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00:00Live here on Radio Row in New Orleans, Kevin Walsh, Tony Kahn, founder of AEW, Jacksonville
00:06Jaguars, Fulham Football Club, how we feeling Tony?
00:08Feeling great, it's great to see you.
00:10Yes.
00:11Congratulations on sports grade, it's going great right now.
00:12Yes, things are going really well here, appreciate it.
00:15Things are going really well for you in a lot of different areas and you and I talked
00:19in the lead up to the media deal and obviously everything gets done.
00:23Has that given you a sense of relief, maybe a little bit of ease now with everything surrounding
00:29AEW knowing that you guys got that major, major, major deal through the door, through
00:34the finish line?
00:35Absolutely, yes.
00:36It's a fantastic time for AEW.
00:38The fact that Dynamite and Collision are now streaming on Max, we're still on every Wednesday
00:43on TBS, every Saturday on TNT, but we're also a streaming company now.
00:48It's the thing everybody was asking me about last year, we sat here at Radio Row on Sports
00:53Grid talking about AEW and Kevin was asking me what's going to happen with the media rights
00:58deal and I promised Kevin two things, we have a great relationship with Warner Brothers
01:03Discovery and I want AEW on TBS and TNT for many years to come and that is true and I
01:08promised you we were going to have a fantastic deal for AEW and that also happened and now
01:13we're having fantastic shows.
01:15What a great Dynamite last night.
01:17A lot of positivity definitely coming off of that.
01:19I want to ask you about that process a little bit, Tony, because we've gotten into so many
01:23things over the years, but as the guy in charge, about what the process is like now
01:28because you've been doing it for a number of years of how much of, I know you oversee
01:34everything, but how much of it is from, okay, this is my idea number one, how much of it
01:38is yes, no, and kind of the day-to-day process, who's at your side and things like that.
01:44It's a lot.
01:45I mean, I come up with a lot of ideas in wrestling and I also have a big team of people and a
01:50lot of wrestlers that are brilliant minds and it's got to be a collaboration of everyone
01:55and I try to pick the best ideas, but I put the matches and the shows together and I'm
01:59taking ideas whenever they come to me, but I get so many ideas in wrestling, in life,
02:05as an executive, as a CEO, as a chairman.
02:08Often you find that you can only do maybe 10, 20% of the suggestions that you get because
02:16you get so many different suggestions from different people that it's literally impossible
02:21to do them all, so you have to pick and choose different ideas, but I also love thinking
02:25about wrestling and I love matchmaking and like we've talked about before, Dynamite is
02:30a show that in 1995, 30 years ago, I started writing in Microsoft Write, which is a program
02:38that doesn't even exist anymore and then later it moved to Word, it moved to email, message
02:42boards and I did Wednesday Night Dynamite, which has become a major reality, we've done
02:47hundreds of episodes, we've been on over 5 years with Wednesday Night Dynamite on TBS,
02:53now streaming on Max every week too and now Collision on TNT, that's been a huge success
03:00and we've had a great run of shows on Collision, the show in Jacksonville last week, the show
03:05from Huntsville and we've got a great Collision coming in Houston this Saturday, you're going
03:10to want to see that, it's going to be a great show, so between these last couple Collisions
03:14and last night's Dynamite, we've been on a great run of shows recently, I'm very excited
03:19about it and I think like you said, a lot of positivity, what a show last night.
03:24Yeah, again, you're right, a lot of positivity, but I will say Tony, because I know that you're
03:27always aware of kind of the conversations, right, and I'm curious how you try and balance
03:32some in-the-moment feedback that you might be getting with some long-term plans, right,
03:37you know, there's always kind of reports or if anybody are following the beats of certain
03:41stories, right, of maybe where you want to be, say, when we get to the summer, right,
03:46and how some people may be reacting to certain aspects of certain stories, you know, I don't
03:50want to get into anything specific, I don't want to drag anything down, but just how you
03:54balance of, okay, I want to keep going down this path or maybe I need to make a right
03:58turn, maybe I need to make a left turn.
