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00:03Welcome to a new episode of Power Players.
00:05I'm Yahoo Fiance Executive Editor, Brian Sazi.
00:07I am pumped for my next guest because I,
00:09and I think I've said this in a few prior episodes,
00:11I am a wrestling fan.
00:13My next guest calls me a last wrestling fan,
00:15but I'm still a fan nonetheless.
00:17That is AEW CEO Tony Khan.
00:19Tony, good to see you, man.
00:20It's great to see you, man.
00:21I last saw you at Khan.
00:23We were on the beach.
00:24We were talking some wrestling.
00:26I can't think of a better moment in my life.
00:28Well, it was one of the best interviews I've ever done,
00:30and it was certainly one of the most beautiful sets I've ever seen.
00:33And your show, Power Players, sounds like a wrestling show.
00:37That's why I love being on with you, Brian.
00:39I'll wait for you to just hit me over the head with a chair or something,
00:41which I know you won't do because you were like a super nice guy.
00:43You've been lifting.
00:44You look like you could get in the ring right now, Brian.
00:47You know who he's been lifting?
00:48What is it?
00:49Billy Gunn.
00:50The guy, he's over 60.
00:52I aspire to be in shape like him.
00:54How do these guys do this?
00:55Billy Gunn's got amazing genetics.
00:57First of all, in his 60s, he looks incredible.
01:00He's in great shape.
01:00He's still wrestling, and he's training wrestlers, including his sons.
01:04And Billy Gunn's sons, Austin and Colton, wrestle for me now, as does Billy.
01:09And they're part of the Bang Bang Gang.
01:11Billy mostly stays behind the scenes as a coach,
01:13but he still can get in the ring and do very well.
01:16I'm glad you mentioned it because I went to the website,
01:18and I'm like, there's some people in here that look alike.
01:21You have other family members wrestling, don't you?
01:24What's Sting's son wrestling with you?
01:25We're training Sting's son, Steven, right now.
01:28He wrestles before all the shows in what we call the dark match,
01:31and I think he's going to be a tremendous wrestler.
01:33I'm really, really proud of the work he's doing.
01:36And right before we started the interview,
01:38we were talking about the fact that Sting retired in AEW.
01:42He's one of my all-time favorite wrestlers,
01:44and the work Sting did in AEW, I still think, is some of our greatest stuff.
01:49This has to be amazing.
01:49So what people don't know, perhaps don't know about you,
01:52that are watching this program, podcast, listening, whatever it is,
01:56you are a hardcore wrestling fan, and you've been a wrestling fan.
01:58I think you and I are around the same age.
02:00You and I grew up watching A-Team, watching Hulk Hogan on TV.
02:04This is like Knight Rider.
02:05This is what we did.
02:06And I still kind of do it, but we'll take it offline.
02:09It must be amazing to see this next generation
02:12of these iconic wrestlers come up in your business.
02:14Absolutely.
02:15We have some of the all-time greats in AEW,
02:18as far as some of the veterans who, like I said,
02:22to have a Sting, to have his input, to have Samoa Joe,
02:26who I think is one of the greats.
02:28Right now, the AEW World Tag Team Champions
02:30are Adam Copeland and Christian Cage.
02:32Yes.
02:33I won't say their names that I remember, so I get it.
02:35The rated R superstar.
02:36There we go. Fair enough.
02:37And I have to say that having some of these great legends in AEW,
02:42along with some of the greatest young stars,
02:44it's really awesome, because when you watch AEW,
02:48you see the very best.
02:49AEW is where the best wrestle.
02:51We do every Wednesday night.
02:53It's on TBS, and it streams on HBO Max.
02:57It's called Wednesday Night Dynamite.
02:58It's the longest-running primetime pro wrestling show
03:02ever on TBS.
03:04And you're a wrestling fan.
03:05That covers a lot of ground,
03:06because several wrestling promotions
03:09have had shows dating back to 1971 on TBS.
03:13and AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite has outlasted them all.
03:17every Wednesday night on TBS and streaming on HBO Max.
03:20And then Saturdays, we have a great show we do
03:23called AEW Collision.
03:25That's on TNT, and that also you can watch on HBO Max.
