The world of professional wrestling is poised for some big changes this year. One of those big changes is the sale of WWE to Endeavor, which is expected to officially close later this year. When rumors of WWE being acquired by an outside entity began to swirl, one name, in particular, made the rounds, Tony Khan. The young AEW executive had already proved he was willing to purchase his competition last year when he took on Ring of Honor, why wouldn’t he make a play for a bigger fish?
In an interview with CBS Sports Radio, Khan was asked about how serious his interest was in buying WWE, and what he thought of Endeavor garnering the winning bid.
“I can’t speak to that except to say that I was interested, and, I think, it’ll be also very interesting to see what happens with that sale,” he said. “Certainly, in many ways, it’s a big positive to the pro wrestling business, and I think the huge attendance numbers and TV and streaming numbers for pro wrestling and the great sales for AEW on Pay Per View, and all the big merchandising numbers show that pro wrestling is really back as an industry in many major ways in 2023, and AEW is a big part of the conversation. So, I think that’s all been really positive for us.”
WWE is not the only major pro wrestling promotion making big moves this year. Khan and AEW are poised to make a huge announcement this Wednesday at the Warner Brothers Discovery upfronts, which looks to be echoed later that night on Dynamite. Many reports indicate that the announcement will be in regard to the launch of AEW Collision, the new Saturday show that could coincide with the return of CM Punk.
Along with AEW running Chicago on June 21, a Wednesday, there are rumors that a Saturday, June 17 show at the United Center could also take place, serving as the debut episode of Collision. Khan was pressed about whether Punk’s return to the promotion is on the horizon.
“Well, I can’t comment on that but I do think it’s very exciting that AEW is growing with a lot of big events,” he stated. “Chicago has been one of the best cities for AEW for a long time, and I’m very, very excited to be back there. It’s a home city to me personally, growing up in Illinois and spending most of my life there until my dad got involved in the NFL, and I moved to Jacksonville. Now I live on the road every week, literally 52 weeks a year. But it’ll be great to be back in Chicago, certainly for AEW.”
Khan may have good reason to remain coy about CM Punk and his status with the company. While Punk notoriously enjoys keeping his fans in the shadows in regard to his pro wrestling movements, there also appears to still be bad blood backstage following his AEW All Out media scrum and subsequent altercation with The Elite. Khan again remained coy when asked about what he learned as an executive from that controversial experience.
“Well, I can’t really comment,” Khan again began his response. “I haven’t talked about that particular situation since it happened, specifically, but I think in the time since AEW has continued to hit new heights and grow and I have a lot of respect for all the people you just said, as professional wrestlers.
“I think we have a great company going right now and certainly every Wednesday night on TBS, some of the wildest action, and certainly this week, I think, was one of the best episodes we’ve ever done. With a big announcement coming next week, I just think we’ve been able to sustain and continue to develop as a wrestling company.”
If you use any quotes from this article please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling and credit CBS Sports Radio