Tony Khan discusses how he handles negative reactions about his promotion.
Launched in 2019 and just under six years, the Jacksonville-based promotion has experienced exponential growth. With several popular stars on its roster, AEW is arguably the only mainstream threat to WWE. However, while many love the promotion, many others have reacted negatively to and criticized its product.
A few months ago, Jon Moxley stabbed Bryan Danielson in the back and formed his faction, Death Riders. However, in the last few months, fans have become vocal about their thoughts on the stable, and how it has not been able to uplift the weekly shows.
Although the backlash slowed down recently, as fans hope to see Swerve Strickland dethrone Moxley from the top. During the Dynasty media call, Sean Ross Sapp asked Tony Khan about negative fan reactions. Khan answered the question and claimed that he is aware of them and believes “fan feedback is very important”.
“Fan feedback is very important. Probably the most consistent fan feedback we get week to week is in the form of hearing directly from the fans, commentors, absolutely, but also the data we get from Nielsen in the ratings. It’s a great indicator of the TV audience, which doesn’t necessarily verbalize every opinion but their viewership patterns can speak volumes and it’s a really interesting thing to keep an eye on because whether it’s social media, TV viewership, another of other business metrics, I think there are a lot of ways to track engagement but also, we’re all human beings and sentiment and nuance are a big part of this.
Staying in touch with the fans is important and also realizing there are a lot of fan opinions that are shared and a lot of fan opinions that are polarizing. To me, viewership data can be very powerful when it comes to trying to interpret what’s happening, who is being well-received. It doesn’t always mean somebody is the most popular wrestler, but it does tend to generate good data when it comes to interest level around a certain wrestler and how that interest level changes.
Certainly, for AEW, we do track the popularity of the wrestlers and engagement around the wrestlers. Those are not always directly correlated. Sometimes, wrestlers who don’t get the best reactions from the fans can move the needle in a major way. It’s something to balance, but we do take great pride in fan feedback but also trying to put on the best show for the fans and listening to the fans. I do think our fans have given us great feedback this year.
They’ve felt like AEW is delivering great TV and that the pay-per-views have been delivering consistently now on a great run with the focus and the quality of the TV shows in 2025 that make people feel good about the AEW TV product. I feel the sentiment around the product going into Dynasty is maybe the best its been in many years. A lot of things have contributed. The fans at live events have been great. The venues have been great.
The wrestlers have been delivering and that’s something we’ve had for years but it’s helped to have some of our top stars come back healthy and have a great collection of star power right now. Kenny Omega returning to AEW is very important and I’m very excited to see Kenny Omega on Sunday.
Very excited about how well the shows have been received with the fans recently and very excited about everything happening in AEW right now including the state of the company going into Dynasty, which I think is a real high note and very appreciative of the sentiment of the fans that they feel the company is really delivering and that speaks to the quality of the live fans, live events, the wrestlers and the staff.
In particular, I think it speaks to the bodywork. That is really something that, going into Dynasty, I’m so proud of the way the fans have received AEW shows in 2025 and it should be a great Dynasty show and keeping that great run of pay-per-views going.”
H/t Fightful
On 6th April, Swerve Strickland will face Jon Moxley for the World Championship at the Dynasty PPV.
Tony Khan Is Proud Of AEW’s Streaming Success On Max
During the Dynasty media call, Tony Khan expressed his satisfaction with the promotion’s viewership on HBO Max.
“I thought that was a really exciting report for AEW and very consistent with everything we’ve been told. While the numbers are being kept close to the vest, we’re one of the top sports streaming shows, and that report was consistent with what I’ve heard.”
In other news: Harley Cameron has credited Mercedes Mone for this popular AEW segment.