03:28It's been on for years,
03:30and that's some of the best hard-hitting wrestling.
03:32And we've got the best young wrestlers,
03:34but we also have the best veterans
03:35and the best competition.
03:38There's great rivalries,
03:40and really, some of the stories that are unfolding
03:42are, I think, the best in wrestling right now.
03:44Have you still not missed a taping or an episode?
03:48Nothing.
03:49I've been to every AEW show we've done,
03:52which is saying a lot,
03:52because we've done hundreds and hundreds of shows
03:54over seven years.
03:55That is amazing.
03:57What drives you?
03:58You don't have to be doing this.
04:00Why are you still engrossed in this?
04:03I love professional wrestling,
04:05and to be able to be the CEO
04:08and to be the head of creative
04:10of what I believe is the best wrestling promotion
04:12in the world, I'm very proud of it.
04:14I love sports, and my family works in the NFL
04:17and the Premier League,
04:18and I love football, and I love wrestling.
04:21And it's really a blessing to be able to work
04:23in those things every day.
04:24The difference with wrestling,
04:25certainly, there's no off-season in wrestling.
04:27It's like every day, right?
04:28Yeah.
04:29Is, are you still doing work,
04:31what, is it on the Jaguars?
04:32Yes, sir.
04:33What do you do there?
04:34I'm the, well, the chief football strategy officer,
04:37so I'm the head of football analytics,
04:39and I created the football analytics department
04:41at the Jaguars 15 years ago.
04:44And also, I'm the owner and chairman
04:46of True Media Networks,
04:47which is the number one sports analytics
04:50engineering firm in the world.
04:51We do work for 29 out of the 30
04:54major league baseball clubs.
04:56ESPN is an amazing partner for True Media,
05:00and there are thousands of users at ESPN every day
05:03who use True Media, which is amazing.
05:05That says a lot of, how about deep ESPN stats
05:07and researches.
05:08How is the analytics game in sports changing?
05:12I mean, of course, now we have AI on the scene,
05:14but I mean, you literally got this department started,
05:16like you just said, 15 years ago.
05:17How's it different?
05:18It's completely different.
05:19There's so much more data-driven decision-making
05:22across all sports, certainly baseball.
05:24It's very apparent to anybody who watches baseball
05:27how much the presentation of the game has changed,
05:30but also if you follow the sport,
05:31how the decision-making has changed.
05:33And I also believe in the NFL,
05:36from being there in the meetings
05:38and being part of the league for the last 15 years,
05:40it's amazing how much the league has progressed
05:44in 15 years as far as utilizing data and information.
05:47Next Gen Stats is a big NFL platform
05:50that's been created in recent years
05:52that the league now has data that the fans can look at
05:56and use in their fantasy leagues
05:58and they're following the sport
05:59and making their predictions.
06:01And also for the NFL, for the teams,
06:04we have great opportunity to get that data
06:06and use it in making decisions,
06:08whether it's in free agency
06:11or then looking at the best college data
06:13to prepare for the NFL draft,
06:15something I'm still very involved in
06:17is the undrafted free agency.
06:19And that's kind of where I still come in.
06:22You have AI agents.
06:23How are you finding time to do all this stuff?
06:25You're just on the motion, constantly on the go.
06:29First of all, I've got wrestling every week.
06:31And then throughout the football season,
06:33I really get excited when we get into the games
06:35and I can look at the games week to week to week.
06:37But there is some downtime for me.
06:39Like in the NFL right now,
06:40this is kind of a slow time
06:41because I like to ramp up going into the draft
06:45and then I do a lot of work during the season.
06:48But right now, NFL-wise, it's a slow time,
06:51very busy time for the Premier League.
06:53Fulham, we just hired a new head coach,
06:55which I'm very excited about.
06:57And also we're doing the transfer business
06:59and it's a busy time in the Premier League.
07:03I just, well, two things.
07:04One, is it hard,
07:05with everybody using these advanced analytics,
07:08is it hard to spot the undervalued athlete?
07:12It's harder than ever.
07:13It definitely is a much more competitive market
07:20for certain players where there's a lot more research
07:24and a lot more teams know some of the things to look for.
07:28There's a lot more readily available data.
