Tony Khan says social media makes for ‘healthy competition’ in wrestling

Tony Khan believes social media makes for healthy competition between wrestling companies.

During an appearance on The Rocker Morning Show on WRKR 107.7 today, the AEW president was asked about AEW and WWE taking shots at each other similar to what WCW and WWE did during the Monday Night War.

Khan said:

“In the 90s, certainly, I do think a lot of that helped fuel the wrestling economy but it was a very different time. Things weren’t all online, everybody wasn’t online all the time. It was a very different time for wrestling and a different time to be a sports fan, I think. And it’s changed for sports but I think that those rivalries and those debates in sports are pretty healthy and I think for wrestling too, for better or for worse, it’s a big part of wrestling fandom now. It definitely is a way that people keep up on the shows and watch the shows and for me, I’m a big, big fan of that. I love promoting the shows online and I know that our wrestlers are really engaged socially and it makes for healthy competition, I think.”

During an interview with the NFL Network last month, Khan was critical of WWE and referred to the company as a “really evil juggernaut.” While wearing a neck brace and selling the TK Driver he received at the hands of the Young Bucks recently, Khan also called WWE, “The Harvey Weinstein of Pro Wrestling.” Khan would later tell TMZ that his comments “got tons of coverage for AEW.”

Khan has also spoken previously about AEW’s philosophy regarding being a “challenger brand.” During an appearance on The MMA Hour in 2022, Khan said that Warner Bros. Discovery gave him a book on how to be a challenger brand, similar to how Pepsi is a challenger brand to Coke.