All Elite Wrestling has now been in business for four years and is still going strong with two weekly TV Shows in Dynamite and Rampage as well as four pay-per-views a year and another four Battle Of The Belts specials.
With the company’s current TV partner, Warner Brothers Discovery said to be happy with AEW’s performance, Tony Khan has been open about expecting a “lucrative” media rights deal to take place this year.
However, despite things looking positive for the promotion, there are still many critics of the way Khan books his shows, most notably Eric Bischoff, Jim Cornette, and in recent months, former WCW star Konnan.
Konnan claims Tony Khan caters too much to a niche audience
Speaking on the latest mailbag edition of his ‘K100’ podcast, the AAA booker was asked his thoughts on Khan.
While he admitted that the Khan “obviously wants to make money”, he claimed he is “a hardcore mark” who tries to cater to a niche audience.
“He obviously wants to make money. I mean, that’s what he’s all about. If he doesn’t make money, the network’s going to cut him off or his dad may say ‘f*** this,’ you know what I’m saying?”
“[Khan’s] obviously trying to make money. His problem is [that] he’s a mega hardcore mark which there’s a niche for that. He probably thinks there’s more people than there actually [is] and he caters to them and nobody else. I think that’s a huge problem.”
Konnan has been on the receiving end of criticism himself recently after telling Konosuke Takeshita to “stick to his nationality” after the Japanese star paid tribute to Eddie Guerrero at a recent show. He has since tried to walk back the comments, claiming it was a joke.
Despite the criticism he has received, Khan is about to add to his booking responsibilities as he has announced that Ring of Honor will hold its first set of TV tapings on February 25th and 26th with the intention of airing them in March. This marks the first tapings since he purchased ROH back in March 2022.
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the above transcription