AEW president Tony Khan has been open about his company and its future and his future own relationship with Skydance CEO David Ellisonafter the merger Warner Bros. Discovery, AEW’s media partner in the US with Paramount. During the AEW Full Gear media call, Khan answered questions about the merger and what’s next.
He said the “lifeblood” of AEW on the business side is maintaining a strong relationship with its partner, as the company’s primary income is its domestic media rights deal. He reiterated that he thinks the above change is very positive for AEW.
“I had some very good matches with David Ellison,” Khan said. “I’ve met with him four times and in those four meetings we’ve had great conversations about the future of AEW. Now we still have a lot of time left on our contract and I think we’ve done very, very well and I know he feels we’ve done very well, which is very exciting to hear from a new company owner.”
The AEW deal is set at least continue until early 2028but there is an option to extend it until 2029. Khan said Ellison “has a very high opinion” of AEW, and floated the CEO’s idea of combining HBO Max and Paramount+ into one streaming service.
“I think it creates great opportunities for AEW to grow our viewership,” he said in response to veteran wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer. “When you asked me about the most important business objective for AEW, and I think international growth is very, very important, however, I would still say that the lifeblood of AEW’s business engine is domestic (media rights) and that’s where having these great relationships and continuing these great relationships is very, very important.”
Khan celebrates the successes of 2026
Khan also spoke about the success of his company in the last year. He said not only were ratings strong, but viewership for AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision on TBS and TNT, as well as HBO Max, was “significantly up.” He said paid purchases were also up, even compared to last year, which he said was also a great year for the company.
“It’s all very good timing for AEW to have these great business milestones that we’re aiming for, and we will absolutely look at extending the contract,” Khan said. “We’re not really in the process of doing that as a negotiation right now because we still have a lot of time left.”
The AEW president said he’s not one to “hound people” to ask about contracts, especially with the timing of AEW’s current deal. He told the media that he just wanted to perform and do a good job, something he had previously told Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslaw when negotiating with him.
“”You will always get my best. I’m not after you for money,” Khan said he told Zaslav during their conversations. “I’m not doing it for the money. We need money to make this a strong company and grow the business, and that’s because I love wrestling.” I’m a huge wrestling fan and I think it’s very much appreciated, and we’ve been rewarded with a great media rights deal worth several hundred million dollars over several years.”
Khan was adamant that he was “not chasing dollars” in his conversations with Ellison and Skydance. He explained that he tries to talk mostly about what AEW has done, and Ellison is “very aware” of the company’s strong performance and growth.