AEW's Tony Khan Reveals Biggest Lesson He's Learnt Is To "Be A Better Filter Of Ideas"

AEW News - Tony Khan Details The Biggest Lessons He's Learnt So Far!

by Andrew Pollard
Tony Khan AEW
AEW

Speaking on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast, Tony Khan has revealed that the biggest lesson he’s learned during AEW’s lifespan is to not be afraid to veto ideas that he doesn’t think are up to standard.

In a chat that covered a whole host of various topics, the AEW President explained how he’s learnt to be more accountable, and how that it’s important to trust his own instincts.

“That is being personally accountable. I have to be a better filter of ideas. To be honest, the stuff I liked the least in 2019 was stuff that I had low expectations for. Stuff that I almost scratched. There were things that I didn’t like. By the beginning of 2020, I had pretty much gotten to the point where it was, ‘I should trust my instincts more, and I really need to be responsible and stand up if I don’t like an idea’.
I think this year we’re much more organised, and I tried to get more organised and do a better job in 2020. And I think the shows were more logical and better, and it paid off, because we had a really challenging environment in the pandemic, but we’ve been able to maintain our audience better than any other wrestling show in America. If you look at the stats, from the beginning of 2020 to the end, Dynamite retained the audience better than anybody.”

Elsewhere in this conversation, Khan talked about how Jon Moxley is his favourite person to collaborate with, how Mox and Kenny Omega are the two best wrestlers in the world right now, and also expressed his admiration for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

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One other particularly juicy nugget to come from this latest Oral Sessions podcast, is the news that Moxley – who is, of course, married to Renee – is working on a book.

There’s no details on whether this book will cover the former AEW World Champion’s entire life, stick purely to his wrestling career, or maybe centre on a specific period of that career. Either way, knowing the roads travelled by Jon Moxley, plus his ability to tell a story, should make this book be an absolute must-read whenever it gets released.

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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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.