Tony Khan isn’t shy about taking shots at WWE, and his latest barb attempts to settle the score when it comes to the “real Crown Jewel” of wrestling!
AEW President is no stranger to calling out rivals when he feels the occasion suits, and at the controversial media scrum following All Out on September 4th, he blasted WWE for running multiple shows that weekend when AEW has run All Out – one of its most prominent shows – on Labor Day weekend since the company’s inception.
Though his relationship with AEW has been tenuous the past few months, MJF recently defended these remarks.
AEW is set to run a number of shows in the New York area in the coming week, most notably the AEW Dynamite/Rampage: Grand Slam event taking place at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. Speaking to News 12 New York about the upcoming shows, Tony Khan said that running the New York City market is very intentional and called it the “real crown jewel,” an obvious jab at WWE running a show called Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on November 5th.
“You’re right. We’re running a lot of great shows around the Northeast, it’s so many great wrestling markets in one geographic region, and the… I’ll say it, the crown jewel of wrestling markets – the real crown jewel of wrestling markets, not some BS overseas in Saudi Arabia, the real crown jewel of wrestling markets, New York City is where you want to be.”
Continuing, the AEW President spoke about his love for New York growing up as a wrestling fan, and also recounted his memories of monumental sports occasions in the area.
“And I love, love, love New York, and as a wrestling fan I’ve had a special connection to the city. It’s really some of my first memories of watching sports in New York are watching the Bulls and the Knicks, and watching the Bears and the Giants, and of course watching these great games.
“You know, really for me wrestling has been my first love, so as a sports fan, you can’t be a wrestling fan without loving New York City, without having a great connection to the fans up here, and really, just New York City alone is an amazing market, but as you said, it’s surrounded by so many great markets that are driving distance, and there are so many great fans up here, and it’s a great opportunity for us this year to grow our live event business so we’re doing more events up here than ever before.”
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit News 12 New York and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.