Case Lowe from Brian & Kenzie on Q101 spoke with Tony Khan to talk AEW and Saturday’s AEW Full Gear pay-per-view and AEW Dynamite/Collision’s return to Wintrust Arena in Chicago on November 27.
Tony Khan on how the ticket sales in the live entertainment industry have changed since the pandemic:
“The lockdown really changed everything and it’s turned out to be a really successful period for AEW. We were able to put all the shows for over one year in Jacksonville. Since we came out of that and we started touring again…in those 3 years, it’s been absolutely great being back on the road.”
Khan said AEW has been able to go to places that he never dreamed were possible. Khan touted the pro wrestling attendance record being broken last year by AEW All In last year at Wembley Stadium.
Khan continued, “Live events here in America, it’s a really interesting thing. We’ve seen great demand in some of the big markets and I think that’s something to keep an eye on for AEW. No surprise that markets where AEW has drawn the best are the major markets that typically have had NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball teams or big college towns especially when school’s in session. Looking at the markets where we’ve had that success, there’s something to it. Pro wrestling is a 52 a year business so we cover a lot of ground and go to a lot of different markets. In the major markets, we’ve had good success. It’s a good question about where live events are going. I don’t think you can really put one label on all events. I think whether it’s wrestling, music, sports, there all trending differently. Something really exciting for AEW, that I think will cover us for a long time, is we just renewed our media rights deal…Now we know that AEW will not only be on TBS and TNT for years to come but also streaming on Max. We’re gonna be bringing a lot of great events in the future. The future of our TV and streaming is really secure. As far as where we’re gonna present our live events and what markets we’re gonna hit, it’s something to really look at because we’ve had great success in a lot of major A towns. I think Chicago has been first and foremost for us. That’s something for us to continue to study and evaluate what our best performing markets are and trying to hit those an appropriate amount of time.”
Khan on doing more residency shows:
“Yeah, I thought it was excellent. I give so much of the credit to those people in Arlington. Our team did a great job putting it together and those fans did a great job.” Khan continued, “I think it’s a great model and could be something to go back to.”
Khan was asked about the TV ratings, how much the TV landscape has changed since 2019 and if most fans care about ratings:
“I’m not sure the average fan actually pays attention to that.” He continued, “I think we all sometimes think of the superfans like ourselves and we all have such nuanced opinions and we remember what show did a rating 3 and a half years ago and what was on against it or if there was a power outage or a big event on the news. But it’s pro wrestling, 52 weeks a year. We’ve all really sharpened our minds to have these memories. It’s week in, week out. I do think cable has changed a lot. It’s amazing to look at how wrestling has sustained. As the cable universe has changed and the steaming audience has grown, wrestling has still delivered at a very very high level week in, week out. Even recently, we’re seeing great numbers. Compared to other sports on television, AEW is putting up huge huge numbers week in, week out and is still one of the top shows on television after all these years. Our shows have had double digit gains week in, week out where Dynamite was up a huge amount since the election’s over. Collision over the last several weeks has gone up three straight weeks. I think getting out from the World Series and the election cycle…really for us it was great to be able to go into November with Full Gear and get fans excited, play the November Rain video and really get people back into that groove. For us, I do think it’s important to look at how the universe changes. Things will change again next year because a lot of the audience will be exposed to AEW for the first time. There’s people who don’t have cable or satellite anymore and they mostly have cut the cord and they stream. Having AEW live on Max is gonna open so many new fans up to the experience for the first time ever. We’ll be available in almost twice as many homes starting in January. It’s pretty amazing. It’s gonna be a really exciting time and I hope we can make some new wrestling fans when AEW goes to Max.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Q101 with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
