Latest / 25 Whistles with Bobby Bones (A Football Podcast) / Tony Khan On AEW’s Red-Hot Run, Darby Allin’s Rise & The Future Of The Women’s Division

Transcript

Tony Khan On AEW’s Red-Hot Run, Darby Allin’s Rise & The Future Of The Women’s Division · 25 Whistles with Bobby Bones (A Football Podcast)

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the battle Ground Battle. What's
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: up you guys?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Welcome back into the Battleground podcast. In his battle and
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: joining us on the show today, a man that is
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: keeping his streak alive for most appearances on our show.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: You know him as Tony Kahan, but we know him
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: as friend of the.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Show, Tony Khan.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Give it up for Tony Khan and joined the show
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: President of AW, Sir, how are you doing today?
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: I'm doing really well. It's really nice to see you, Tim.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Thanks for having me on the show again.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: So glad to have you back. So let's talk about
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: a big show tonight. AEW dynamite in the main event picture.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: You got Darby, you got brody King. Two guys that
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: know each other very very well, who have had ultimate
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: matches over the past several years in and outside of
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: an AW Squared circle.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: How are we feeling about the card and that match tonight?
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: There are so.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Many great matches, multiple championship fights. What a huge world
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: championship match Darby Allen versus Brody King, two of the
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: most popular stars, two guys who were close friends and
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: have never hesitated to beat the stuffing out of each
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: other repeatedly. I can't wait for the World Championship match tonight,
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Darby Allen versus Brody King, the TNT Championship fight tonight,
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: Women's World Tag Team Championship fight. So much on the
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: line on a Wednesday night on Dynamite, so much great wrestling,
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: and it's all coming your way tonight, eight pm Eastern,
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: seven pm Central Time for you in Nashville, Tim, I
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: know you got listeners all over the country, so I
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: got to cover multiple time zones to cover all these
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: great Battleground listeners tonight on a Wednesday night, and.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: You're just giving this for free on cable TV like that.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: You look at the card, you talk about it. This
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: is like pay per view type matches that you're throwing
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: out there tonight.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: The find people at TBS and HBO Max compensate us
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: very very well. This is a great, great show. We
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: do it fifty two weeks a year. We put on
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: the biggest matches Wednesday night Dynamite and it's tonight. I
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: love a Wednesday and we've got a great lineup on.
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: The show tonight.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: You don't want to miss it because AEW is red
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: hot right now.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And you mentioned aw red hot, absolutely cooking right
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: now is what AW is doing. When you look at
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: AW in twenty twenty six, what do you think the
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: company is better at now than it was even just
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: two years ago.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: Well, I think we have the greatest roster of pro
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: wrestlers in the world. I think that right now ADW
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: has been putting on great matches. Twenty twenty five was
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: a great year for AW also to your point, and
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: I think over the last couple of years we've just
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: hit our stride.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: Some of the rivalries have gotten very intense.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: We've got these awesome fights tonight that are a great
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: example of that, and every we've got big rivalries, big
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: fights coming up, and the fans love watching AW Dynamite,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: and I think that's why we're in such a hot
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: run right now. We've also been having great shows on
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: Saturdays Saturday. Collision has been putting on great shows every
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: weekend on TNT and now on TBS tonight. Some of
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: the biggest wrestlers and some of the best in the
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: world are going to be fighting on Dynamite.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Tonight right absolutely.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: And of course AW fans they always debate the balance
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: between you know, long term storytelling and giving people those
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: unexpected you know, anything can happen moments. As the person
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: who is steering creative, how do you know when to
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: stay patient and how do you know when to hit
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: the gas?
