All Elite Wrestling *MIGHT* Be A Player

[Jack-Hammer]

Tony Khan and his father Shad, who is the principle owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and has a net worth of about $7.5 billion, revealed today that they are officially in bed with All Elite Wrestling. Shad Khan put out a statement this morning:

"I am the lead investor, a supporter and a backer of All Elite Wrestling, and I anticipate great things today and into the future for AEW and everyone who has worked passionately on this week's launch. I know AEW will be welcomed by wrestling fans here in the U.S. and throughout the world who are ready for something new and authentic. AEW will work hard to deliver on that promise.
As important, I am the father â?? the proud father â?? of Tony Khan, who will serve in a leadership role at AEW during the 2019 launch and in the years ahead. Tony will assemble a great team to take AEW over the top, for the benefit of everyone who loves the wrestling industry, while continuing to serve in his current capacities with the Jaguars and Fulham. AEW will operate as an organization completely independently from my other interests. It will not deter attention or divert resources from any of my businesses, teams, projects or investments. At the same time, AEW will enjoy the same full commitment I given to everything and everyone in my life â?? my family and friends, my business and, in recent years, to sports, hospitality and now entertainment."

Tony Khan also released a statement:

"Wrestling fans are a community unlike most others. I've been a part of this community since I was 7 years old, and I can tell you that wresting fans see the world every day through a special lens. We see wrestling in Hollywood films and tv shows, we see elements of wrestling in the presentation of sports and in the marketing of grandiose star athletes, and we certainly see wrestling in politics.
The wrestling community is a constant; its members are diverse, we are physically located on all corners of the planet, yet we are constantly connected. Recently, a new family has formed, bonded by love and respect for wrestling but armed with a vision and resources that have never before been available to the wrestling community. Our objective is to connect our community closer than ever before through All Elite Wrestling, or AEW.
AEW does not mean any less of a continued commitment to existing obligations and duties that I have, or my family has, to our business and sports interests. That will never be the case. What's important is that every individual decision we make as family, whether it's ownership or investment in a team or property, is 100 percent beneficial to those specific interests. I will always welcome that accountability and responsibility, as nothing is more important than serving our supporters and friends. AEW will launch with a roster of the top wrestlers in the world. While they'll clash in what will be some of the most intense and fast-paced contests ever sanctioned in the squared circle, they'll also share a common goal: to make this the true golden age, to make this the greatest time ever to be a wrestling fan. Likewise, as a business, by treating our wrestlers with respect and warmth, we also seek to make this the golden age for the performers themselves. I urge everyone who believes in what we're doing, or wants to believe in dreams coming true, to support AEW by spreading the word and passing the wrestling bug onto someone else. My message: Get in on the ground floor with AEW today and help lead our movement to grow the wrestling community and ensure that the voices of the wrestling fans, their creative minds and their remarkable ideas, will always be heard."

So yeah, AEW has financial backing from someone worth more money than Vince McMahon. Having access to lots of financial resources doesn't automatically guarantee success in the end, WCW and TNA are both prominent examples, it does open up a lot of possibilities. In the past, WWE has been able to get away with offering talents a relatively token sum of money to sign with them; if New Japan continues to grow and it's able to truly gain stability in the United States and if AEW turns into a thriving promotion, it means that WWE isn't going to be able to get away with offering less money to top indie names just because it's WWE. Plus, it could mean Vince McMahon's audience of one philosophy would have to go out the window and he'd actually have to genuinely start to take what the fans are into rather than trying to dictate to them what they should be into.

[mooseman]

I would go beyond might be and say they are. The Khan's have fuck you money and Tony is a fan boy. If you're in WWE and you aren't happy why wouldn't you go there get paid the same, maybe more and still have the exposure. This isn't Jarrett not having a place to wrestle so he creates one

[Spidey]

Decent enough rally. PAC, Jericho, SCU, and Ford are all fair acquisitions. If rumors are to be believed with Omega, Goldberg, and JR then AEW may very well be a player.

[Yaz]

The issue AEW is going to have is keeping fan interest. They can sign all the hot indie names and misused WWE talent they want, but a big reason All In drew was the novelty. You got to see guys you didn't see often paired with fresh faces. AEW will have to make sure those guys stay must see once they are in the same promotion and being seen together much more often.

Like I really enjoy Joey Ryan, but part of that is I only get to see him a couple of times a year. If I saw him two or three times a month, I have a feeling his appeal would go down. Same concept.