03:59I love sports and I love the sports business and I think that when you play hundreds of
04:05games or do hundreds of shows, you know, you find nobody goes undefeated and it's important
04:11to look at the balance and if something isn't perfect, then go knock it out of the park
04:15next time and that's how I felt this week on Dynamite.
04:18This was one of the best shows, I think, top to bottom we've ever done.
04:21There's something about the road to revolution, Kev, there's something about that road to
04:25revolution.
04:26Five years ago, the original AEW Revolution, many people consider that pay-per-view and
04:30the road to that pay-per-view the best run of shows we ever did and you look at that
04:34run of shows and it ran through some of the same exact towns we're running through five
04:37years later by design.
04:39Last night's show in Atlanta, a four-match card, a callback to another four-match card
04:45five years ago in Atlanta, including the Steel Cage match, including the Tag Team Battle
04:50Royal, including the Lucha Brothers versus Kenny and Hangman and then, exactly, what
04:56a memory, and Kevin, that's why he's the SportsCrit Master and what a memory, five years later,
05:04run of show in Atlanta and then there was also a fantastic show on the run-up to that
05:07in Austin, Texas, which was just an excellent show.
05:11That show also had, in Atlanta, by the way, Mox and Jeff Cobb and Darby coming back.
05:14Yes.
05:15Did the first Atlanta show, was Nyland Reho on that one as well?
05:19Was that the fourth match?
05:21I think it was.
05:22Of the second?
05:23No, that was not on that, I believe, it was, no, there was another match on that card.
05:28I was wondering if I could go first.
05:30But it was somebody who's not here anymore, I think.
05:32Okay, all right, all right.
05:33But yes, it was, but it was a good, that was a good, great show, top to bottom, and
05:39I thought last night's show, top to bottom, was one of the best shows we've ever done.
05:42Can I ask you, we mentioned Kenny Omega, right, and how you guys find the balance of working
05:49someone like Kenny Omega back into everything that you're doing, right, because Kenny Omega's
05:53first match back is in New Japan and, I mean, the Tokyo Dome is gigantic, it is a massive
05:58stage and it's an arena you're so comfortable with.
05:59It was not just in New Japan.
06:02That's Wrestle Dynasty, that's a collaboration between AEW and New Japan.
06:06That's like the Forbidden Door, that's the equivalent of Forbidden Door in Japan.
06:11Forbidden Door's a collaboration.
06:12Now, I'm on the ground with a headset on producing the show at Forbidden Door, effectively, for
06:20my friend and partner Ghetto.
06:22And then Ghetto, when I have collision in America and I'm in Charlotte that same day
06:28as Wrestle Dynasty, for the first ever collision on Max, it was a historic event and we've
06:34had a great run of collisions, I think, on Max and TNT, but I had to be in Charlotte,
06:39so they're running that show on the ground, but it's a collaboration, putting the card
06:43together.
06:44So just to reiterate, it wasn't just in New Japan, it was a team effort.
06:47But Kenny Omega, what a huge thing that was, and what a huge thing this is, Kenny Omega.
06:52And I ask it, and not that I'm trying to give the credit to New Japan or anything like that,
06:57but I guess that moment, that stage, right?
07:01And in that moment, I'm sure you see the reactions, okay, that needs to be option number one,
07:07guy number one, he's the best in the world, he's the biggest guy in the world.
07:10And how you, again, try and balance that, and that reaction, and that energy, and then
07:15what you already have set up for the next six months or so.
07:19Well, it's so fantastic having Kenny Omega back.
07:21That was a plan for Kenny Omega to come back at Wrestle Dynasty, which was, again, it's
07:26like a Forbidden Door type show.
07:27At Forbidden Door, we've had some of the greatest matches ever, including Kenny Omega versus
07:30Will Ospreay.
