AEW President Tony Khan recently discussed why AEW has been criticizing WWE on television in an interview with Ariel Helwani.
“I’ve said it before, I consider all wrestling as competition. Some people ask me why I’ll talk about other wrestling companies, especially WWE, and I’ll tell you. It was literally a book handed to me over three years ago before the launch of [AEW] Dynamite by Warner Media at the time before it was Warner Bros. Discovery. It was telling me what our place [was] already because Dynamite hadn’t launched, but we had carved out a space in the Pay Per View business.”
“They handed me a book. It was [about] how to be a challenger brand. This is what you are. A challenger brand I learned then, three years ago, is not the industry leader, but it is also not a niche brand. It is not that. It is a big company. It is Pepsi [to Coca-Cola.] It is Burger King [to McDonald’s.] What is Burger King marketing? Basically a lot of it is ‘hey McDonald’s sucks guys.’”
“So for AEW, it’s just part of what we are. We’re a challenger brand. There’s no reason to pretend we’re not. That’s what you are. Embrace it. So it is literally a corporate philosophy handed down on high to me by my boss [Warner Bros. Discovery.]”
You can watch the complete interview below:
