AEW Boss Tony Khan Offers Detailed Response To 'Constant Attacks' From Detractors

Tony Khan had a lengthy take on negativity levied towards himself and AEW during ROH Final Battle 2023's media scrum (h/t WrestlingNews.Co). Khan started AEW in 2019 with financial backing from his father, Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC owner Shahid Khan, alongside EVPs Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and The Young Bucks. The promotion's position as WWE's first major alternative for two decades has seen it attract an almost tribalistic base of detractors, which Khan said he has grown used to.

"To be AEW is to be under constant attack," Khan said before explaining, "You do a great show and the next day somebody's saying something negative. You do five great shows in a row, somebody says something negative. You break the ticket record for the most tickets ever sold for a wrestling show in the history of the world and somebody has something bad to say about it. At this point, I don't worry about it." The show touted by Khan was All In, emanating from Wembley Stadium in August. The event has been boasted as having the largest paid attendance in wrestling history, with turnstile figures reflecting 72,265 in the stadium. Attendance figures as announced by AEW place the event as the third-most attended wrestling show. Khan further discussed his belief that a majority of negativity comes from fans on X, because of its engagement. He pointed to other sports organizations, such as NFL, that have their following spread across more platforms and dubbed X an echo chamber. 

"The wrestling's great and everything's great, and still people are trying to tell you there's some problem with it," Khan opined. "To be AEW, no matter how good you do, there will be people coming for you, gunning for you, because that's what this is. There's a reason that every single person who stepped into my position until now has gone out of business. I'm the only one left ... We're addicted and it's worth fighting."