AEW President & CEO Tony Khan recently spoke with FightingIllini.com to promote the AEW Dynamite episode on December 4 from the State Farm Center in Champaign, IL.
The arena is owned and operated by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where Khan graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance. Khan said he can’t wait to bring AEW to the State Farm Center, and if he could pick just one place in the world to do one show, this would be it.
“If I could pick one place in the world to do one show, this would be it,” Khan said. “State Farm Center is my favorite place. I couldn’t pick a better place to do our tenth show than right here in Champaign.”
Besides his duties with AEW, it was noted that Khan is the Senior Vice President of Football Technology and Analytics for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Vice Chairman and Director of Football Operations of the English Football League Championship team Fulham FC, and the owner and chairman of TruMedia Networks. Despite the heavy workload, Khan says he isn’t stretched thin, but the jobs do require a lot of flying, some tech, and little sleep. Khan said he believes in the various companies.
“At any given time, I have to be looking at different things constantly, and it involves a lot of flying, and it doesn’t involve much sleep,” Khan said. “But I really believe in all those companies, and I believe in all those teams, and we work with great people, and that’s how it’s possible. Plus, technology makes a lot of things possible too, you can be a lot of places at once nowadays.”
The piece also noted that the genesis of AEW started in Champaign back when Khan attended the University of Illinois Laboratory High School and all through college, where he would write episodes of TV for his imaginary pro wrestling company. Khan said his perfect Saturday was watching Illinois football or basketball, then going back home to write a new episode. This creative spirit is what drew Khan to creating his own promotion.
“I started looking a year and a half ago about setting up a wrestling company, when I ran into my friend Kevin Riley, the president of TNT and CBS, at a party in Beverly Hills,” Khan said. “We talked about it, and the ball started rolling. But the idea of doing a show that became AEW Dynamite was born right here in Champaign.”
While WWE still dominates the pro wrestling world across the board, Khan said he believes AEW offers something different. He wants everyone to know that AEW is for everybody.
“We’re bringing a focus on wrestling,” Khan said. “We’re bringing an emphasis on wrestling matches and action taking place in or around the ring. We’ll do great interviews too, but in these segments, we can do it all in the arena and around the ring. We can do some stuff backstage; we just don’t spend half the show backstage. We want to offer people a show that doesn’t insult their intelligence, and really, it’s a fun show to watch. It’s a fast-paced show to watch and has the best wrestling action, but also has the best wrestling personalities. I want everyone to know that AEW is for everybody.”
