Tony Khan Explains Why He’s Glad WCW Failed

Tony Khan has commented on comparisons between AEW and WCW, revealing that he’s glad WWE’s rival company went out of business.

With AEW currently positioned as WWE’s biggest US-based competitor, many fans have pointed out similarities between WCW and Tony Khan’s fledgling company.

Khan has noted that he’s glad WCW went out of business, for AEW’s sake. Speaking with Forbes, Khan noted that WCW’s failure created a gap in the pro-wrestling market, which AEW occupied.

Discussing his high hopes for his promotion, Khan said:

“I’m glad that WCW failed because it created a vacancy for us to come in and succeed, but it made it a fairly bleak period for the wrestling business.”

“I don’t want to be the next ‘blank’ wrestling company of the past—fill in the blank (Khan says of erstwhile promotions McMahon has vanquished over the years). We love wrestling of the past, wrestling of the present and wrestling of the future… That’s what gives us a great chance to retain and gain audience share.”

AEW and WWE are both set to return to touring next month. In some cities, AEW are reportedly selling more tickets than WWE.

It has recently been reported that AEW are “in the red” financially due to big investments in their video games divisions.

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