07:31There are analysts at all 32 NFL teams
07:35and all 20 Premier League teams now.
07:37So absolutely, there's a lot more research being done.
07:41And again, you know, as somebody who studies finance
07:46and, you know, that being a topic
07:48that this show is largely based in
07:51and looking at finance, the stock market,
07:53and things like that,
07:55I do think just as there's much more research
07:57and many more tools for preparing
08:00and making investments,
08:02now that there are also a lot more research tools
08:05available to prepare for making investments in football.
08:09I think I need to be talking about soccer more.
08:11I recently had a conversation with Karen Dortmund,
08:14really one of the OG investors in the soccer space,
08:17and she said the whole thing is blowing up.
08:19Now, she wouldn't say that there will be,
08:22I guess, the similar valuations
08:24on some of the women's soccer teams
08:26as, you know, the men's or even in other sports.
08:29Like, where do you see soccer go in the next decade?
08:32Well, it's fascinating.
08:34I think the greatest league in the sport
08:36is the English Premier League.
08:37And certainly the great competition
08:39that's happening right now is the World Cup.
08:42Our club is Fulham Football Club.
08:44It's London's oldest club.
08:45We're really proud of the team.
08:48And also, several of the players
08:49have done very well in this World Cup.
08:52We had six players across five teams
08:56in the round of 16.
08:58And then going into the quarterfinals,
09:01we had two players that got knocked out
09:03by their teammates' teams.
09:04So then we had four players for Fulham
09:07in the round of eight.
09:09And they've done really, really well.
09:11And they're including players from Norway,
09:14Belgium, and Morocco,
09:16which are teams that all went to the quarterfinals.
09:19But really, going into this season with Fulham,
09:22the Premier League, it's so competitive every year.
09:25And there's so much excitement.
09:28And it's one of the leagues fans around the world follow,
09:31just as there are NFL fans that follow this league
09:34with 32 teams here in the United States.
09:36And there's fans all over the world
09:38who like to watch it.
09:39The Premier League, people watch it all over the world.
09:41And I consider it the jewel of that sport.
09:45And we are seeing that.
09:48There's so much interest in the Premier League.
09:50It's become much bigger on TV here
09:53in the United States in recent years
09:54with the TV deal with NBC and streaming on Peacock.
09:58And I think that the popularity of our team, Fulham,
10:01and the popularity of the Premier League in general
10:03is trending up in the United States in a major way.
10:06Do you even have a second to zoom out for a second
10:09and say, wow, this is a hell of a moment to be in sports?
10:11We have rising valuations on these soccer teams
10:13or football teams, I should say.
10:15We have the Seahawks just sold for $9.6 billion,
10:18partially to a veteran tech investor.
10:21We have the World Cup rocking and rolling.
10:23We got wrestling out there rocking and rolling.
10:26Like, what, have you, I've seen a period,
10:29like we're seeing, oh, another one.
10:30I talked to Paul Rabel, his Premier of Lacrosse League,
10:33just had a big capital raise.
10:34Like, this has to be an amazing moment in sports view.
10:36Yes, it is an amazing time.
10:38But I think that's what's great about sports
10:40is it's constantly changing.
10:42And it's always a great time, isn't it?
10:44When has it ever been, in our lives,
10:46hasn't it always been great?
10:47And it's such a finite group of teams,
10:49like a finite assets here, too.
10:50Yeah.
10:51I mean, it's really awesome
10:53because that's what makes sports so cool.
10:55Like, when we were kids, sports was great.
10:57You know, we grew up and we had
10:59Brett Favre and Michael Jordan and Ric Flair.
11:02And now, just as, now working in sports,
11:06and I get to work around Trevor Lawrence
11:08and Kenny Omega and MJF
11:10and top players in the Premier League.
11:13And so, that's, like, really, to me, sports,
11:18whether it's wrestling, NFL, NBA,
11:22these sports all doing very well,
11:24all on the cutting edge,
11:25but they manage to keep themselves relevant
11:29and also to keep fans hooked.
11:32You know, I think that's what's awesome about sports
11:35and being a sports fan.
11:36It's always there for you.
11:38And that's why I love wrestling, too.
11:39It's the only sport that never takes a break.
