AEW's Tony Khan on whether he got heat or buzz for his "power shift" tweet
Before the "Winter is Coming" AEW Dynamite special tomorrow night, AEW CEO Tony Khan sat down to do a media call earlier this afternoon that covered a variety of topics.
When the subject of the AEW owner's tweets in recent weeks when it pertained to the "shift in the balance of power" of pro wrestling came up, Khan didn't shy away from his comments, thinking his tweets were good for the AEW brand.
Tony Khan says people will understand his tweets after this week's AEW Dynamite
When AEW CEO Tony Khan was questioned if he was worried about getting heat for AEW when it came to putting out tweets like that, Khan saw things quite differently. Here's what the AEW owner had to say:
Did I get heat or did I get buzz? Because let me ask you this, the next week we did our biggest rating of the pandemic. Tied for our second-highest rating of the year the week after I promised people, the balance of power was shifting, we're coming out the holiday this past week where we were still number one 18 to 49 male TV show, and we were, you know, number seven on television during a holiday weekend I was really happy with how we did yesterday.
I was 100% right in what I said, and whether it got heat or not that's not the point because heat draws in wrestling, and people wanted to see what's going on. And I was right about the balance of power shifting and people are going to see tomorrow that I'm right, and they'll see Thursday that I'm right when the numbers come in for this. So, yeah I said what I said for a reason. And, you know, Winter is coming in wrestling and the other key thing is the balance of power was shifting in AEW storyline-wise, you could say. But frankly, the reason the balance of power in wrestling is shifting is it shifting to you, and it's shifting all you, All the people, and all the fans.
Wrestling is becoming more about the fans than it's ever been before. The fans are getting to see more of what they wanted in wrestling than ever before. I'm willing to work with different people, different companies and things are going to change. And there's going to be a big change there's already been a lot of changes in wrestling in the past 18 months in the past year. And there's going to be more. And that's why I said that. And I think if people want to see what's going to happen and you know they should stay tuned they should tune in tomorrow night. But I think there's a difference between heat and buzz. And if it was heat then it was a good kind of heat because it definitely drew big the next week."
When asked if he saw any potential negatives to putting out tweets like that, the AEW owner very much downplayed that idea stating...
Oh no, I don't see negative, I felt really good about that because that was in one show. I think we show people PAC's back. And then, over the coming weeks...there's going to be a lot more great stuff I've established to people. And then we went out and did a .37 in the demo. And like I said our, you know, biggest audience to the pandemic tied with the show after All Out for our biggest demo and I think overall third-biggest audience of the year so I was very happy with how that came out. Like, I can't really open my mouth, without like upsetting some fans so I think like I'd rather worry about the people we can please. And in this case, I thought the reaction was exactly what I wanted, because we did a huge number the next week, and I expect we'll do a really big number tomorrow and I'm hoping and expecting that. But I want people to know. I am aiming for the top I have great ambition here. It's very very difficult to come from where we came from, to be a start-up a true startup company, and be competing at the level we're competing at in media on television and in wrestling.
And I'm really happy with where we're at. And when I say the balance of power is shifting like I said, it's shifting to you people and shifting to the fans, and you're going to get see more of what you want to see in wrestling I promise because there's been stuff you've wanted to see for years, and you haven't been able to see it and we're going to do it. And I can't say all what it is yet but it's all gonna be really cool.
That's it. And that's why I wanted to say that and I just don't think, if you don't get the reaction you want to something right away. It could mean multiple things like if you put all your cards on the table and people don't like it, then that's a bad sign. That means that you put your cards on the table you showed them what you had, and it wasn't good enough. And in this case, that's not what happened. Because people saw the first card of a series, and I think they assumed that's a whole series, but it's also really important for me, that people know that PAC is a huge star here. And I think that his return was first of some really, really exciting moments that are going to happen here."
AEW Dynamite "Winter is Coming" airs this Wednesday, December 2 at 8 PM EST on TNT. The special episode of AEW Dynamite will be headlined by the AEW World Championship match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit us with a h/t to Sportskeeda for the transcription.