"Dynamite is a show I created in 1995" - AEW's Tony Khan opens up about his childhood passion for booking wrestling
AEW president Tony Khan recently took a moment to look back on his childhood, noting that his passion for wrestling was so great that he fantasy-booked Dynamite in the mid 1990s.
Despite not having a lot of connections in the wrestling business, Khan has seemingly always had a desire to put together his own shows. This dream has become a reality since the birth of All Elite Wrestling, of which Khan is a founder, President and current head of creative.
Speaking with AEW star Swerve Strickland on the "Swerve City Podcast", Tony Khan revealed that he had hopes of getting his ideas in the hands of the right people as far back as 1995:
"Randy Hales, who was working for the Jarretts in Memphis for a long time, he tweeted recently, and it’s true, I sent him a format for like a [Monday Night] Raw that I wanted him to send to Jim Cornette in like 1997, and I was 14 years old, and I had already been writing shows for a couple of years. Not that they were great, but for somebody that age they were good. So I look back and Dynamite is a show I created in 1995 when I was 12 years old." [16:15-16:44]
“There’s a big difference between booking on paper and booking in real life because you’re dealing with actual human beings,
& it’s very different dealing with people than dealing with wrestlers on paper or in your imagination.”
- Tony Khan
(via Wrestling With Freddie) https://t.co/EFK8jAGiIv
Unfortunately for the AEW president, Jim Cornette isn't overly fond of him or the All Elite product. The veteran manager regularly slams Dynamite and Rampage on his podcasts and social media.
Tony Khan has won numerous awards for his creativity
The AEW president may divide opinion amongst some fams when it comes to his creative decisions, but there is no denying that the stories he's been able to tell in AEW have given the wrestling business a shot in the arm.
In recent years, Tony Khan has been given a lot of credit for the long-term stories that AEW has woven throughout its program. These include Hangman Page's two-year drama, MJF and CM Punk's rivalry and the recent rise of Wardlow.
Congratulations to @AEW CEO @TonyKhan, voted @WONF4W's 2021 Best Booker (for the 2nd straight year) + 2021 Promoter of the Year (3rd straight year). Tony joins Vince McMahon (98-2000) + Giant Baba (90-91) as the only people to win both awards at the same time in consecutive years https://t.co/stkE8O8tR4
Khan was even given the "Booker of the Year" award from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for both 2020 and 2021. He also won the award for "Promoter of the Year" in both of those years as well.
Are you a fan of Tony Khan's booking? Let us know in the comments section down below!
Please credit the "Swerve City Podcast" and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.