11:41What was your vision when you founded AEW?
11:44What are you, seven years into this already?
11:46What was your vision?
11:47And have you achieved that vision?
11:49Absolutely, yes.
11:50My vision and dream was to be able to put on wrestling
11:53and have it be a lasting thing,
11:55bring wrestling back to TBS and TNT,
11:57where I grew up watching wrestling.
12:00And thankfully, we've been able to do that.
12:02We started having Wednesday Night Dynamite in 2019.
12:06The show still runs, as I was saying, on TBS every Wednesday.
12:09and then we have Collision every Saturday.
12:12This is my dream, to be able to keep the show strong.
12:15And the show is thriving.
12:17Last year, Sports Illustrated voted AEW
12:20the best wrestling promotion in the world.
12:23Also, a number of major media companies,
12:26including Yahoo, ESPN, Sports Illustrated,
12:30the New York Post,
12:31all awarded AEW the best wrestling event of the year.
12:35And these are awards we hadn't won the year before.
12:38So to be able to stack up all these awards last year,
12:40it showed we're making progress.
12:41This year, I feel we're doing even better in 2026.
12:45Halfway into the year, our viewership is up double digits.
12:48We're trending in a great direction.
12:50AEW is doing really well on TV,
12:52but also our major pay-per-view events are way up.
12:55Why?
12:55I think that the quality of the wrestling
12:57has been very consistent and keeps getting better.
13:00The best matchups,
13:01people love seeing the great rivalries.
13:03We just had our most watched episode
13:05of Wednesday Night Dynamite in years
13:07for the big beach break show last week
13:09with MJF versus Kenny Omega for the world championship.
13:13And now we're heading towards AEW at Wembley Stadium,
13:17AEW All-In London.
13:18When is that?
13:19That is going to be August 30th.
13:21And I'm really excited because the world champion,
13:24as it stands, it's Kenny Omega is the champion.
13:27He won the title last Wednesday.
13:28and Will Ospreay is the number one contender.
13:32No Englishman has ever won a world title in England.
13:36And Will Ospreay's goal is to go to Wembley Stadium,
13:39the national stadium in England,
13:41and to go to London, to go to the capital
13:43and be the first Englishman ever
13:45to win the world title in England.
13:47And if that matchup holds up,
13:49if Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay meet
13:51as it stands for the world title,
13:53first of all, that's a rubber match
13:55because they fought in two incredible matches.
13:57It'll be such a huge stage to go to Wembley Stadium
14:02and have that dream matchup as the world title fight
14:06with the stakes being what they are.
14:07Kenny's been a mentor to Will.
14:09They're friends.
14:10This has all been unfolding on television for a long time.
14:13There's a lot of excitement around AEW.
14:15So many of the wrestlers have been delivering
14:17at a high level, women and men.
14:19And I think the excitement right now
14:21is at an all-time high,
14:23which is evidenced by the viewership
14:24because last week was our highest viewership
14:27in years on TBS.
14:29And it was the most since our big blood and guts
14:32cage match in 2024.
14:34I remember telling you I love that name.
14:36That's a great name, dude.
14:37Well, it's funny because the name actually comes
14:41from taking it something and twisting it around
14:43because Vince McMahon on an investor call said,
14:48we're not like those blood and guts guys.
14:51And at that point, I said, we have to use that.
14:53They have to use that.
14:54That's such a great quote.
14:55So Vince actually named it.
14:57And so 2024 in July, two years,
15:01was the last time the viewership on TBS
15:03had been this high.
15:04But two years ago, we weren't streaming on HBO Max yet.
15:08So the viewership now, the true viewership,
15:11is actually much higher
15:12because not only do we have the TBS viewers,
15:14but also we have streaming viewership.
15:15So in reality, this is the hottest
15:18and most viewers we've had in a long time, if ever.
15:21And it feels like the excitement around AEW today
15:24is at an all-time high.
15:25How is your wrestling different at this point,
15:28seven years in, compared to the competitors?
15:30That's a great question.
15:32Well, I say AEWs, we're the best wrestle.
15:34And I really do believe it.
15:35I think we have the best roster of wrestlers.
15:38And we're very focused on that.
15:40We make sure that all of our pay-per-views
15:42are action-packed.
