Tony Khan has taken aim at WWE ahead of AEW Rampage and Friday Night SmackDown going head to head for the very first time.
On October 15th, SmackDown will last for two-and-a-half-hours instead of it’s usual two. This means that instead of the show finishing directly before AEW Rampage begins at 10 pm EST, the two shows will go head to head for half an hour.
Posting on Twitter, Tony Khan said that he “couldn’t wait” to beat WWE’s main show. The comments naturally created a stir on social media with many fans drawing parallels to the competition between WWE and WCW in the mid to late 1990’s.
Responding to the comparisons, Khan said that it is part of his business plan to recreate that “wrestling war” spirit while avoiding WCW’s mistakes. He added that this is why he doesn’t hot shot through angles or matches, revealing he has “many years worth” of big matches up his sleeve.
Twitter’s the child of the boards/chat rooms that thrived during the 90s wrestling war; part of my business plan is recreating that competitive spirit while avoiding WCW’s errors, which is why I pace/don’t blow thru matches. @AEW has many years’ worth of big matches up my sleeve.
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) October 9, 2021
Khan later said that he “wasn’t sweating” the competition, saying that it will be a “great weekend” for wrestling fans.
AEW Rampage launched on Friday August 13th, with Christian Cage defeating Kenny Omega to win the IMPACT World Championship on the debut episode. A week later the show was also the site of the First Dance in Chicago. CM Punk’s triumphant return to professional wrestling after seven years away.
Khan’s fighting talk comes after AEW Dynamite recently beat Monday Night Raw in the key 18-49 year old demographic two weeks in a row.