AEW President Tony Khan has made waves in recent days following a controversial interview that included allegations of contract tampering and he hasn’t stopped there, now claiming that AEW and WWE are at war.
Tony Khan believes AEW and WWE are at war
Speaking on a recent edition of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, the 40 year old, who also serves as General Manager and Executive Producer of the Florida based promotion, suggested that the wrestling business was ‘dirty’ but that the competition ultimately led to exciting TV for fans;
The wrestling business is very dirty. I can’t speak to the fight business but certainly, I think it’s more organized than the fight business, as far as there’s two, I think, well-organized promotions competing with each other. Again, I don’t know if these things have happened. I only know what people have come to me and alleged.
But, I do know it’s a real war between AEW and WWE and the fans are interested in it and that was part of the original business model of AEW was I knew wrestling fans, frankly, are very interested in wrestling free agency and wrestling wars and I believe we could create a free agent market that is definitely a real thing now and that would be a big part of the story.
I think wrestling fans, at the end of the day, that a lot of what happens in wrestling shows is sometimes story and that’s why people like watching the shows. They like stories and the exciting matches and especially, the combination of the two when the stories lead to exciting matches and vice versa. Now, what’s interesting is the story that is the most real, the most intense and the most hatred in all of pro wrestling is that between the two wrestling promotions. I think we truly, truly hate each other and I think it makes for really exciting TV and it makes for an exciting wrestling war.
Fans have suggested the war echoes the famed Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW, with WWE talents Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley amongst the big names to switch, whilst one of AEW’s founders and former EVP’s Cody Rhodes sensationally became the first top name to return to WWE at Wrestlemania 38.
H/T: PostWrestling for the above transcript