Tony Khan Announces TBS Championship Tournament Format, When It Will Begin On AEW TV
As revealed last week, tonight's episode of AEW Rampage will unveil the brackets for the AEW TBS Championship tournament, but that's not all. Appearing on Busted Open Radio, AEW President Tony Khan unveiled the format for the tournament, as well as when the tournament will begin.
"So it is a twelve women field, and we'll announce it tonight (on Rampage)," Khan revealed. "There will be four first round buys. I'm really excited about the field. I think when people see it, it really shows the depth we've built in the AEW Women's Division, just in the past two years. The TBS Title tournament is going to be great. In addition to that twelve women field with four first round byes, the other news I'll give you ahead of the bracket reveal is that the tournament will start tomorrow, live on Dynamite. Tonight on Rampage, we'll announce which match will open the women's TBS Championship tournament, tomorrow live on Dynamite."
Khan has often talked about the party atmosphere AEW fans provide and he did so again here. He also talked about being approached by fans to join in on their tailgating prior to the show and how it connects to AEW's College Football Recap/Dynamite preview on Saturday Night.
"I love it," Khan said. "AEW, to me, is the absolute epitome of a party environment. It's perfect for tailgating and those kind of fans want to have fun. I grew up like that. I grew up tailgating in Champagne, Illinois when I was a kid, went to the tailgates all through middle school, high school. In college we had our own parking space, and we would come in the morning and set up a grill and drink a bunch of beers and go into the game, sometimes. We really had a great time with it. To see fans tailgating before Dynamite or Rampage, I love it. I've driven through and the fans are asking me to join in. Unfortunately I can't do that, because we have a show to do. But I do love seeing the fans out there partying.
"I just thought this would be a cool way to start a transition from what so many Americans are doing with their day into the show. And I'm not saying everyone has to like football. I think it's just a pregame show. It's not going to be part of the actual Dynamite. But at 7:05 eastern, 6:05 central, I just thought it was a very unique thing to do. I also thought it was a good way to remind the fans, even if they're not football fans, it's just a good way to remind people the show's on Saturday. It's a little unusual. We have Dynamite every Wednesday and we're back next Wednesday, but this is something cool we can do. And it's also good to preview the card."
This Saturday's episode of Dynamite will feature Bryan Danielson taking on Dustin Rhodes in a first round match in the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament. Khan was asked about Danielson's impact since joining AEW a month ago.
"It's a dream," Khan said. "Bryan Danielson's one of my favorite professional wrestlers of all time. It's a dream having him here. He's an amazing person to work with backstage and in the ring, I think he's the best person you could ever hope to sign as a free agent. He's had a huge impact on the company already, he's already had some great, great matches to say the least. And I expect another great match on Dynamite tomorrow against Dustin Rhodes."
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