Tony Khan: Collaborating With Others Shows That AEW Is Wrestling’s Top Promotion
Khan broke down the forbidden door in late 2020
AEW crossing through ‘the forbidden door’ and working extensively with other wrestling companies has made for exciting television, with starts of NJPW, IMPACT Wrestling, AAA, and the NWA popping up on AEW programming, and vice versa.
Now, in an interview with Tuesday Wrestling Tuesday with Jonathan Hood, Khan has said how he wants the wrestling business to be how it was before the mid-1980s:
"Vince Sr was really cooperative,” started Khan “He booked Andre [The Giant] out all over the country. He would work for AWA and would go to Mid South and work in Houston. Wrestling was much more collaborative before the mid-80s and it was actually one person that made the business less collaborative. I'm trying to bring some of that spirit back. When Vince Sr was running the New York territory, it was a much more collaborative thing.”
As for his own work with AEW and outside promotions, Khan believes it’s made AEW the top promotion in wrestling:
"IMPACT, AAA, and certainly New Japan, I've done a lot of stuff with. It has to make sense for AEW and we've seen wrestlers from AEW go and capture championships in different promotions around the world. A lot of AEW wrestlers still hold championships in various promotions around the world and it's good for those promotions to have such strong recognisable champions who have a great TV platform to wear their titles and it's good for us because it shows that we're the top company in wrestling, frankly, and a lot of companies out there have had our wrestlers come in and do really well. I'm very open to it and it shows good bonds between the companies and allows us access to good wrestlers. We have one of the best rosters, but it's always good to have fresh and different talent. It's why I like working with other companies. Also, New Japan has had big shows and have great talent specifically. I've done a lot of things with them. The main focus is on AEW and our shows. We have such a big roster and so much bandwidth that it allows us to expand, partner, and help other wrestling companies.”
H/T: Fightful