What is AEW's connection with Timecop? Exploring Tony Khan's bizarre obsession
Many of AEW's fans identify with Tony Khan, who grew up a hardcore wrestling fanatic and something of a nerd. The AEW President also shares something else with the geekier side of his promotion's audience: he loves the 1994 sci-fi classic, Timecop.
Tony Khan has a bizarre ritual that he performs at many of AEW's weekly shows. The All Elite Chief is known to address the audience multiple times at tapings, but it's during the transition from the live Dynamite to the pre-taped Rampage that he brings up Timecop.
Timecop is an action-science fiction film featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme at the peak of his Hollywood fame. The movie follows a police officer enforcing the law in an age where time travel is abused for criminal gains. On the surface, there isn't much that connects the film to All Elite Wrestling, aside from its current distributor being Warner Bros. But that hasn't stopped the AEW President from gushing over it.
Tony Khan's rants about the movie at AEW's live shows have become so common that the promotion now posts Timecop's poster on the tron when he mentions it.
While the audience—many of whom are exhausted after Dynamite—might not realize what the All Elite Wrestling President is trying to get across, it seems that he's trying to get the fans hyped for Rampage by comparing them to Van Damme's character in Timecop.
During his address, Khan relates the pre-taped nature of AEW Rampage to time travel, informing the audience that, like the hero of Timecop, they will be in two places at once, as Dynamite and Rampage are taped back-to-back but air on separate days.
It seems like a strange ritual and one that is often heard by those who frequent All Elite Wrestling's live shows. At the very least, though, it serves as a reminder of Tony Khan's dedication to keeping his promotion's fans hyped up.
Tony Khan says there's a 90% chance the new deal with WBD will be announced next month
Tony Khan has often touted All Elite Wrestling's relationship with its network partner, Warner Bros. Discovery. The two parties have been negotiating a new television contract for most of this year, and it seems that the ink is nearly dry.
Amid rumors of a new show on Fox, Khan claimed at the All Out media scrum last weekend that there was a 90% chance AEW's new TV deal with WBD would be announced the following month.
Recent reports have indicated that the deal is "done" and that AEW's pay-per-views might be coming to WBD's streaming service, MAX, in the near future. However, the details of the contract likely won't be revealed until it is officially announced.