Tony Khan, along with The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Cody Rhodes, started All Elite Wrestling in 2019 to give fans an alternative product to WWE. As of now, the company’s popularity has decreased. The weekly show ratings and attendance are extremely low compared to previous years.
Last December, AEW President Tony Khan said during the ROH Final Battle post-show media scrum that “to be AEW is to be under constant attack. You do a great show, and the next day, somebody’s saying something negative.”
In an interview with Q101, Tony Khan was asked about the aforementioned comment and whether it is easy or difficult to exist as a pro wrestling company.
“I think that’s a great question. I think that’s a legitimate thing I said, and it is a challenging thing to be the challenger brand, but it’s also a great opportunity. Bringing wrestling back to TBS and TNT every week means a lot. It’s a great American tradition. I’ve really communicated that very well, that it means a lot to me and to the American people to have wrestling on TBS and TNT every week.
We’ve done over 250 episodes now on Wednesday nights, and doing this every week on TV is something that I’m very well aware of. It’s a great thing for everybody that we can do this for all the people who work here and for all the fans. Pro wrestling is a 52-week-a-year business. It’s a very, very challenging grind, and I love it. I think that it is difficult to be the challenger brand, and there are great examples of this. I think it will come under scrutiny for almost anything I say. I think AEW is a great company, and there are a lot of people out there who don’t want to see it succeed and spend a lot of time trying to stop it. But that’s the fight that basically every challenger wrestling promotion has fought for decades, and it’s great standing here right now.”