It’s Wednesday night, you know what that means… Tony Khan speaks (too much). The AEW Owner and President joined SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio to preview tonight’s episode of Dynamite that will take place at the HEB Center in Cedar Park, Texas.
Tonight’s show will see CM Punk makes his first appearance since defeating MJF at Revolution. Plus, Adam Cole will take on Jay Lethal and Private Party, The Butcher & The Blade will face The Hardys, Sting & Darby Allin in a Tornado Tag Team Match.
During Tony’s appearance on the radio broadcast, he stated that right now, All Elite Wrestling is getting similar pay-per-view buy rates to what WWE did in 2013 before they launched the WWE Network.
“I don’t know if people know how significant the buys we’ve done for these shows are,” Khan said. “But you look back for example at the competition, and before they stopped doing pay-per-views in 2013, at a time when it was arguably easier to get people to order a pay-per-view, or sit down and devote that time. But if it is an apples-apples comparison, nine years ago, at similar price points, we’re doing very similar sales.
“For example, just looking at before the [WWE] Network came in, and of competition doing pay-per-view, you know, just look back at the pay-per-view numbers in 2013, they are very similar to the numbers we’ve done for our last few pay-per-views. And before that, really, outside of WWE, nobody has done the pay-per-view numbers that we’re doing since the 90s. It’s a pretty great time for pro wrestling.”
Tony Khan noted that it has been great to hear the reaction for The Hardy Boys since Jeff Hardy joined All Elite Wrestling. The new owner of ROH stated that The Charismatic Enigma has fitted into the locker room well.
“Right now, the reactions that Matt and Jeff Hardy are getting are some of the loudest reactions I’ve heard in the business,” Tony said. “It’s three years for AEW, but I’ve been a fan for a long time and it’s very rare to hear anything like the huge buzz for Matt and Jeff. You know, just like wrestling things, You know, what’s old is new.
“Sometimes the simplest things are the best things. Just like building to that hot tag last week in the Hardy’s match, and the crowd being so hungry to see Jeff in the ring. It’s so great to hear, and it feels like Jeff has been here forever and he’s fitted into the locker room so well, and he’s fitted into AEW so well.”
In addition to the already stacked lineup for Dynamite tonight, Tony also mentioned that MJF would speak for the first time since his Dog Collar bout with CM Punk, and since screwing Wardlow out of his TNT Title match last week.
“I’m so happy to have CM Punk back,” Tony Khan declared. “And what an amazing match it was with MJF in the Dog Collar Match. Speaking of MJF, he’s here tonight too. It’ll be the first time we’ve heard from MJF since the Dog Collar Match, and also the first time we’ve heard from MJF since he screwed Wardlow out of the TNT Championship last week. So many exciting things happening in AEW right now. I’m absolutely thrilled about the line-up tonight and everything happening going forward.”
