Tony Khan wants to make a great case to once again be considered Booker of the Year.
All Elite Wrestling owner Tony Khan was a guest on Wednesday’s episode of Busted Open Radio with Dave LaGreca and Tommy Dreamer to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When Dreamer commented that every match on this week’s show could be the main event, Khan said that it’s important to listen to the fans and spoke about the amount of build that has gone into the matches seen on AEW Dynamite.
“I think the most important thing to do in wrestling is listening to the fans because, as we’ve seen, the fans are the most important part of pro wrestling,” Tony Khan said. “Even through the pandemic when there weren’t live fans at first at all the wrestling shows for a long time because everything was locked down. I think the fans at home on TV are the ones who kept the wrestling business going, and then when we were able to reintroduce live fans safely to pro wrestling in AEW, they bought so much, and then when we went back on the road, the show’s gotten an even bigger lift, and it’s all because of the fans.
“So I really do love hearing what the fans think. And as far as tonight’s show, I think there’s a lot of really exciting matches and the roster stability. I mean, we’ve been building up some really big issues in AEW, and it’s funny because I think today the fans are so intelligent. And Tommy, I went to see you wrestle when I was 13 years old, and I was with a group of smart tape trading fans. And it was not necessarily the worldwide standard at the time that it is now for fans to have the knowledge of the inner workings of pro wrestling that they do. And I think it’s interesting because when you look at this show, I believe several of the matches have been building for weeks.”
Tony Khan went on to run down the matches for this week’s Dynamite and Rampage and the build that has been done for each individual matchup. Khan noted that he has three months left to get the Booker of the Year award and that he’s going to make a full-court press to get it.
“So there’s several matches that lead off with lots of build, some really long, some several weeks, some months. But there’s a lot of builds on this show and other shows coming up. So it’s interesting because I see some of the stuff people say, and I always want to take anything good faith from the fans, but I do see a lot of people adjacent to the WWE in bad faith talking about the level of build.
“Well, there’s a lot of built around a lot of these matches, and also go back and watch an old wrestling show from the 80s or 90s, and sometimes you’ll see two wrestlers wrestling for a spot wrestling for the winner’s purse. Not every match. A lot of matches, most matches, many matches should have a lot of stories set up, but sometimes you can start something new out of a new match. And that is a trope in wrestling that needs to continue to be a thing. You can call it a cold match if you want, but sometimes things start out of new issues.
“Not everything is going to have weeks or months of build going into it, although a lot of stuff should, so I don’t really find it to be in good faith when I see that, and I’ve seen a lot of it. And we have a good body of work over the year here. And I’ve got three months left to win Booker the year, and I’m gonna make a full-court press to get it. And I’m gonna let people know right now there’s been a lot of build to a lot of this stuff, and if people are telling you there hasn’t, they’re completely full of shit, or they’re just not paying attention, and today is national scissoring day, and I’m not going to take any shit. I’ve got five days left in my 30s, and I’m going to make the most of them.”
READ MORE: Tony Khan: Investigation Into Backstage Altercation At AEW All Out Is Still Ongoing
What do you make of Tony Khan’s comments? Have you enjoyed the recent build to some of the recent matchups in All Elite Wrestling? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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