Tony Khan Asked TNT About Bidding For WWE Television Rights

AEW Dynamite made its debut in October 2019 and since then has worked hard to provide an alternate product to what fans see in WWE. For the most part, they have succeeded, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. It seems Tony Khan had the idea for AEW in a very interesting way.

For many, AEW was seen as a breath of fresh air and also that old school nostalgia as the company tried to balance both the modern and old school aspects of pro wrestling. While AEW still has a long way to go as far as being a solid product is concerned, it certainly shows promise so far.

There is no doubt that AEW has a very deep and diverse roster of talented in-ring performers from all over the world, incorporating various styles of pro wrestling. In fact, Tony Khan even previously compared the roster to WCW 1997.

While speaking with Monaco Streaming Film Festival, Tony Khan revealed how the idea for AEW came about. It all began after Khan asked TNT about bidding for WWE television rights.

“I know, for me, [TV rights fees] was literally the conversation that started AEW. I went up to the president of TNT and TBS and talked to him about rights fees he was potentially looking to spend if he bid on a WWE TV package. And he wouldn’t have gotten it anyway because I think he was willing to spend over maybe $150,000,000. He wasn’t prepared to spend the $205,000,000 it actually ended up being.

And furthermore, it made more sense what I was saying to him, which was, ‘If that’s the case, if you’re really prepared to spend that much kind of money, I think it would make more sense for us to talk.’ And I had a conversation I never dreamed we were going to have, but I said, ‘You know, we should sit down and talk about what if I started a wrestling company. We can build a startup and put a lot less money into it and get a lot more value. Which is true, and I’ve delivered that value.”

There is no doubt AEW will keep on striving to better their product so that fans remain happy for as long as possible. With Tony Khan at the helm, the company is going through a lot of changes over the past few months. We will have to see just how the company will change in the coming years.

h/t to Wrestling Inc for the quotes.

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