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Well, I think that with Wednesday Night Dynamite, we're putting
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: on huge shows every week, but there's also things always
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: simmering and building up for the next show, for the
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: next Dynamite Collision pay per view, And that's one of
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: the things that's really exciting. When you come to Wednesday
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Night Dynamite, you know that you're gonna get some great
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: matches out every week, something unexpected can happen and it
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: can set up big matches for the future. We're coming
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: up towards Double or Nothing in New York, the original
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: ADW pay per view event. It's incredible now that we've
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: been running for seven years and with aw Double or
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: Nothing coming up, that's always an awesome time of the
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: year and it's always an awesome time to watch Wednesday
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: Night dynamind.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think with me and everybody else is
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: an aw fan. The long term storytelling paying off, and
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: one of those that has paid off very well is
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: of course the Hangman page at MJF Rivalry something that
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: you planted the seat back in.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: What twenty nineteen when Brett Hart.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Revealed the AW title, how often do you actually get
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: to see a long term story land exactly the way
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: you drew it up?
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Well, the great thing is so many twists and terms
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: have happened. Those two were put in a position at
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: the very beginning of AW where we said, these are
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: two hand picked challengers. We think these are going to
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: be too top stars in the future. These are young
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: guys we're going to build this company around, and in
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: the future we believe they'll make good. They did both
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: make good in their own ways. They've both been the
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: AEW World Champion multiple times. They both had great rises,
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: falls and rises.
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: Again.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: Both of them do not like each other at all.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: It is a real rivalry Hangman and MJF. It has
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: been very personal. They're very different people, and from the
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: beginning of AAW that rivalry is something where we said,
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: we want to put these two in a position and
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: we believe they're going to succeed, and they have time
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: after time after time. All we did was set them
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: up with opportunities, and then every time Hangman or MGF
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: has had a big opportunity, they always come through and
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: it developed into one of the greatest long term rivalries
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: in AAW.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: Last year they.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: Had some huge matches and then they had this incredible
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: Texas deathmatch at AW Revolution. And to think, here we
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: are twenty twenty six. These are the guys we said
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: in twenty nineteen we believe in the future.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: The future is.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: Now and Hangman and mjf are the present in pro wrestling,
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: and both of them have had incredible, incredible runs as
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: world champion. Now another wrestler who was there at the
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: very beginning, somebody who we said we really believe in
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: at the very beginning of this company, somebody who will
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: take any chance to get to the top of pro
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: wrestling for his fans and because he enjoys doing it.
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: Darby Allen is the world champion. And Darby Allen's also
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: been here since day one. And we have such a
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: great group of young wrestlers that have worked so hard
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: over the years to establish AW, to establish themselves. They've
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: done a great job at it, and we've had great
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: champions and we have a great champion right now who
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: will be defending the championship tonight with Darby Allen versus
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: Brody King, Big Bad Brody, one of the best naaw
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: That should be an awesome world title fight tonight. We
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: talk about MJA MJF aiming to become the TNT Champion
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: for the first time ever tonight to kick off the
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: show on tbs SO at seven o'clock there in Nashville,
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: eight o'clock on the East Coast. That's gonna kick off
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: dynamite tonight, MJF versus the TNT Champion.
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: One of the best.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: Young wrestlers in the world, one of the best wrestlers
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: right now in the world, The Jet Kevin Knight, somebody
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: we really believe in, somebody who's coming recent years into
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: aw was trained in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Boy, the
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: Jet Kevin Knight has everything it takes, in my opinion,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: to be a top top world champion, and he's already
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: proven it as a world trios champion multiple times and
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: as the TNT Champion. This is a great wrestler. That's
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: gonna be a great fight tonight. We will have Kevin
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: Knight versus MJF. And it is possible tonight MJF will
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: become the TNT Champion for the first time ever. Also
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: possible that the Jet Kevin Knight will back up everything
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: he's been saying, and that's gonna be an awesome way
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: to start Dynamite.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Tonight definitely gonna be an incredible night for Dynamite for sure. Now,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: you mentioned Darby Allen, and Darby Allen has been day
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: one since AW.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: He was one of the pillars there.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: What made this the right time to lean heavily into
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Darby becoming the AW World Heavyweight Champion and being the
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: top of the company.
