AEW’s Tony Khan is looking forward to running the same market as WWE later this year.
This year’s All Out pay-per-view will be taking place at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, on September 26. That same day, not far away, AAA will present a Worlds Collide special along with the WWE main roster from the Allstate Arena in Chicago.
AEW is quite used to WWE running head-to-head with them. Whether it be NXT moving to Wednesdays and running up against episodes of Dynamite years ago, or more recent years when WWE would put special events on the same date as a PPV, it’s nothing new to them. But, it’s not often that the two companies head to the same market on the exact same day.
iHeartRadio’s Battleground Podcast recently asked Khan whether he believes the counterprogramming move from WWE is just a reality of the business or healthy competition. His response:
“I think it’s all of the above,” Khan said. “It’s the reality of current wrestling. It’s the, frankly, predatory nature of scheduling events. But also, the compliment that says that AEW’s doing very well and Chicago’s a great city for wrestling. I’m very excited about AEW All Out, and it’s not something unexpected to have competition, and I do welcome it, and I also really am excited about the run of shows coming up.”
AEW’s All In PPV will similarly be running the same day as a doubleheader from AAA and NXT, albeit in completely different parts of the world. All three shows are expected to air during the afternoon in the U.S.
Khan also mentioned in the interview his willingness to launch an AEW Hall of Fame and revive the ROH Hall of Fame, and also discussed how he’s excited to keep Mick Foley as part of his broadcast team.
