AEW: Tony Khan Explains His Reasoning Behind Interim Champions, Touring Schedule

AEW President Tony Khan hosted his latest media conference call on Thursday and addressed some of the big criticisms regarding AEW's booking and business. One of the trends that popped up in 2022 was the usage of interim champions as, for multiple reasons, the AEW World, TNT and Women's Championships have all had interim champs hold the gold while the actual title holders have been unavailable. Toni Storm, the current interim women's champion, has even started openly stating in interviews that she feels Thunder Rosa should be stripped of the actual title if her injury keeps her out of action for much longer. 

Khan admitted that making Storm the official champion was something he considered for Full Gear and admitted that each situation is taken on a case-by-case basis. While injuries have sometimes led to interim champions, other times AEW has outright vacated the title. 

"It's something we have considered," Khan said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). "It's something to consider. I'm still weighing the pros and cons. Thunder Rosa's a great wrestler, and it's unfortunate that she's injured. It's kept her out a long time. It's not an easy situation," Khan added, "and I try to take everything on a case-by-case basis, and am trying to give Thunder Rosa every opportunity to come back and defend the championship. But eventually, you would have to crown a lineal champion."

Khan was also asked about AEW's touring schedule, specifically why it favors the Northeast region of the United States so heavily compared to much to the Midwest and West Coast. He explained that comes down to money. 

"Frankly, there were major cost savings that people might not think about in routing everything mostly in the Northeast and that's why there has been so many shows in the Northeast recently because we've saved million of dollars between Grand Slam and Full Gear, which were both big financial successes and million dollar tent pole shows. We saved millions of dollars in between those shows by routing everything. Now moving West, I'm really excited to move the show West too," Khan said (h/t Fightful), hyping up upcoming episodes of Dynamite out west.

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