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: Well, I think right now, Darby Allen is red hot.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: He is the person who had the guts to step
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: up and fight MJF. He's a person who successfully maybe
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: outsmarted MJF, outworked MJF for sure, and was able to
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: take the championship. We've seen a long line of wrestlers
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: line up now that want a shot at Darby Allen
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: in that championship, and that suits him very uniquely. We've
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: seen when Darby was the TNT champion multiple times. This
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: is a guy who takes on all comers, who will
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: fight anybody, any place, anytime, and we have so many
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: great wrestler here in AW willing to step up to
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: the challenge. Darby's first defense of the championship I thought
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: was a phenomenal match. Darby Allen last week versus Tomaso
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: Champa for the world title was an incredible main event
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: in my opinion on Wednesday Night Dynamite last week. And
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: this is the kind of pace Darby Allen fights when
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: he's a champion. We've seen this before with Darby, but
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: never is the world champion until right now.
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: It's really amazing to see.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: Him in this mode as a world champion that will
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: take on anybody and is willing to have great matches
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: every single week on AWTV.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you mentioned the names of the roster that
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: you've got there, and you throw out the names of
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: MJF and Kenny Omega and Moxley and Osprey and Darby.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: AAW has a lot of guys fans see as main
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: event pillars. Is that a blessing creatively or does it
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: make the booking more difficult for you because you've got
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: such amazing talent.
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: Well, I think it's a great thing.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: It's a great thing to have so many awesome wrestlers
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: under one roof, and AAW is where the best wrestle,
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: and that affords us the ability to bring in the
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: best wrestlers. We've had so many of these great stars
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: from the very beginning, and the quality of the wrestling
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: in aw right now is the best it's ever been.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: And I really believe that we have so many great
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: stars that even when we lose a top star due
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: to injury, so many top wrestlers come fighting for that spot.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: And that's what's happening in aw right now. Anytime there's
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: an opportunity, you're seeing all the wrestlers come out of
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: the woodwork looking to fight for the big championships, just
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: like tonight, a night with multiple huge championship fights all
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: in one show. Tonight Wednesday Night Dynamite aw.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Tune in watch it live tonight.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Now you've described John Moxley's arc in twenty twenty five
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: is one of the best stories you've ever worked on.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: You called it Moxley's metamorphosis, right. What is it about
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: that character that lets you keep reinventing him without ever
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: making it feel like a reset.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: Well, John is one of the most captivating TV personalities
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: I've ever seen. I think John Moxley brings wrestling fans
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: to the screen every week.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: He's very captivating.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: And now we've seen John Moxley's taken a fascination in
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: will Ospray. We saw will Osprey leaving with the Death Writers,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: maybe not his personal choice at that point last week
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: and then this past week it was very interesting our
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: camera crew was able to follow and get footage of
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: the Death Writers speaking to will Ospray, John Moxley and
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: will Ospray. It was a very interesting conversation and some
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: really interesting things John Moxley had to say this past
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: Saturday on AW Collision, and I'll be really interested in
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: following up on that in the weeks to come. John
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: Moxley has been in AW from the very first show
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: when he arrived in AW at the first double or Nothing,
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: our first ever. It was a perfect way to end
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: our first show. And John Moxley is somebody who's been
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: here since day one. He has reinvented himself, he has changed.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: And to see where we were at the start of
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty five with John Moxley as the biggest villain
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: in AW, the man who was the world champion at
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: the time and held the World championship hostage and was
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: the biggest villain in AW in so many ways, and
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: it felt at times like he was almost trying to
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: take down Aw holding the belt in the briefcase, but
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: that was the opposite of what John was trying to do.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: And then it became apparent John Moxley was waiting for
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: somebody to step up to him. He was forcing people
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: to step up to him. He was making people better.
