Tony Khan talks about what AEW does differently from WWE

In an interview with Entrepreneur.com, AEW President Tony Khan discussed what AEW does differently from WWE…

“There’s a lot of differences. I don’t do really cheap DQ [disqualification] finishes to prolong something. There are other wrestling programs where you might see multiple DQs and countouts in a week. I believe in giving the fans a finish to the match. I believe in not false-advertising programs and people. I might hype something I really believe in, but there’s a big difference between hyping something and false-advertising outright, and I’ve never done the latter. I think that’s why we have a lot of goodwill with the audience. Following through on the things you say you’re going to do and trying to deliver a show that’s in the spirit of what the fans want to see week in, week out and offering fresh matches and fresh programs is a big part of it. You know, not doing the same matches 17 weeks in a row over and over again.”

Khan also talked about studying television viewership numbers…

“I look at the numbers — the minute-by-minutes, the quarter[-hours] — very closely. Since there’s not a head-to-head competition on Wednesdays [against WWE’s NXT, which moved to Tuesdays] anymore, the patterns have changed a bit. So we’re learning new things based on the data that has been coming in the past few weeks. But since we began, I’ve studied these trends really closely and it can be a good indication of what’s getting hot, what’s getting a good response. Conversely, I don’t want to knee-jerk react if something doesn’t get the biggest number right away. It doesn’t mean that it won’t turn around and draw.”

Tony Khan Helps Run an NFL Franchise, Premier League Football Team and All Elite Wrestling. And He Trusts Himself Now More Than Ever.

When I talked with Tony Khan precisely two years ago, he was exuberant. All Elite Wrestling, the company he co-founded at the outset of 2019 along with a cohort of professional wrestlers aiming to challenge World Wrestling Entertainment’s status quo, was the talk of its industry.