AEW President Tony Khan continues to address criticism from figures such as former WCW President Eric Bischoff, speaking candidly about why he believes AEW remains a constant topic among former promoters and wrestling media voices. Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, Khan said that the frequency with which AEW is discussed speaks for itself.
“It clearly does engagement for them to talk about AEW, because you wouldn’t spend such a large percentage of your real estate and you wouldn’t devote such a large percentage of your content to talking about AEW unless it was engaging. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a smart strategy.”
When Helwani asked why these personalities talk about AEW so frequently, Khan pointed to the company’s consistent output and relevance within modern wrestling.
“[Why do you think they do it so much?] Well, we’re ongoing. We’re putting on wrestling 52 weeks a year, and people want to talk about current events. And right now, AEW is a huge part of the wrestling landscape. We put great shows on. Tomorrow is Wednesday night, and we’re going to have a great Wednesday Night Dynamite tomorrow. And I think that any given week, you can count on AEW putting on new content to talk about, and we’re one of the major wrestling brands that people want to discuss. A big part of the wrestling landscape is AEW. So I think people want to talk about the new wrestling, talk about the current wrestlers.”
Khan then specifically addressed Bischoff, emphasizing both respect for him and the reality that AEW provides steady content for industry commentators.
“I do respect his opinions. I think he talks about AEW a lot because AEW is on every Wednesday night, every Saturday night, and it gives them good content to talk about. In his case, I think it’s interesting because he spends a lot of time talking about AEW, but I think he’s also cognizant that there were a lot of media personalities and former wrestling promoters who had strong, vocal opinions of him. And I’m not trying to say that I’ve done more than him.”
Khan has been increasingly vocal about the narratives surrounding AEW, particularly as the company continues delivering weekly primetime programming with Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision.