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: And then he went into the Continental Classic. Some people
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: thought John was at a low point, but actually John
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: was seeing things clearly for the first time in.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: A long time.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: And John went through the Continental Classic, and at the
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: beginning a lot of people will still consider John Aw's
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: biggest villain. Yet through the tournament, as it went on,
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: peoples got behind John, and when we got to world's end,
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: John became the crowd favorite in the tournament and it
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: was the first time in a long time that we
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: had a building of fans channing Moxley Moxley. And then
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: when John won the Continental Classic at the end of
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: the tournament, the speech that he gave in many ways
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: was the complete opposite of everything John had said a
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: year earlier about Aw, because he had created and forced
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: the change he wanted to see. And when he spoke
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: glowingly and said adew is the best wrestling company in
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: the world and gave these passionate words at the end
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: of his Continental Classic victory. That was one of the
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: greatest wrestling interviews just in my opinion i've heard, and
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: the way that the crowd got behind John, even though
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: I don't think they all realized that was what was
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: going to happen at the start of this tournament. I
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: thought it was incredible his matches in the tournament, the
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: final defeating Kazusko Okata and the amazing semi final match
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: against Kyle Fletcher. That was just a great night in Chicago.
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: It was a great night of wrestling for fans all
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: over the world at World's end, and I really felt
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: like John ended the year on the highest of notes,
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: becoming Continental Champion and redeeming himself in the eyes of
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: a lot of fans who thought John had gone to
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: a dark place. And now the fans cheer for John
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: Moxley again, whether he's doing the right thing or not,
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: and in this case, I think he is doing something
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: very interesting. And it remains to be seen what the
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: future holds with will Ospray and the Death Riders, but
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: it's a very interesting thing that's happening right now and
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: John Moxley is so important to AW. Will Osprey is
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: now very important to AW. And I can't wait to
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: see what's next with the Death Riders.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, of course.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: You know fans, they are very vocal when it comes
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: to wrestling.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: You see them on social media.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: And when fans start to see like, you know, this
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: up and coming independent wrestler coming up or an available
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: free agent, the immediate reaction, as always Tony has to
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: sign everybody. Obviously you can't sign everybody, but what separates
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: a great free agent from someone who is actually right
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: for AW right now.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: Well, timing is a huge aspect of things, and there's
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: a timing aspect always any things. I think for AW fans,
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: AW is where the best wrestle, So having the ability
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: to bring in top free agents from all over the
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: world is always something really exciting. We've got a great
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: roster of women and men, always looking to expand and
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: grow when there's an opportunity and somebody's going to come
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: in and add make it a better wrestling company.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: And you mentioned the women's division, and there's been a
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: lot of move pieces. There's injuries, new faces, people coming
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: back like Camille Big expectations. What do you think is
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: the next major step for aw's women's division.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: Well, we've got a great group of wrestlers and having
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: great matches on the show weekly.
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: I thought it was a fantastic tag team match.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: Last week on Collision with Persephone teaming with Alex Windsor.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: Jamie Hayter out injured, is going to be returning very soon,
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: hopefully in the next week, and Persephone teamed with Alex
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: Windsor against two thirds of the Triangle of Badness, Tecla
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: and sky Blue. It was a great tag team match
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: until Julia Hart got involved and swung the numbers and
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: the advantage to the Triangle of Madness.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: That is a very interesting situation.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: I think we have a great TBS champion who's willing
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: to fight all comers with Willow Nightingale the world champion.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: Tecla is embattled right now and has a number of
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: people coming after her, and now some angry people after
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: Julia Hart spit the mist in the face of Persephone,
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: the CMLL world champion last week, and then great interest
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: in what's happening in the women's world tag team scene
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: right now. This week, it'll be the Divine dominion. Megan
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: Bain teaming up with Lena Cross to defend the World
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: Tag Team Championship tonight against Haikaru Shida and Chris Statlander.
