Tony Khan Comments On WWE's "Tough" Counter-Programming (AEW News)

AEW's Tony Khan addresses "very tough competition" from WWE.

by Andrew Pollard
Tony Khan
AEW

With WWE causing quite the stir by aggressively counter-programming certain AEW events in recent weeks and months, AEW's Tony Khan has now discussed the "tough competition" from the market leader.

Speaking on WJXT News4JAX's Going Ringside, the AEW President was asked about any business frustrations with WWE's counter-programming, to which Khan was quick to point out how "great" a year AEW is having.

"Well, we're having a great year. We've been able to stick and move and make it work really well for us. There's always going to be tough competition, and in this sport, it's very tough competition, the kinda competition that makes you work really hard 52 weeks a year. And for AEW, we're having a great year, we've been putting on great shows, the TV shows have gotten great ratings, we've got great support from our audience, and we've really grown the audience in 2025. Not only have we added HBO Max and put new viewers on streaming, we've got more people watching the shows on cable than we did last year."

Going further, Tony Khan would say how he feels that 2025 has been the best year in AEW history, stating how he feels as if, when looking at AEW's ten greatest PPVs ever, five or six of them would be from this year alone. And rather than being drawn on WWE's strategy, Khan instead chose to keep the conversation more focussed on how good - well, "great", of course - the AEW product has been in 2025, as he promoted this week's Homecoming editions of Dynamite and Collision that take place from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida.

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If you use any of the above quotes, please link to WJXT News4JAX's Going Ringside with a h/t to WhatCulture Wrestling.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.