Tony Khan Reacts To WWE Counter-Programming AEW Pay-Per-Views

Tony Khan is no stranger to spinning several plates at one time, but when it comes to the world of All Elite Wrestling, his sole focus is on the success of his promotion.

In the days leading up to Sunday's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view, it's been rival WWE that has been dominating the headlines.

The company announced an early launch date for its new media partnership with ESPN, that will see all main roster Premium Live Events move to the network's direct-to-consumer streaming service. The first event under that deal will be the first-ever WWE Wrestlepalooza on Saturday, September 20 in Indianapolis, which will go head-to-head with AEW All Out in Toronto.

.@WWERollins joins @GetUpESPN to talk about Wrestlepalooza, the WWE’s first Premium Live Event on ESPN 👏 pic.twitter.com/HLeDBUjzCp
— ESPN (@espn) August 21, 2025

WWE offering counter-programming to AEW shows is nothing new in 2025. In fact, it's almost become common practice. Our Jon Alba was on the Forbidden Door media call Thursday afternoon and asked Tony Khan how he might adjust his plans moving forward.

“We’ve had a great 2025 in AEW and I believe that, in large part, that’s because everyone in AEW is really focused on making AEW a tremendous promotion," Khan said. "We're very focused on AEW and making the shows tremendous. I think we'll have a great Collision on Saturday."

Tony Khan would be lying if he said he didn't keep tabs on what other promotions are doing, he said as much on Thursday's call without naming any one company in particular, and that has shown with his scheduling.

AEW Collision has been moved off of Saturday night numerous times in 2025 to avoid conflicting with a major WWE show, but the exact opposite has been the case when it comes to All Elite Wrestling putting on their marquee events.

NXT Battleground went head-to-head with Double or Nothing back in May, while both Saturday Night's Main Event and NXT Great American Bash were booked on the same day as All In Texas in July. Even Forbidden Door will be going up against NXT Heatwave this Sunday night.

"The most important thing for us to do... is to talk about AEW and work really hard on AEW every week."

AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page | All Elite Wrestling

Khan genuinely sounded unbothered about the direct competition and was rather proud of company's success in 2025, which he said included consistent growth in viewership on HBO Max, TNT and TBS.

His job as company President is to do what he feels is best to keep that momentum going for the rest of the year, into 2026 and beyond.

"We’ve been in business since 2019 and in every one of those years, there's been other wrestling promotions at times doing very cool things," Khan said. "At the very best of AEW, we’ve been super focused on what we’re doing. Not being the only wrestling company in the world, but trying our best to be the best."

It's the company catch phrase for a reason. Tony Khan truly believes that AEW is where the best wrestle. He says that AEW is programming the best TV shows so far in 2025 and he knows that AEW has the best professional wrestling fans. Doing right by them is where his attention will stay, regardless of the head-to-head competition he may face on a given night.

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