Tony Khan On How Successful Last Year's Fyter Fest Was For BR Live, Brian Cage In AEW

Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone recently had on AEW President and CEO Tony Khan on the AEW Unrestricted podcast where they previewed all of the matches that have been scheduled for Fyter Fest. Khan hyped up the shows while also referencing that last year's Fyter Fest, that was streamed for free on B/R Live, ranked number two in customer-acquisition for the streaming service ranking behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson's "The Match".

"It's the kind of environment, typically, that we have on PPV and for our big shows quarterly, and this is one of those," Khan said. "It's kind of in between Double or Nothing and All Out. Last year, it was a screaming special. It was a huge success as a streaming special. It was actually the number two customer-acquisition day ever for BR Live, and they have tons of live sports. It's a great service.

"So we wear it as a badge of honor with all the great European football and all the great sports they cover, but also, the only a sporting event or any event for BR live that ever had exceeded us in terms of customer acquisition on the app was the Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson golf match. So that was pretty cool."

Khan brought up that this year's Fyter Fest was supposed to be in London, England marking AEW's UK debut. He said that they had to change plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic and made two PPV-like shows calling it "one of the biggest things we've ever done on Dynamite".

"I had said after Double or Nothing in the scrum after that show, I really wanted to bring Fyter Fest to England," Khan recalled. "I thought it would have been awesome if we could have done it. That was the original plan for that for this event.

"When that wasn't possible, I realized that it was something that we could still do as a special set of Dynamite's, and when you look at the amount of content in your two-hour show, even without the ad breaks especially when you factor back in the picture-in-picture that we stay with the matches as much as we can, then really across a couple two-hour TV shows, you can really get that action of one big PPV. You have all your big stories and all these big matches, and that's why I think Fyter Fest, as two-week event, is one of the biggest things we've ever done on Dynamite, and I'm really excited about it."

Edwards remarked how big of an event these two Fyter Fest shows will be with six matches on a two-hour show. Khan said he hopes that the shows will not only be satisfactory for their fan base but also attract new fans to their product.

"Six matches. You can't pack any more than six matches into a show, and that's what we got," Khan stated. "Across the two weeks, it's as good as any PPV card we can do, which is saying something because I'm really proud of the stuff we do. It's big for a lot of reasons. It's big for the fans that have stuck with us through nine months of television at that this mark but also over a year of wrestling shows.

"It's also going to be great for people that haven't seen AEW before and tune in for for big events. I think it'll draw in some fans. So I'm excited, and it's also going to just be an awesome show with great wrestling."

Schaivone hyped up the AEW World Title match between Jon Moxley and Brian Cage. Khan revealed that Cage had signed with AEW in January but was not able to debut as he was rehabbing from a biceps injury. He also praised the build-up to the match complimenting everyone involved including Cage's manager Taz.

"It's gonna be an awesome title match. I really believe in Brian Cage," Khan remarked. "Brian, he signed with us in January, but he didn't debut until Double or Nothing. I think it was January when his contract expired. It was early in the year. Brian was rehabilitating an injury for a while. It's hard to believe a guy as big as Brian could get hurt. He seems indestructible, and I think that's where Moxley's going to be looking for an edge on him.

"It'll be really really interesting match. It's going to be also interesting because of Taz and what Taz has done with Brian Cage as a manager, as an advisor [and] as an advocate. The promos have been tremendous, and Taz and Jon Moxley are two of the best talkers in wrestling. Brian Cage and Jon Moxley getting together and wrestling is going to be like a tornado. I think it's going to be a great main event."

Khan commented on the brawl Cage and Moxley had on Dynamite that took out the AEW company car. He said he was not upset about it because he wants those kind of moments on the show. Khan also said that Moxley should be available for the show. It was reported that Moxley's COVID-19 test came out negative after his wife, WWE's Renee Young tested positive. It was also reported that Moxley does not want to potentially expose others to the virus, and he does not want to leave his wife's side while she is ill.

"When Brian Cage went out after him in the parking lot and brought the fight to him. That's what it's all about," Khan stated. "When people thought I would be upset with that when they destroyed the company car with the AEW license plate on it. We use it for our food runs, catering [and] things like that, but I thought that's what Dynamite's all about is great moments like that.

"I was happy to pay that repair bill. I'm sorry about that destruction, but I think that's what it's all about. We would have liked to have had Moxley in action these last couple of weeks, but he's been really banged up since Cage did that, but I understand he will be good to go for Fyter Fest, and I think it's going to be the toughest test we've had for Moxley."

Schiavone noted that Moxley has been a great champion since winning the belt at Revolution. Khan called it a "no-lose situation" noting that Cage would also make a great AEW Champion as well.

"Since he won the belt at Revolution through the match at Double or Nothing, absolutely, he's been a great champion. Like I said, it's his toughest test, but I think Brian Cage would be a great champion too. For us, it's kind of a no-lose scenario. It's gonna be an awesome match."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.