[smarkmouth]

I think I'm most interested in how the partnership with OWE is going to be received. In a way, I feel like the talent coming in from there are going to be the spiritual successors of Cruiserweights in the 90s. In many ways it's unlike anything wrestling fans are seeing. Not my own cup of tea, but I feel like it was a very smart move.


(GIF via nuclearconvoy.com)

[Jack-Hammer]

They're definitely talking like they're doing things a different way. There's some talk that there MIGHT be health insurance involved for the wrestlers, a lighter schedule and even "equal pay."

The Khans have the sort of money that they could probably provide health insurance for a roster 40+ wrestlers out of their own pocket and it wouldn't hurt them. The old man, as I mentioned, is estimated to be worth about $7.5 billion, though I don't know if that means just cash or if it means cash, stocks, real estate holdings, etc.. If it happened to be straight up cash money Forbes was talking about, just let that sink in for a bit: so long as he doesn't touch the principle, then you're talking about a fortune that generates hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars a year in interest. Plus, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are any number of tax loopholes, legal or otherwise, that he takes advantage of so that his taxes on all that interest aren't as high as you might think.

As far as equal pay goes, it puts me in mind of the sort of stuff that Ryback complained about as to how he thought all the WWE wrestlers should have equal pay and it's something that doesn't really hold up. In the world of sports in particular, which the Khans are all too familiar with, you're going to have some athletes who make more than others because, frankly, they're worth it. Some are more talented, sell more tickets, sell more merchandise, draw more viewers or some combination of any or all of the above and it just sounds too far fetched. Some AEW talent is going to be worth more because of the reasons I cited and if, by some strange happening, that "equal pay" does come about, you might have someone out there putting on 5 star matches every night a little resentful that someone who can't bring nearly as much to the table as he/she does is making the same money.

As Yaz mentioned, there are some challenges ahead of AEW including not only reaching an audience but keeping them interested. I agree with the notion that All In was a novelty, I've said so myself lots of times, and that was a huge reason why it drew somewhere over 11,000 fans. It had the unique aspect of being something new, some even called it the Super Bowl of the Indies, in which many of the biggest indie stars in America were part of it along with a couple of huge stars from New Japan like Okada & Omega and a bonafide legend like Rey Mysterio all on the same card. The second show, Double or Nothing, is set to go down May 25th, I think, in Las Vegas and I'm sure it'll draw well because the novelty factor is still very much in effect right now; the 2 or 3 shows are probably going to draw well, but what about the 12th or the 15th show once the novelty factor has worn off? Also, there's only so much they can accomplish if they don't land a television deal on a relevant network; IF a goal of theirs, even if they're not publicly saying it, is to take on WWE at some point, then a syndicated deal like ROH has or a deal on a nothing network like Impact has won't get them there. They'll be big competition for ROH and Impact, but that's about it. However, any and all concern about WWE shouldn't be an issue right now because they've got to build their brand and that's going to take time. And no matter how much money the Khans pour into the company, they're eventually going to want to see that the investment is worth it and something tells me they're not going to just throw fortune after fortune way in backing AEW, like Panda did with TNA, if AEW can't get to where the Khans think they should be.

[SSJPhenom]

Well, they've got the talent and they've definitely got the backing. IMO, though, this one feels different. All of the other places that have started since WWE became the only major player in the game seemed small and insignificant, however, AEW seems different. They've started off by signing some huge names in the business and wrestling is just like any other sport. How do you attract top tier talent to your team? You show that you're willing to build a winner and contender by signing the best free agents available. They've done that. Now all they need to do is show the fans that are interested that it's going to be worth their time and the fan base will grow. With a growing fan base comes merch and TV. With merch and TV comes legit competition with WWE. Legit competition with WWE brings another boom period in pro wrestling.

We're a few years away from all of that though.

[SD619]

At this point, they have a good platform but still a lot of building up to do. I think that the biggest name that they can sign is probably JR. They have a good talent pool and need someone that has and can build a company. No offense to Cody/Bucks, but booking a promotion with weekly TV (while remaining an active competitor) is a lot more than booking an indie supershow.

The other interesting thing is their partnership with the Chinese company. To this day, WWE has struggled to establish any significant presence in China. If AEW can get even a small share of that market, it would be huge for them and the wrestling business.

[Y 2 Jake]

I think All Elite need to keep away from somebody like Jim Ross, who's synonymous with WWE.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I think All Elite need to keep away from somebody like Jim Ross, who's synonymous with WWE.

And frankly Ross has declined a lot recently. They shouldn't sign him.