With a new pay-per-view of "Forbidden Door" and a second installment of "Blood and Guts", Tony Khan, the president of all elite wrestling I sat down. Some Q&A and Joseph Staszewski from The Post.
(edited for clarity and length)
Q: Take Claudio Castanoli to the Ring of Honor As I said, now he was the right choice to subordinate Brian Danielson. Did it work pretty well where he feels really fit for the Blackpool Combat Club?
A: Claudio returned to me after the match between Brad and Guts and said, "There was nothing better than this in the first week. Where are you enjoying more than here? I couldn't imagine. The first week I spent reminded me of the rest of my life. "He was very grateful. He was very happy.
He is one of the greatest stars of the Ring of Honor to date, and Claudio Castanoli is associated with its history at ROH. When I was heading to "Death Before Dishonor" on July 23, I initially thought that if Brian Danielson went, it would be a great place for him to make his debut. Sure, when I was talking to Claudio, I converted on June 2nd, so it was the day after the [LA] Forum show, so I realized he had assembled a TV through a "forbidden door". rice field. And that will probably change. [CM] I thought it would take time to punk. His X-ray came back on Friday, but it wasn't good. At that time, I had to dive into the plan for the interim title with Mox [Jon Moxley] and make a lot of changes to the Forbidden Door.
[Hiroshi] Tanahashi didn't have it, so it was completely different. Probably. I was in Moxley with blood and guts-[Chris] Tabashi was wrestling with punk, so Jericho's. The pay-per-view contained a completely different set of stories. When Will Ospreay broke in, Punk was using FTR, so he stopped Punk and FTR. So the trio match was Punk, FTR vs. Osprey and United Empire.
I don't think it was good for Brian [Danielson] to be injured. I think that's one of the worst things, but he's doing much better. I talk to him several times. I talked to him and Brian when I was in St. Louis for "Road Rager" on Wednesday. Brian said, "I feel great. I'm ready to come back, fight Zack Saver and go to Blood and Guts. Then I talked to him on Saturday eight days before Payper View, but he So I immediately said, "You are not fighting. If you don't feel good for 8 days, you can do it for 7 consecutive days. Shut down until you are notified later. "He is planning a scan. I said, "I don't care what they say. They can be completely clear.
He asked me about Claudio, and I He said, "I already have a contract with Claudio. After Phil [Brooks], I knew his leg hurts, so I called him on June 2nd, especially Bryan. I knew that was down, so I was going to make a lot of changes.
Great wrestling star Claudio Castanoli not only stepped into AEW, but also the Blackpool Combat Club. There was also a situation where he had an open spot where he could step in.
Q: Will Kenny Omega tackle again if there is another setback in rehabilitation recently? I said I don't know. What did he say to you about it?
A: I'm always worried when a wrestler gets injured, but in the case of Kenny Omega He probably suffered more injuries than anyone I've seen in terms of working throughout a lasting period. He's limited, still playing great matches in the ring, and the company as a great champion. I'm doing a great box office for.
It's a little different because I'm dealing with multiple injuries instead of one. I'm optimistic. I don't want to schedule. I don't want to schedule. I'm still optimistic about Kenny coming back.
Q: If the rehabilitation doesn't go well, he has stated that it could end.
A: I think it works. I think he's okay. I don't know when, but I'm optimistic. No one can stand in his position, but I I feel good about it. I'll talk more with him. I know he's experienced a lot, but he's still trying to get it back.
Q: Adam Cole's conversation is a bad story did. Are you worried about him?
A: He had no contact between "Double or Nothing" and "Forbidden Door". He was commenting. He was allowed to wrestle. So now I'm going to take some time for him too. We've already taken some time, so it will take a little longer to make sure he's right and make sure he doesn't want to wrestle until he feels 100%. He felt 100% in the "forbidden door". That is how unpredictable these are.
Q: Was it important to have an evaluative bounceback show on "Blood and Guts" after the two shows before "Forbidden Door" went down a bit?
A: The second one was higher. The second was still the first show on the cable and the first was the second show on the cable. People using the TV (PUT) were down. For us, we always want to rank at or near the top of the cable world. The last few weeks have been particularly impressive as PUT was one of the worst weeks in history when it finished second and I think it wasn't too far at the beginning. In the "Forbidden Door" return home and follow-up show, I was ranked first in the last two weeks. I thought this was a good sign that the evaluation of returning home had improved significantly. It showed good because the pay-per-view worked incredibly well. I don't know if people had that expectation, especially with injuries and card changes.
Q: How important is this next TV deal for AEW? Layer of TV properties.
A: I am very grateful every day for AEW to have such a wonderful relationship with Warner Brothers Discovery. A powerful performer of Warner Brothers Discovery every week. I think we still have a lot of time left for the next rights deal, but we're doing great things now. We believe that our future media rights are important and, frankly, will be a huge source of income for AEW in the future. Thanks to the great support from our fans and the hard work of behind-the-scenes and wrestlers every Wednesday and Friday, I think we're putting it together and providing a great show.
Whenever the right trade in our next media begins, whenever the next trade begins, it is historic. It is recorded in history because all of the wrestling is recorded in history in posterity. How much history it will make. For now, everyone will expect very, very well. Based on how powerful we have been, we expect it to work very well for us.