07:32Now Kenny Omega's teaming with Will Ospreay at our biggest collision ever, Grand Slam
07:36Australia, next Saturday, on collision after the NBA All-Star Saturday, which is a huge
07:42lead-in and a huge opportunity to put on something like that, and Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay
07:46teaming against two of the hottest wrestlers in the world, the international champion,
07:51Konosuke Takeshi, who's been on one of the most fantastic runs of all time, beating some
07:55of the top stars in the world, all over the world, when you look at the run that Takeshita's
08:00on as the champion, and he's beaten Kenny Omega multiple times, he's beaten some of
08:05the top wrestlers in the world, all over the world, when you look at it, Takeshita, including
08:09at Wrestle Dynasty, at Wrestle Kingdom, at the big pay-per-views, at all international
08:14shows.
08:15And Australia's hometown star, one of the hottest wrestlers in the world, the winner
08:19of the Blue League, and somebody who went to World's End in the Continental Classic,
08:23had a really impressive run, Kyle Fletcher.
08:25The only person in the Blue League who beat Kyle Fletcher is one of the hottest wrestlers
08:29coming out of the tournament.
08:31He went on a real winning streak in the Continental Classic, and he's the only guy in the Blue
08:34League that beat Fletcher, and that's Mark Briscoe, and it's gonna be Kyle Fletcher versus
08:38Mark Briscoe in Houston this Saturday, 48 hours from now on Collision on TNT and Max.
08:44I'm very excited about that rematch, and I'm very excited about Grand Slam Australia, I'm
08:49excited about Kenny Omega being back, and so far, his first two matches back at Wrestle
08:55Dynasty, which was just a fantastic success, the first ever Wrestle Dynasty, it was a collaboration
09:00I recently revealed in an interview, the name is inspired by Joan Collins' Dynasty, as is
09:09the AEW Dynasty, both around the same time I was watching a lot of Dynasty, we came up
09:14with these ideas, and John Forsythe, the whole thing, it's fantastic, and I love it,
09:22and so Wrestle Dynasty is a great partnership with AEW and New Japan, and so is Forbidden
09:29Door, and Forbidden Door I think have been some of the best shows of the year, and Kenny
09:33Omega's been a big part of that with Kenny Omega versus Ospreay, so we're excited about
09:37Kenny Omega being back and now teaming with Will Ospreay, this is huge.
09:41Absolutely, alright, let me ask you quickly, Jacksonville Jaguars won, that was in the
09:47news, the yacht, I can't even, they were showing me, I don't even understand, there's a basketball
09:53court, I imagine you've been on it, is it as amazing as it seems when I read about it?
09:58It's fantastic, that's where I'm living, that's my room.
10:01Is that where you're staying on it?
10:02Yeah, I live on it.
10:03That's incredible, I can't imagine staying on a yacht.
10:05My father's a spectacular person, and a great captain of industry, and an entrepreneur,
10:12and an American dream who came here with nothing, and everything he's been able to build up,
10:17it's a real success story, and thanks to him we were able to do a lot of great things,
10:22and I'm so blessed to be his son, and he's a great man, but I'm also living with him
10:26on a boat.
10:27I mean, which is incredible, and then the last thing Tony, and then we'll let you get
10:30out of here, how do you guys feel now that the dust has settled, and Lean Combs the head
10:34coach?
10:35Fantastic, Liam's a fantastic coach, I'm really excited when you look at what he's been able
10:38to do.
10:39Kind of a wild process, a little bit, right?
10:43It was a very thorough process, and we made a lot of interviews, and Liam Cohen came in,
10:49and he's super impressive, I've really enjoyed working with Liam so far, getting to know
10:54him, he's an amazing coach, and a great leader, I think he's going to bring a great command
10:58of football, a great energy, and he comes from a great football family, a great background,
11:05and now, what Liam's bringing to Jacksonville as a leader, we have such an exciting future,
11:08I think, in Jacksonville, so I'm very pumped.
11:11Alright, awesome, we did it again, Super Bowl, third in a row, the first time we're out here,
11:16I just saw him, it's Tony Khan, and now we do it every year, Tony, I appreciate it.
11:20This has become a great tradition, thanks for having me on Sports Grid, I'm really excited
11:23about your success.
11:24Yes, thank you so much again, Tony Khan, AEW, Collision, Dynamite, Grand Slam in Australia,
11:30before you know it, we'll be in Texas for All In, again, Tony Khan, appreciate it.
11:34Thanks Kev, good to see you.