Tony Khan has narrated the origins of AEW and the way it got here to be following a probability meeting with the TBS and TNT president.
Khan, a lifelong pro wrestling fan, stated in a recent interview with “Going Ringside” that he pitched the thought of a brand new pro wrestling company to the then-president of TBS and TNT at a celebration.
“Once I launched it, I used to be in LA. I used to be at a cocktail party and saw the president, on the time, of TBS and TNT. I knew him, so I went up and said, ‘With the best way wrestling TV rights are going, I believe it might make plenty of sense for us to begin a wrestling league.’ I might put the shows on TBS and TNT,” he recalled.
Khan stated that there was a history of wrestling shows broadcast on each networks, although there hadn’t been one for nearly 20 years before AEW began. He recalled talking to the then-president of TBS and TNT, Kevin Reilly, and had several meetings with him. He also revealed that he signed wrestlers to the then unnamed promotion, even before signing a television deal.
“In 2018, I went to the president of TBS and TNT and said, ‘Let’s take a look at this,’ and he took it seriously. We had plenty of meetings. It was over a yr before anything really happened, but there have been plenty of discussions. I began to appreciate there was definitely a marketplace for this. I started signing the wrestlers. It was a significant commitment and truly a little bit of a bet because I began signing wrestlers before I had the TV deal. I could feel the deal was coming and that there was a marketplace for what AEW was going to do.”
The AEW CEO had previously discussed how becoming a professional wrestling promoter was his childhood dream, something he had envisioned back in seventh grade.