15:43I try to pack as many great rivalries in as we can.
15:46We have a lot of title fights, too.
15:48We do have a lot of great title fights.
15:49And we have a lot of great champions
15:50because we have four hours of television.
15:53And I think when you have four hours,
15:5552 weeks a year, you're doing 104 episodes.
15:58You want to have great champions,
15:59great stakes, and great fights.
16:01And so across the women and men,
16:02we have a lot of great champions and championships.
16:05But there, believe me,
16:06when you look how many people are in my locker room
16:08and how many great wrestlers there are,
16:10the truth is there are so many of them
16:12that are clamoring, that are hungry for championships.
16:14The wrestlers would say they want more.
16:16But there are a lot of champions and championship fights.
16:19And I think that's what makes it exciting.
16:20We had three great championship fights
16:23on the show Saturday.
16:25Wednesday's show, Beach Break,
16:26was the most watched show in a long time.
16:28And I'm very proud of it.
16:29It's a show I think people will remember
16:30in 20 years from now
16:31with the great fights we had.
16:33Saturday's show,
16:34it may not be a show they talk about 20 years from now,
16:37but it was a fantastic show.
16:39And there are matches that people will remember
16:40for a long time.
16:41And I think all of our shows are important.
16:43And I wanted to put just as much attention into that one,
16:46even though it wasn't,
16:47didn't have necessarily all the hype and ads around it.
16:51But every show is important.
16:54And just as an example,
16:55we had multiple championship fights
16:58on each show last week
17:00and multiple championship changes.
17:03and I think that that's part of
17:06what makes it exciting every week
17:07to come and see the best wrestlers
17:08fighting for high stakes.
17:10You work with a lot of really veteran wrestlers
17:13that have been in this business
17:14for a long period of time.
17:16And it is universally viewed
17:18as you have all the respect
17:19because you were back there with them
17:21busting your ass off
17:22and you have been doing this since day one.
17:24And I think there's a good lesson here
17:26to be learned to a CEO of a public company.
17:29How do you gain the respect of these,
17:31in your case,
17:33you know,
17:33colleagues,
17:34employees,
17:34however you want to call them,
17:36you have seen to have pulled it off.
17:38Well, you have to really know your craft.
17:41My dad, for example,
17:43knows a million times more
17:45than I do about auto parts.
17:46But also,
17:47my dad is a leading expert in that field.
17:49He didn't just walk into the business.
17:51He rolled up his sleeves.
17:53He's an engineer by trade
17:54and he built that business.
17:55So when he's in Detroit
17:57talking to people in the auto industry,
17:59they know he really understands
18:00that business very well.
18:02And my dad's the kind of person
18:05that if you ask him what time it is,
18:07he could tell you how to build a watch.
18:09And so I think that it started,
18:14people understood that I really loved wrestling,
18:16but I had never produced
18:17a wrestling show firsthand.
18:19I actually grew up dreaming of doing this.
18:22And Dynamite is a show
18:24that I have written in notebooks
18:25and emails and message boards
18:27since 1995.
18:29Since I was 12 years old,
18:31I've been doing a show called Dynamite.
18:34And then in 2019,
18:36we actually brought the name to reality.
18:39I got to do a real show called Dynamite.
18:40And it's a lot different,
18:41just like fantasy football
18:42is a lot different than the NFL.
18:43Writing a show in your notebook
18:45and on message boards with your friends
18:47is a lot different
18:48than producing a show with human beings.
18:51That's for sure.
18:53So I was very involved in the ideas
18:57from the very beginning
18:58and got more and more involved
19:01until we ramped up.
19:03And I think people backstage saw
19:06that I had a mind for it
19:08and had good ideas.
19:09And then as we went into our second year,
19:13when the pandemic happened,
19:15I went from being very hands-on
19:17to being the only person backstage,
19:19a one-man backstage group.
19:20What was that like?
19:21That's the best experience I've ever had.
19:23That's the best thing
19:24that ever happened to the company.
19:25It really leveled the odds
19:27for the two wrestling promotions.
19:30And so many people around the world,
19:31people to this day,
19:33talk about the quality of wrestling
19:34and say that,
19:35wow, when you put it all back like that
19:37and put everyone on a level playing field,
19:39so many people saw
19:40that AEW is the best wrestling.