Q: Did you find that Warner Brothers is trying more pay-per-views, or it could be part of pulling the Ring of Honor into it.
A: The first Ring of Honor payer view in the Bleacher Report will be "Death Before Dishonor" on July 23rd. I think that weekend will be a big event. This is a new source of revenue from my acquisition of the Ring of Honor and I can put it in. Specifically, I used AEW to launch "Forbidden Door". Fans wanted it. There are four large payer views, which are displayed almost quarterly.
Q: Most of the RingofHonor events have moved to Bleacher Now Please report.
A: I think "Death Before Dishonor" will work based on the success of "SuperCard of Honor". I think the fans will support "Death Before Dishonor". It sells well. I think "Death Before Dishonor" will be ... As wrestlers get healthier and the forbidden doors last all year, the year gets better and better. "Death Before Dishonor" is one of the best wrestling shows of the year and I think it will be one of the best Ring of Honor shows ever. "Death Before Dishonor" will be great, and I'm really looking forward to it.
I think it will work as a live event, I think it will work with the Bleacher Report, and I hope that Warner Bro will continue to be interested. We will continue to discover at AEW, expand its relationships, and create new sources of revenue, not only to actually maintain and provide what we have, but also to involve the Ring of Honor.Also, I think there are many possibilities in the future for the world of streaming using the historic libraries of AEW and Ring of Honor, both of which are growing, as well as these big PPV events. increase.
Q: In an ideal world, what do you want from the Ring of Honor regarding weekly television? They can be very late, but they are on regular TV.
A: We want to make the weekly Ring of Honor episode the best episode and the best customer experience. What do you mean. Perhaps it means that you are on a platform that is easy and familiar to your customers and has a good reputation. It could be TV streaming.
Q: How likely is it that a "forbidden door" will be held in Japan?
A: The idea of having an event with AEW stars and New Japan stars can be very interesting, but even if it happens, it's not a "forbidden door". Hmm. The "Forbidden Door" will remain in North America. There is no point in time zone and revenue.
Q: The match on the Royal Rampage was played in "Lampage", but can you see that it is bigger than it appears in "Lampage"?“
A: Royal Rampage was very well received. It was innovative and highly regarded.“ Rampage ”is important. I don't want to create perception. It has a lot of potential for us, so I really want to do great things at that show. Many of AEW's greatest moments happened in "ramblings."
Especially the roster becomes healthier, full depth, "ramp" If the company has all the stars in place as it gets, it could be a lineup of matches as strong as any other show. This week, Royal Rampage had some of the biggest stars in AEW. I want to make "Rampage" an A show and stand next to "Dynamite" as an A show. I think the Royal Rampage will be really special as a Rampage event. Now that we've found a really cool format, it could be an event for another big event. Royal Rampage is a really great event for the important "Rampage".
Q: You are actually resting for a day and have no work. What is the ideal day for you?
A: I rarely have a day without work. I may be doing something all the time. I still worked the other day. I went with his father [Shad Khan] to a party for [Fanatics CEO] Michael Rubin on July 3rd in Hampton. It was a great networking opportunity and I met many great people. Wrestling fans are everywhere. It was a fun day when everything went wrong. So I enjoy spending time with my family. So I had to do that, but I also had to do some work. In general, I work on wrestling, football, or both almost every day. Both almost every day. There's always something to do with NFL Jaguar, Premier League Fulham, or AEW. There is always something to do. On my days off, I like watching TV, staying normal, going to the gym, occasionally shooting movies, and reading books. Most of my reading time is when the flight takes off or lands. It will take some time if the Wi-Fi is reset when going up and down from 10,000 feet. Make hundreds of flights between wrestling and soccer. It will take some time to catch up with reading.
Q: Favorite actress and actor.
A: Ken Watanabe, David Alan Grier, and Dwight David Yoakam are all in control, so I should say that. Our company, Activist Artist Management, has a talented relationship, so we represent many actors. My partner, Bernie Cahill, represents musicians and actors and has long taken care of Grateful Dead. So I'm probably biased towards them.
Also, I love [Martin] Scorsese movies, so [Robert] De Niro and [Al] Pacino are there. Sharon Stone is great at "Casino", and it's one of my favorite movies. DeNiro and [Joe] Pesci are good at that. I love Al Pacino in many movies such as "Godfather", "Scarface", "Carlito's Way" and "Dog Day Afternoon".
Q: Favorite athlete other than wrestlers. People who had posters on the wall when they were children
A: Magic Johnson
Q: Why?
A: The first time I saw basketball was actually Lakers-Bulls, Magic Johnson vs. Michael Jordan. They were doing too much to stop Magic Johnson, the Bulls had Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen, and all his teammates didn't look pretty fair to one guy who was out. .. I grew up in Illinois and people were watching the Bulls Lakers. My parents didn't force me to pull or root in one direction, but they were watching it. I remember the series, '91 Final, Jordan and Pippen never won the championship, and the Lakers won many championships, but Game 1 was a huge effort of Magic, so look at the series. Didn't know. Johnson and the rest of the series after that made a lot of effort (to stop the magic).
They put a lot of effort into stopping this one man who didn't have much help from [James]. Byron Scott and Kareem [Abdul Jabber], who are worthy of the series, have retired and were not Showtime Lakers. He [Magic] retired soon and I was really just fascinated by him. I was really professional wrestling and magic Johnson.