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: Sheida and Statlander have been a tremendous team. They have
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: both been world champions as individuals, and they have a
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: chance to become the World Tag Team Champions for the
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: first time ever tonight. That's going to be a great,
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: great match. And everybody has really stepped up. And we
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: have so many great women and men in AW and
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: a lot of great rivalries.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: Right now, right, and you mentioned some people stepping up.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: You called Tekla the MVP of aw's news signings in
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. She came in with a goal to
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: win the world title. She did it, check mark that one.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: How much of what she he's accomplished was the plan
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: from day one? And how much is surprised even you?
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: Well, Techla's tremendous.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: I think she came in and has taken advantage of
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: the opportunities. And there have been injuries, wrestlers unavailable, and
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Techla every time has stepped up and made the most
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: of the opportunities and worked her way into the position
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: to be a world champion. When she came in, she
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: went after one of the top stars.
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: On day one, she attacked Jamie Hayter and.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: Made her presence felt, and that rivalry is still unsettled
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: to this day. And Tecla came in and went after
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: one of the top stars.
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: And now there are a lot.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: Of top stars including Jamie Hayter and Alex Winsor, Per
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Stephanie and many others gunning for that world champion Techla.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: It was a great match a couple of weeks ago,
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: Techla versus Alex Winsor one on one. But Techla has
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: shown she'll resort to anything and do whatever it takes,
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: even if she has to break the rules to retain
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: the world championship. Is the mo of the Triangle of Madness,
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: and I look forward to what's next for tech Love.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: But I also think that so far she's been a
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: great addition. She's a great free agent signing for AW
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: and now a top star in the wrestling business as
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: the AW World Champion.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, she's been incredible watching her every week on TV. Now,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: you have been open about wanting to get AW in
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: more cities around the country, around the world. When you're
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: scouting a city AEW has never been to. What does
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: that checklist look like like? What has to be true
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: before you pull the trigger and say, hey, we're going
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: to this place.
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: Well, it's a great question.
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: I think that for us, we always want to go
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: places where there's great wrestling fans. We've been to so
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: many great places in the past seven years, all across
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: America and all over the world. And AW is available
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: all across the country and all the best markets basically
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: anywhere you can get TBSTNT, HBO Max, they're available anywhere
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: in America. So we have fans in every corner of
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: the country and now in almost every corner of the
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: world with AW being on in over one hundred and
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: fifty countries. And I think always we're looking to go
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: to new cities and find new places, new venues, And
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: there's some cities where there's new venues opening up and
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: we can come to a city we've been to before
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: and see the same great fans, but also see some
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: new fans and see a new building.
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: So that's always fun too.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: And after being around for seven years, we've gotten to
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: watch the arena infrastructure of America update and change a
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: good amount and there's a lot of new venues that
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: we've been able to run, including right there around you,
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: and that's always a good thing when we can come
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: visit you and visit you and your family.
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: That's nice too.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I think you've been just about to every big venue
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: here in Nashville that you've been a part of. Course
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: you're back at the Pinnacle coming up here in July.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Is there one city or country that aw hasn't been
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: to yet that's on your list of like we got
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: to bring them here soon.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: It's a great question. That's a really, really great question.
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: We've had some awesome events in England. We've traveled England,
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: and anytime we go back there, I absolutely love doing that.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: There are a lot of great cities in Mexico that
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: we have not been to yet. We've been to Mexico City,
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: but I think there are more opportunities. Guadalajara is a
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: great town, and there are other cities in America. After
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: all these years where we places where maybe we've done
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: a TV but we haven't had a pay per view yet.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: So there are so many great places that I'd love
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: to go to.
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: I mentioned Guadalajara.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: I think that's one good opportunity for us that could
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: be an awesome place to visit. There are also a
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: lot of big international cities. There's never been AW in France, Italy, Germany.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: These are great markets for pro wrestling and where there's
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: lots of AW fans.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely cannot wait to see what happens when you
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: take those get aw to those fans for sure. Now,
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: as we get closer towards the end of this interview,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: kind of switching gears, we'll talk a little bit about
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: NFL and of course AAW your GM. James Gladstone said
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: that this draft class strategically bold. You got ten picks,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: you traded up, you got Josh Cameron, very big investment
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: in receivers and edge rushers. As someone who also builds
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: rosters in wrestling, do you ever see parallels in how
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: you scout athletes across sports?
