Tony Khan Talks NXT vs. AEW, NXT Possibly Moving Nights, & More

AEW President & General Manager Tony Khan recently spoke with Alfred Konuwa of Forbes and said it would be great for AEW Dynamite to be unopposed on Wednesday nights if WWE NXT moves to Tuesdays. As noted before, NXT is rumored to move to Tuesday nights on the USA Network soon, beginning on Tuesday, April 13, which would be the first show after WrestleMania 37 Weekend. Khan was asked about NXT possibly switching nights.

“I don’t know if that’s a real thing or not, but it would be great to be unopposed and I’d love to have an unopposed audience,” Khan said. “When we have we’ve done some really good numbers and I think that would be awesome.”

Khan also compared the fan dynamics of AEW vs. NXT to that of the Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW.

“I think it’s—like sports fans—it’s a healthy thing,” Khan said. “I think there was maybe more of this [online bickering] during the Monday Night Wars on the internet than people might have realized. As I got older, I went through phases. From probably Age 12 through Age 15, most of my life was online, and most of my time spent was spent on wrestling online… so it was a lot like this, actually. There were people that were very strong on one side or the other, and there were some people who were really 100% one way or the other, 90% one way or the other, 80%, whatever. And you leaned one way or another. I think there were a lot of people like that on the internet, but there just were way less people on the internet. When I was a kid it was pretty much firing back and forth, very similar.”

Regarding the balance of power, Khan believes it has shifted, but to AEW and the fans. Khan pointed to AEW’s ratings success and how they continue to sign great talents.

“If you look at the ratings, year-over-year, the only wrestling company that didn’t plummet in the ratings in February—year-over-year—was AEW,” he said. “So, yeah, I do think the balance of power has shifted, to the fans and AEW. We keep signing more great wrestlers, and in the next week, you’ll see more wrestlers debuting in AEW.”