Tony Khan Compares AEW to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Ahead of All Elite Wrestling's 'Winter Is Coming' special edition of AEW Dynamite next week, AEW [...]
Ahead of All Elite Wrestling's "Winter Is Coming" special edition of AEW Dynamite next week, AEW president Tony Khan sat down with CBR this week. During the interview, Khan compared AEW's initial success in its first year to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, pointing out how both listen to their respective fanbases when planning future events.
"One of the great things [Marvel does] is they really care about what their audience wants, and they go out of their way to hear their fans," Khan said. "And I think that's what I try to do with AEW and we all have made our mission with AEW is to give a wrestling show that was giving the fans what they were missing in wrestling. I think we've carved out a great space for ourselves, similar to Marvel.
"Obviously, I'd love to have the kind of mainstream success they've had. But within the world of wrestling, we've been extremely successful," he added. "And in the mainstream, we are very successful. I mean, we've got a top TV show. Since the news has dominated really the last eight-plus months, we've always consistently been in the top five non-news shows, often number one or number two, and that is great mainstream success. I'd like to get even bigger, and Marvel is a great company to try and aspire to be like them." Khan ended by saying, "I would absolutely take that comparison all day."
He was also asked which of the MCU's 23 film installments.
"[Iron Man is] still my favorite Marvel movie. I just think that's a great movie. I don't think it's just a great comic book movie. It's a great movie about ingenuity. That's definitely my father's favorite of the Marvel movies," Khan said. "My dad and I saw that, and my dad's the smartest person I've ever known. And he really liked that movie. And so I know that there was something to it. If that makes sense. It wasn't just fluff."
Check out the lineup for next week's Dynamite below:
- AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega
- Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale
- Darby Allin & Cody Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks
- Chris Jericho vs. Frankie Kazarian
- Britt Baker vs. Layla Hirsch