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: Yes, I do, particularly in football.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: There are some similarities across NFL and Premier league.
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: Absolutely trying to recruit top.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: Athletes and top people and bring top quality people into
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: your locker room. There are differences. It's a bigger group
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: of people. There's more people on an NFL team than
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: a Premier league team, so it is a more intimate
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: setting and a smaller group that we work with, so
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: you bring in more players every year in the NFL
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: to fill the different positions, especially going into training camp
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: with the ninety man roster, so that is very different.
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: But there are some similarities absolutely in terms of athletic testing,
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: looking for the top athletes, looking for the top people,
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: character references and things of that nature.
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: Wrestling is different.
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: We don't have anything like a Premier League academy and
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: that's a very different way to train young footballers.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: People start playing football in England at a.
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: Very young age and going to the academies as kids,
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: and that is also a very different experience. But I
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: would say there are definitely some similarities and a lot
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: of differences. Probably signing free agents across football would be
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: the most similar avenues in terms of bringing people in
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: because there's no draft in the Premier League, for example,
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: and the transfer window in the Premier League is very
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: different than the free agency in the NFL.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: Right, No, I have great, great stuff right there for sure.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: Now, one thing we have seen on social media and
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: a lot of people have been talking about this, how
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: close are we getting to Kevin Elon and Danny DeVito
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: inside of an AW ring. I mean we've seen him
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: going back and forth. You chimed in as well, so is.
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: Danny back and forth?
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: Because right now it seems like Danny DeVito is scared
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: of Kevin Nalen.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: I think he is maybe. I mean you and Kevin
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: were going back and forth on social media.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: Kevin is ready to fight. I can tell you that
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: Kevin Nalen is looking for a fight. He's looking to
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: come into AW. And I'm a big fan of both men.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: And I think Danny DeVito is such a phenomenal actor.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: He's such a phenomenal star. Kevin Nalon is so brilliant.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: He's a brilliant comedian, a brilliant writer, an actor. He's
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: worked with former AW world champion mjf on Happy Gilmore too.
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: And we've got Kevin Nilan here who definitely wants to
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: get involved in AW which is really exciting. And if
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: Danny DeVito's got the guts, we'd love to have him
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: in AW. So Kevin Neil and I can say, is
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: moving towards becoming all elite. I think so. I really
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: it feels like Kevin wants to be here, and I
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: hope Daniel does too.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: We'll see what happens. Maybe we get it at Wimbley
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: who knows? Who knows? Tony conn is our guest on
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: the show. Last question for you, because this has always
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: been fun to go back and look at. You're one
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: of the only people who can go from booking a
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: world title story to sitting in an NFL draft room
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: while wearing a neck brace continuing a story. What has
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: running aw taught you about the Jaguars and vice versa?
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: Well, thankfully, I've been out of the net brace now
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: for a couple of years, and I think that they're very,
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: very different. It's interesting because wrestling is so powerful, so
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: people have taken a greater interest in some of the
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: things that I've been able to do in football because
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: of wrestling. And I absolutely love the wrestling industry. I
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: love pro wrestling. It's amazing how much in football people
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: ask me about wrestling, and how many football fans are
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: also wrestling fans, and how many coaches and players in
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: football love pro wrestling also in wrestling, how many people
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: love football. Swerve Strickland I had asked to go to
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: the NFL draft. He was really excited to do it.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: He's had multiple interactions over the years with Roger Goodell
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: now at big events like Monday Night Football and big games.
