Tony Khan names Bryan Danielson as person he would trust to put together AEW show

If anything ever prevented Tony Khan from being able to put together an AEW show himself, Bryan Danielson is the person he would trust to do it.

The Hollywood Reporter published part two of a Q&A with Khan on Friday. During the session, Khan was asked who he would trust to put together an AEW show if he wasn’t able to. Khan responded that he’s told his father Shad that, if anything ever happens to him, he should turn to Danielson:

He hasn’t been around as much lately, because he’s been recovering from an injury. But if I got hit by a bus, or if I was ever incapacitated for some reason, the person I told my father that he should turn to is Bryan Danielson.

In addition to wrestling for the promotion, Danielson has also contributed behind the scenes in AEW. Dave Meltzer reported in June that Danielson had recently become more important in AEW creative.

Danielson has been out of action since June due to a broken arm. He underwent surgery after suffering the injury during his match against Kazuchika Okada at Forbidden Door.

The Hollywood Reporter also asked Khan if he’s set a target for when he wants AEW to turn profitable:

I typically talk about how I reinvest a lot of money. I have reinvested a lot of the money we gross in this business. Last year, we grossed over $100 million. This year, we’ll gross far more than $100 million – we’ll see where it ends up. But last year was $100 million, this year is going to be a lot more with video game revenue [for AEW Fight Forever, released this summer], Wembley revenue and the addition [of] Collision. So our grosses will be far higher this year, and I’ve reinvested much of the money we’ve grossed back into the business. I’m still working off the original investment into the business, but have not had to put in more. And then we are reinvesting money to grow it as an international business. We’ve launched the video game, expanded the TV calendar, expanded the pay-per-view calendar and the merchandising.

We have a valuation of, well people have approached me with billion-dollar offers. So the business has grown. I’m not turning over huge cash profits. But as we approach the new media rights renewal, that is really the key not only to weekly profitability and cash flow, but also another large multiplier on top of the business valuation.