khan made about the Hammerstein tapings of wanting to run the first episode of Dynamite at Madison Square Garden. Sapp mentioned Carrie Underwood had a show that night in October 2019 and whether Dynamite would have airing on Tuesday when that plan was hatched. Khan believes it was going to be on Tuesday and received a call from someone at the building after AEW was launched, and they wanted to have the first Dynamite. Later, the person at The Garden said it might upset some people, and AEW ran its first show at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
- Dom DeAngelo asked about the stakes for the winner of the Continental Classic. Khan said winning the tournament has prestige on its own, but the winner also receives the Continental title. Khan said the G1 and C2 are the two most prestigious tournaments, and if Okada wins this year, he’ll have six tournament wins between both and would surpass Masahiro Chono with five.
- Josh Nason wanted to know about how free agents can make their interest known if they want to kick the tires about leaving their existing company. Khan brought up the additions of JetSpeed this year and Thekla, and is looking for “additive” talent and not just grabbing as many as possible or overhauling AEW.
- Kevin Kellam brought up Nyla Rose, Danhausen, and Keith Lee and timetables for their returns, but didn’t provide any insight to the three.
- Khan ended up mentioning the ten AEW winners in SI’s year-end awards
