All Elite Wrestling president Tony Khan sat down with interviewer Chris Van Vliet for more than 30 minutes this week to give a better idea of what he has planned for the budding wrestling promotion.
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Given that AEW is the latest promotion to try and become a legitimate alternative to WWE’s product, comparisons to the likes of WCW and ECW have been tossed around for months. Khan pushed back against those comparisons when he was first asked about how AEW is similar to WCW.
“I don’t want to compare us to any other wrestling company,” Khan said. “We’re AEW and we’re doing something very different. What’s great is what we will offer, which will bring people back to 20 years ago, and there will be a major alternative. There will be a second company with great production values and great exposure, it’ll be easy to watch and give you shows with the top wrestlers and the best matches on a regular basis. That’s something that hasn’t been readily available to people outside of WWE in a long time, almost 20 years.”
He was then asked if the promotion would have the same edginess that helped ECW stand out in the late 90s among two much larger companies.
“I think we are doing some very edgy things and I think what you see on our social media is not necessarily what you will see in our television product which I do expect to be much more advertiser friendly than ECW,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that we won’t push the envelope sometimes, that doesn’t mean that you won’t see really exciting high spots. A lot of what made ECW great was the work and we’re going to have the best caliber in ring stuff in the world.”
Khan was also asked about the company’s upcoming television deal, but couldn’t give any details on what channel they’d be on and when. He did echo a previous comment by The Young Bucks in that AEW would be a touring brand, but unlike WWE the schedule would not be as grueling for its wrestlers.
“For us, I want to offer a quality of life and a work/life balance that is the best and is unparalleled in the business for the best quality of life. What that means is less time on the road, but still working regularly, still performing on pay-per-view and on television in the future,” he said. “I believe you don’t need to spend 6 days on the road to make a good living as a wrestler or 5 days on the road per week necessarily.”
AEW will hold its first official event, Double or Nothing, on May 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
H/T Cageside Seats