19:42So for me,
19:43that was the best experience.
19:44And those are probably the shows
19:45I'm the proudest of
19:46with the skeleton crew.
19:47We were putting on wrestling shows
19:49people all over the world
19:50still talk about
19:50during the pandemic with AEW.
19:52What did you,
19:53I mean, your dad has had
19:55just an amazing career,
19:56has achieved many amazing things.
19:57What business lessons
19:58did you learn from him?
19:59Besides, you know,
20:00working hard
20:01and staying focused
20:03that you have built into AEW?
20:05There are so many aspects of it.
20:07First of all,
20:07my dad is a very hard person,
20:09but he really is a great guy
20:10and he has a big heart.
20:11And, you know,
20:14it swings both ways
20:15because he can be
20:16a person who could swing a big ax,
20:18but he's also a very fair person.
20:20And I think that's a good
20:22lesson in mindset.
20:23I have very different
20:25focus areas than he does,
20:27which I think is good
20:28because we look at
20:29different parts of the business.
20:30So we can work in some ways
20:33as a team,
20:34but also it's good
20:35because he has so much experience
20:38and wisdom that he can share
20:39from all walks of life.
20:42For me,
20:43I'm very focused on wrestling
20:45and matchups and rivalries
20:48and TV shows.
20:49And he has all kinds
20:50of strategic ideas
20:51that he can bring
20:53and that he can teach me
20:55so many things still.
20:57And his experiences in the NFL,
21:00it's really cool
21:01because now he's owned
21:02the Jaguars for 15 years
21:03and I've gotten to see him
21:04learn so much about football
21:06and become such an expert
21:08much more than he was
21:09at the beginning.
21:11And it's really great.
21:13For an example,
21:14I think a lot of the NFL fans
21:15can really see that unfold.
21:18The hiring and the work he did
21:20to put this group together,
21:22I think we have such
21:22a tremendous coach
21:24with Liam Cohen.
21:25And my dad did a great job
21:26identifying Liam,
21:27interviewing him,
21:28and making sure
21:28that we got our guy.
21:30And Liam does a fantastic job.
21:32and I really believe
21:35that his experience
21:37and the fact that he came here
21:40to the United States
21:41with almost nothing
21:42in his pocket
21:43and the opportunity
21:46to go to college here
21:47and that he grew up here,
21:49he really does embody
21:50the American dream.
21:51And now he owns a team
21:53and he has like a cool son
21:54running like AEW.
21:56Thanks, man.
21:56What is,
21:57what's next for AEW?
21:59I mean,
21:59when you have the TV deal,
22:01you just tell me,
22:02you're saying that the viewership
22:03is up double digits,
22:04doing good there.
22:04What's next for this business?
22:06What do you,
22:07what else is there left to achieve
22:08that you haven't achieved yet?
22:10I'm surprised that
22:11you have not asked me
22:12about the merger.
22:13And I will say
22:15that the last time I was here,
22:17we were sitting on a dock
22:19in Cannes
22:21and you asked me
22:23about the plan
22:24to split the company up
22:25and to have global networks
22:27and to have the studio
22:30and streaming.
22:30I wanted to make sure
22:31they watched the whole thing.
22:32Oh, they're going to see.
22:34And so,
22:36I think we were set up great there
22:38because we have
22:39a great viewership
22:40on TBS and TNT
22:41for the global networks
22:42and we have
22:42a great partnership
22:44and we've been
22:45very successful now.
22:46Since the last time
22:47I did the interview with you,
22:48we launched pay-per-views
22:49on HBO Max.
22:50So you're talking about
22:51the Paramount and Warner Bros.
22:52Yes.
22:52Now,
22:54since our last interview
22:55last year,
22:56that has come into focus.
22:57and a lot changed
22:58because Paramount now
23:01has come in
23:02to acquire
23:02Warner Bros. Discovery
23:04and I think that's fantastic.
