Tony Khan Talks AEW Double Or Nothing Having A Full Crowd

Tony Khan joined Busted Open Radio for his weekly appearance to discuss AEW's Double or Nothing PPV tomorrow. Khan called the show the deepest PPV AEW has ever done and revealed some of the things he's most looking forward to.

"It's very fitting that it happens here in Daily's Place where people have been watching AEW wrestling for the past year," Khan said. "But now you get to see it as a full house and see what it's really capable of. I think it's really awesome for the fans who have stuck with us here through the pandemic and attended these outdoor shows in the 25% capacity. Like you said it's going to be so fun for everybody in front of a full crowd. Really, nobody is going to look forward to this more than the wrestlers. The wrestlers are so excited about going out and performing in front of a full crowd again.

"So it's a huge weekend... It's the most we've ever tried to present on PPV. We've got four titles on the PPV, plus the NWA Women's Title is on the pre-show. And top to bottom just huge stuff. Stadium Stampede we learned last year how big it is, and I think it can be even bigger and a more intense fight this year. We really saw what the Pinnacle and Inner Circle brought to Blood and Guts and I think people can only imagine what they're going to do in a rematch. As much as anything, I'm excited after six years for Sting to return to the ring. He had the street fight, but it's not going to be a cinematic match. He's going to wrestle. It's going to be awesome. He's been working really hard for it, and I can only imagine how wild the people are going to go for Sting after all this time."

Khan also raved about the Hikaru Shida-Britt Baker match for the AEW Women's World Championship. He particularly focused on the improvement of Baker in the last year and the standard they had to live up to following Shida's victory over Nyla Rose at Double or Nothing last year."

"When you look back at the transformation of Britt Baker,  she came into 2020 as an established babyface and a respected veteran on the AEW roster," Khan said. "And in 2020 completely changed her character, completely changed the perception of her character, and won the Most Improved Wrestler of the Year award. And really deserved to be the Most Improved Wrestler of the Year I think. She improved in the ring, she won huge matches, she was bell to bell one of the top female wrestlers in our company.

"But as far as the promos, as far as developing the personality and turning Dr. Britt Baker DMD into a main event wrestler, she accomplished so much in one year. And now it's definitely a huge match. She's definitely built huge momentum to become the number one contender. But Shida has beaten everyone she's wrestled in the past year. And going back to Double or Nothing last year, Shida vs. Nyla was a great, great match. Great Championship match. So this match will have a high standard to live up to, and however it goes it'll be really, really fascinating to see. It's the biggest wrestling match we've ever had in AEW for sure."

Another match Khan focused on was Anthony Ogogo vs. Cody Rhodes. He confirmed that Ogogo will be good to go despite suffering a rib injury in training, and revealed that Ogogo signed with AEW after being introduced to Khan by Cody.

"This is a really interesting match," Khan said. "There's a lot of backstory here as has been presented on TV. But also if you follow Road To... and dig into some of the shoulder content and really dig into our programming on YouTube and stuff and follow the bios. Or if you watch the Countdown show we're putting together. There's plenty of further background and biography information. And if you dig into it, Anthony Ogogo, the backstory of him, and this is the truth, is Cody introduced us.

"When I was looking to sign up talent, he was somebody Cody introduced me to. And I met up with him in England, and we hung out in England and I brought him to Kraven Cottage. And people were really excited to see Anthony Ogogo. He's a household name in England as an Olympic medalist. Great boxer, boxing is a huge sport in England. They love boxing in England. And Anthony Ogogo is also a famous spokesperson and just a great athlete. It made sense to train him for wrestling. So Cody and QT were training him for wrestling. And just as QT kind poisoned the minds of a lot of the students and turned a lot of the students on Cody, then Anthony Ogogo went with them. And Anthony Ogogo's really turned his back on his mentor, the person that got him into the wrestling business. So it's the great story of a mentor and a protege in my opinion, but it's also just an interesting athletic match up."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription