AEW President and CEO Tony Khan participated in the Redemption post-show media scrum, where he discussed various topics, including the significance of AEW World Champion Kenny Omega to the company.
Khan said, “Kenny Omega has been instrumental from the very beginning of AEW. I’m so glad you brought him up because it’s because of Kenny Omega there is an AEW and Kenny Omega really helped prove that there was a market worldwide to support a second worldwide wrestling promotion. And it was at (NJPW’s) Wrestle Kingdom when Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho wrestled, the kind of business they did, the live house and also the amount of streaming purchases. It showed everybody including me that there really is a market and I’m a huge believer in it. I watched the match live and to see the kind of interest really got me thinking. And it was almost exactly 3 months later when I was in Beverly Hills when I had the opportunity to talk to the president at the time of TBS and TNT about bringing a wrestling show back to TBS and TNT. And that show is Wednesday Night Dynamite. And I’ve been writing Wednesday night Dynamite shows since I was 12 years old in 1995. 31 years ago as a kid. I wasn’t even in high school yet. And I didn’t stop. I kept doing it.”
He continued, “And long after college, I still would write shows and send them to my one friend and we would write shows and send them back and forth. And to be honest, Kenny was a big part of those, too. and Kenny and Matt & Nick (Jackson). And when I had the chance to actually be in this position and to launch a wrestling promotion, it was so important to have the Elite involved and so important to have Kenny. And Kenny Omega is a true founding father of AEW. He’s an executive vice president of AEW. But I can tell you there would be no AEW without Kenny Omega. I would not be in this chair. I would not be in the position to be the president of a professional wrestling organization of the caliber of All Elite Wrestling without a great world champion, executive vice president, a friend, and a founding father like Kenny Omega. He’s one of the greatest wrestlers in my own personal opinion ever to come out of the country of Canada. And I also think he’s one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He’s one of my own personal favorites to watch, and it feels like there’s people all over the world that feel that way.”
You can check out Khan’s comments in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
