Tony Khan Says AEW Fans Have Major Impact On Booking Process

TMZ

AEW is set to air its 300th episode of "Dynamite" on Wednesday ... and the promotion's president, Tony Khan, is sharing the secret to the success over the past six years -- saying the fans play a major role in the decision-making process.

Transcript

00:00dynamite 300 goes down wednesday july 2nd you also got collision 100 as well so it's a massive

00:07week for you guys i just want to ask though there's 300 episodes of a tv show is has there

00:13been a match or a segment that has stood out to you over the course since dynamite first launched

00:17yes absolutely i think one of the greatest moments ever in aew uh was at the original

00:24winner is coming the arrival of sting in aew uh in particular uh when sting came in he's one of my

00:32all-time favorite wrestlers uh that's one of my favorite moments also when sting and darby allen

00:38won the world tag team championships in phoenix uh going into their final match as a team and sting's

00:45final match as a pro wrestler i think the greatest retirement send-off imaginable uh so i i definitely

00:52have a fondness for sting's arrival but there's been so many great moments across 300 episodes now

00:58of wednesday night dynamite 299 uh as of today and uh soon 300 episodes uh we're less than 24 hours away

01:08now or about 24 hours away now uh from the 300th wednesday night dynamite and like you said also

01:13saturday the 100th episode of saturday night collision it's a huge week of milestones for aew

01:20and then next week the first ever aew all in texas our first texas pay-per-view ever and our

01:28first big stadium show ever in america on pay-per-view it's going to be something really special

01:34these next couple weeks and i think aew right now is clicking and uh having one of our best and

01:40strongest times we've ever had in 2025 now and obviously in your role with the company you oversee

01:46you oversee a lot ever since you helped found the company what have you learned being in the role

01:52that you have because there's so much that you have to balance whether it's book and business all

01:56that but what what are some of the things you have learned being in your position with aew well i

02:02believe in relationships and whether it's relationships with most importantly for a pro wrestling company

02:07our fans but our relationship with the wrestlers uh and with our great media partners especially

02:14warner brothers discovery we've been able to build something so special and now every wednesday on

02:20tbs celebrating 300 episodes on wednesday night dynamite on tbs uh and saturday night collision

02:28celebrating 100 episodes on tnt and now simulcasting on max as well for both the shows it's really a

02:36special thing and that relationship has grown and developed over the years and whether it's

02:42international partners uh our new pay-per-view partnership with aew all in on amazon prime

02:49next saturday uh just so many special things uh and relationships we've been able to build but i

02:56think most importantly that relationship with aew and warner brothers discovery is the fuel that fires

03:02the company and aew's relationship with our wrestlers our staff and of course our fans are the things

03:08that keep us going week to week to week and obviously you mentioned the fans i know you're

03:13you're very active over on your social media tweeting out what's going on with the show and all that

03:17has there ever like how do you not let what the fans are saying on social media gets like what you're

03:22doing because they're always so passionate they always have an opinion whether it's right or wrong

03:26how do you make sure that they don't influence any decision that you do when you're when you guys put

03:32together your product they do influence it the fans are a huge major influence on me personally and on

03:38aew and i really believe in listening to the fans and the fans have been so positive about aew in 2025

03:44and it feels good when the feedback is so positive and right now the conversation around aew is very

03:52positive i think it's the most positive it's been in four years and maybe ever and right now we're

03:59having great trends we've been able to grow the viewer viewership quarter over quarter uh multiple

04:05quarters in a row we've you know started a simulcast on max uh at the start of 2025 yet from q4 to q1 even

04:16though the show started simulcasting added all these new viewers on streaming became one of max's top

04:22sports streaming shows we've also grown the viewership on tbs on wednesdays and saturday

04:29from q4 to q1 and then i just found out yesterday officially again from q1 to q2 so on cable which is

04:39nice to have some success stories on cable and tbs and tnt have been doing very well and aew is a huge

04:45part of that it's a really important time for aew on tbs tnt and now also on max and when the fan

04:53feedback is really positive it feels good but i think i want to keep that going and it feels like

04:59people really like what's happening in aew this year the conversation's been really good and i like

05:04hearing what the fans have to say positive or anything any kind of feedback if it's especially

05:10if it's constructive or anything you can use to make aew better that's great for us

05:15you

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