AEW CEO and Head of Creative Tony Khan recently shared pride in the product presented at the WrestleDream 2025 event in St. Louis, Missouri. Khan called the show one of his all-time favorites, especially considering the number of top stars who were sidelined due to injury. Fans heavily criticized the show for being too long.
Speaking to Josh Martinez of Z100 Radio, Khan reflected on the event, which was headlined by Darby Allin defeating Jon Moxley in an “I Quit” match. “I absolutely loved the WrestleDream show, start to finish,” Khan stated. “And I thought we had such a great night and put so much great action in the show. And I wouldn’t have changed a single thing about WrestleDream”.
Khan noted that the depth of the roster stepped up, which made him feel an extra measure of pride in the show. “It’s one of my favorite AEW events ever, pound-for-pound, especially with some injuries and some top stars away,” Khan said. This success reminded him of how the company adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I thought this was the absolute best show we were capable of putting on. So I’m more proud of what we did at WrestleDream — probably at least since the pandemic of any show we’ve done”.
AEW was without two of its most prominent stars, Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland, who were both out with injuries and could not compete at WrestleDream. Ospreay is dealing with neck issues, and Strickland is recovering from a torn meniscus. The card also featured other major championship bouts, such as “Hangman” Adam Page defeating Samoa Joe to retain the AEW World Championship, followed by Joe and The Opps turning heel on Page after the match. Kris Statlander defeated “Timeless” Toni Storm to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship.
Khan was proud of a unique creative concept used for the show’s opening. The event began with a match already in progress on the pre-show, with FTR versus JetSpeed carrying over into the main pay-per-view. Khan noted that this was an idea he pushed in order to produce the highest quality event possible.
“Like I said, some of the top wrestling stars were away and I said, ‘I’m going to make this the best possible show and everyone’s going to say WrestleDream was the greatest event AEW could put on. And it’s going to be about the people who are here, and they’re going to love this event'”. Khan believes that this method of transitioning from the pre-show to the main card had never been executed before for a major wrestling event. “I don’t think anybody had — to the best of my recollection, to the best of my knowledge — had ever had an event carry over [from pre-show into the PPV]”.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Z100 Radio and the wrestling promotion for the news with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can listen to the full interview with Tony Khan on Z100 Radio.