23:05I'm so excited about it
23:07and you asked me
23:07about the opportunities
23:08for AEW
23:09and I think that's
23:09a huge opportunity
23:10for AEW
23:11because we've premiered
23:12our pay-per-views
23:13on HBO Max
23:14and we have a great audience
23:15and now with Paramount
23:18making a deal
23:18to acquire HBO Max
23:20for me as a showrunner
23:22that's worked at Warner Bros.
23:23for over seven years now,
23:25I have to say
23:26and I'm very excited
23:27about it
23:28and really welcoming
23:30the ownership
23:31from Paramount.
23:31Where does the excitement
23:32come from?
23:33Is it the ability
23:34to put on more
23:35live programming?
23:36Is that where it is?
23:37It's the ability
23:38to first of all
23:39bring in more subscribers.
23:40I think HBO Max
23:41and Paramount
23:42are going to be
23:42much stronger
23:43and far more competitive
23:44together
23:45in the streaming space
23:46than they are separately
23:47and they both have
23:48a great base
23:49but in the world
23:50of streaming together,
23:51I think it's a much
23:52more competitive company.
23:53it's not going to be
23:54anything resembling
23:55a monopoly in streaming
23:56because it's a hard fight
23:57out there
23:58but together,
23:58I think we'll have
23:59more viewers
24:00with Paramount
24:01and we'll be able
24:01to sell pay-per-views
24:03into more homes,
24:04stream the show
24:04into more homes
24:05and we'll have
24:06a bigger future
24:06and there's,
24:07first of all,
24:08the leadership
24:09of David Ellison
24:10I think is going to be
24:11huge for the companies
24:12to have the Supreme Commander
24:14coming in
24:14who is the same age
24:16as me and you,
24:18somebody who's
24:18a wrestling fan,
24:19somebody who
24:20has a vision for it
24:22and is already
24:22promoting sports
24:24and is growing
24:25other sports businesses
24:27and is,
24:27I think,
24:28doing a fantastic job
24:29with Paramount
24:30now coming into
24:31Warner Brothers.
24:32For us,
24:32it's perfect timing
24:33because we've been
24:35now for seven years
24:36on TBS and TNT.
24:39Last year,
24:40we launched our pay-per-views
24:41on HBO Max
24:42and also simulcasting,
24:45streaming our TV shows
24:46on HBO Max
24:46and this is really
24:49exciting for us
24:50because with Paramount
24:52coming in,
24:53we're at an all-time
24:55high on our pay-per-views
24:56and our HBO Max
24:58pay-per-view business
24:59continues to grow.
25:00Our Double or Nothing event
25:02that we had in May
25:03was a massive success
25:05and that's actually
25:06the seven-year anniversary
25:07of the very first
25:08AEW show
25:09and as a live event
25:11here in New York
25:12at the Louis Armstrong Stadium,
25:13we sold every ticket.
25:15It was the biggest gate
25:16we've ever had
25:17for Double or Nothing
25:18in all these years,
25:20the original AEW show
25:22and as a pay-per-view,
25:24it was the biggest one
25:24we've done yet
25:25on HBO Max
25:27and we've seen
25:28continued growth.
25:29I think the three
25:30consecutive pay-per-views
25:31all set the record
25:32on HBO Max
25:33so it's a great time
25:35for Paramount
25:36to come in
25:36and then add more homes
25:38for us
25:39when this goes through.
25:40Tony,
25:40it was good to see you,
25:41Matt.
25:43Thanks for doing this
25:43and I appreciate it.
25:44I can't believe
25:44it's been a year.
25:45Well, you know what?
25:46It's been a year
25:47and we've done now
25:48your office in New York
25:49and we've done France
25:50so we'll have to find
25:51a great location
25:52for next year's interview.
25:53Maybe in a ring.
25:53Maybe we just do this
25:54in a ring for once.
25:55That's great.
25:56Come out to LA.
25:56We'll do it in the ring.
25:57I think that's cool.
25:58Tony, it's so good to see you.
25:58Appreciate you, man.
25:59Thank you, man.
25:59Thanks for having me.
26:00All right, that's it
26:01for the latest episode
26:01of Power Players.
26:02We'll see you next time.
26:04We'll see you next time.
26:05We'll see you next time.
26:05We'll see you next time.
26:06We'll see you next time.
26:06We'll see you next time.
26:06We'll see you next time.
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