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: So it wasn't the first time.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: They met, but it was always nice to see the
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: commissioner and Swerve together. As I pointed out to Roger Goodell,
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: for me being the commissioner of a wrestling league, it's
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: a lot different. I deal with different things than Roger does,
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: you know. I explained that to him. Swerve and I
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: were standing with Roger Goodell on the sidelines a couple
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: of years ago, and I got to tell him about
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: what it's like to try to keep Swerve in control,
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: this guy who is willing to staple people's faces and
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: do all these crazy stuff, and we'll do anything it
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: takes to win a wrestling match, and we'll break into
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: people's houses, and.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: We'll do all kinds of terrible stuff.
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: And I pointed out, you know, Roger, you don't really
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: have to deal with some of the stuff I have
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: to deal with as a commissioner of a wrestling league.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: So you just show him the spot.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Hey, this is what happens with a syringe meets a lip.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: You know you don't have to deal with that, Roger.
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I told him.
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: About that, and then after Roger left, I noted to
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: swear of you noticed I left out the part about
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: blood drinking.
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: But yes, they have an amazing capacity.
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: To AW wrestlers to take pain and fight through pain,
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: and so do NFL players, and they fight through different
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: kinds of adversity. But pro wrestlers are very very tough people.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: NFL players are very very tough men, and there are
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: a lot of differences and similarities. But it's cool how
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: there are people who are fans of both worlds and
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: it can bring them together.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: Yes, it's definitely fun.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: Of course, you've got AW in the NFL partnership with
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: all the teams getting Luchador mask, which is awesome as well.
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: That is really neat.
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: For years I wanted this kind of collaboration and a
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: licensing agreement with the NFL and AW, and we finally
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: made it happen with the AW Lucha Libre masks, which
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: have been selling really well and I think there's a
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: bright future for that line of NFL AW pro wrestling masks.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: Super excited to get my hands on a Titans one.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: I know Liam has already told me he's getting a
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: Jaguars one and I'm like, I understand, I understand.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: It's okay. The Liams have to stick together.
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: I get it.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: But Tony, it's always an honor and privilege to have
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: you on the show. Before we let you go, anything
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: you want to say to the people watching or listening
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: to this right now.
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: Well, I would like to say hi to your son Liam.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: I wish he was here.
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: He's always bringing energy anytime I come to the studio,
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: so I'm missing him today. So Hey Liam, I to
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: your co host Eli, who's also not here, So it's
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: like a one on one deal with us today. And
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: I want to say hi to all your listeners. You've
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: got a great group of listeners. Thank you for always
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: being so supportive of AW. You've had me on the
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: show so many times. I have to think there's somebody
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: listening to this that has not.
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: Watched AW before.
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: And whether you haven't seen it before, or maybe you
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: haven't seen it in a long time, or maybe you
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: watch it every week, but I would love it if.
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: You would check out the show tonight.
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: It's on TBS tonight, It's on at eight pm Eastern,
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: and for all your listeners there in Nashville, it's on
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: seven pm.
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: Central.
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: But you've become such a big national star across the country.
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: You've got listeners and all these time zones. Now, tim
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: So tonight is Wednesday Night Dynamite. It's on TBS. You
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: can also stream it on HBO Max. You don't want
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: to miss it. It's gonna be an awesome show tonight.
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: And I would love it if your listeners would check
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: it out. I love being on your show, and I
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: would love it if they would come over and check
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: out Wednesday Night Dynamite tonight.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Absolutely love having Tony. You on the show all the time.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Any chance we get a chance to talk with you.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: And again, everybody watching, listen to this right now, watch
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: aw Dynamite tonight. Literally, Tony is giving you a pay
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: per view for free tonight with all the title matches
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: and then you get Brody and Darby.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be a fun time. Tony. It's always an
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: honor of a pillage to have you on the show.
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: Sir, Well God bless you. Thank you for having me
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: on the show. I really appreciate it. It's really nice to
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: see you. Always good to hear from you. Thanks for
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: the invitation to come on the show today, and thanks
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: for watching Wednesday Night Dynamite aw Tonight