AEW ALL IN 2024 Media Call w/ AEW President Tony Khan

hello everyone thanks for joining us today for the opportunity to catch up with Tony KH ahead of aw Allin London once again live on pay-per-view from Wembley Stadium this Sunday the 25th of August we have a great turnout for today's session with Tony so let's get started but first our traditional reminders please do not ask two-party questions I'll make it possible for us to get to as many of you as possible and we'd appreciate you keeping the topics focused on AW All In London so with that I'm going to turn over to Tony for some opening thoughts and then we're going to open the lines for your questions Tony good evening good evening Jim thank you very much and thank you everybody for joining us I'm really excited about this week this is my absolute favorite week of the year it's going to be such a great time here in London and I'm excited to talk to all of you this is a great part of that week and I'm excited to get all your questions uh ahead of question and answer part of our traditional session here I did uh want to address one thing before we begin I just wanted to address some reports regarding aew potentially running an event in Australia we can confirm that we're currently looking at various locations in Australia to potentially run an event sometime next year in 2025 we'll have more information about this in the near future 2025 is going to be a milestone year uh just as this is a milestone year I think 2025 even more great Milestones to come I'm excited to talk to you all right now about aw Allin and in 2025 we just announced Allin will be coming to Globe Life Field next July and I want to thank our partners at rev entertainment Texas Rangers mayor Jim Ross and that Arlington Sports Commission in Texas for helping to make all that possible uh it's a really exciting time for us and excited to talk to all of you about what's to come this week with Allin aw Allin London at Wembley Stadium just days away I thought we had a great debut dynamite in Europe our first ever UK Dynamite our first ever Dynamite outside of North America last night and I thought it was a tremendous show as a go home Dynamite ahead of this big pay-per-view weekend I'm really looking forward to the weekend television also and of course uh the big enchilada that is aw all in uh and with that Jim let's start the questions right strong start there Tony here we go Andrew badala from final Bell Media will lead us off and I'm gonna ask Joel Torres from Calona to be on deck Andrew you lead us off Drew you there Andrew Drew I think you need to unmute yourself there you go hello can you guys hear me hey what's up Drew hey Tony sorry it wouldn't let me unmute myself thanks for taking the time good luck on Sunday congratulations on the over 50,000 I've noted uh re in recent interviews you've mentioned that aw will be back in the UK in 2025 considering what you just said and the incredible crowd turn out and enthusiastic audiences especially last night that we've seen in the UK it seems like the ideal Market to bring more events to with that in mind is aw considering bringing a pay-per-view and television back to England in 2025 or the UK certainly on the table it's definitely something we would consider I absolutely love the UK I've spent a lot of my life living in England and specifically in London and I absolutely love it it's great being back here and it's great traveling uh in the UK and in this case it was our first ever aw show in Wales and the first time we've done TV in the UK at all uh it's really exciting and there's so many great cities throughout the UK uh and you know I've driven all around London and uh you know from from Fulham uh not only playing and uh all the great teams here in England but also uh traveled to Wales for football you know many times and there's lots of great cities uh all over the UK and I know from experienc in English football there are a lot of great towns with really passionate fans and that this is a great place to be and you see it in wrestling that uh that crowd last night was just magic and they were tremendous for Dynamite and I'm really excited for people to see iion this weekend with that Cardiff crowd and it's all a big preview of what's to come this weekend there's going to be a huge crowd at Wembley Stadium it's going to be one of the biggest pro wrestling crowds we've ever seen and it's going to be certainly a historic night for aw uh and really really really exciting times for us uh not only all the stuff I mentioned leading into this pay-per-view but what's ahead in 2025 and absolutely to answer your question I do think that would be something that would be on the table for 2025 more events in the UK where we've had great success with aw thanks for asking thank you Andrew Joel Torres from contralona is next to be followed by Jason Powell from pro wrestling net Joel everything is okay you just mentioned uh next year's all in in Texas can we have a like a background about how this idea came up to Why Texas after two years in a row in in London obviously this this all in in Texas being the first event in a big in a big stadium in the United States thank you well we've had some great experiences I think some of my greatest experiences as a wrestling promoter I know some of my greatest experiences as a wrestling promoter have been in Texas and I thought that that would make a lot of sense you know Allin is this massive event and and uh it's been the perfect place for the first two years of aw Allin at London Wembley Stadium we absolutely love it here this weekend is going to be massive and it shows the scope of this event for years people have asked when is aw going to bring a pay-per-view to Texas and I always wanted to bring a massive event and we've brought the biggest event possible with aw all in coming July 12 2025 to Texas of course we're days away from aw Allin 2024 and now fans know what to expect and I have every expectation we can fill up a globalized field just as we brought these great crowds here in London and uh I think that the way it came about there's a lot of really great people working here and uh for a long time I've wanted to do a pay-per-view in Texas personally and this made a lot of sense uh with this opportunity and koser Herby the co of a and the great Live Events team here uh you know had this idea and when I recruited cooch from Clemson University where he was the CMO and and had past experiences working in wrestling this was an initiative he felt really strongly about and it's something I've always wanted to do as a wrestling historian myself and a a wrestling promoter it means a lot to be able to do that and I can also confirm now officially today uh as a wrestling promoter in London this weekend that I'm going to be bringing some of that uh great Texas tradition here to London this weekend because I can confirm that the Von Erics will be here this weekend and it means so much to me ahead of a big event like this to have the von Eric family here a part of it with us in aw because aw is a family and it's great to have them with us and going into Allin next year I hope they'll continue working with us and it's it's an honor that they had us in their territory the von Eric and and great to have them here at aw all in London and looking forward to a big year in Texas uh next year as well but and and all eyes on London this weekend too thanks for asking thanks Joel Jason Paul from pro wrestling net is next to be followed by Jim velone from the Miami heral Jason recent head will say uh it seems like you're pretty happy with wbd and Max these days I'm actually curious about the exclusive exive negotiating window did you ever run past that exclusivity period and if so how much interest has there been from other potential Network and and even streaming Partners it's a very fair question and I think uh it's it's absolutely right for you to ask that I am in a very uh exciting time personally and professionally right now with everything happening in aw very excited about the show this weekend but there's a lot of things happening in the office and uh meetings site and phone calls and uh it's an exciting time and the Warner Brothers Discovery relationship has been very strong for us uh including this summer I was able to go to Paris and spend a lot of quality time with uh Mr David zoff and Bruce Campbell and the executive team and uh there's a really great relationship between aw and Warner Brothers Discovery and it's never been stronger it's really in a great place uh and as for the exclusive negotiating or talking to other parties you know I I'd prefer not to get into any of that or talk about I think we have a a really good thing going and uh I think we have a also frankly I believe I hope aw a good relationship with the wrestling media at least I try my best uh to be accessible and talk about things when we can um but right now with the with the company in uh an exciting time where you know there's there's been a lot of reports a lot of things said but I do think uh everybody is starting to get a sense that there's a lot of excitement around aw as a as a hot property it was the number one show on television last Wednesday night on all of cable and satellite and has uh continued uh to to you know really not only perform strongly the television product but also continue to uh create huge new revenue streams and opportunities and also uh that has just been having great shows and on a string of really I think great great TV show shows I'm really proud of this run of dynamites I think since forbidden door leading into Wembley the TV has been excellent in my opinion I'm really proud of it and I think it's there's been a lot of great pay-per-views and a lot of great shows this year and I know that aw Allin this weekend is going to be absolutely tremendous so as a as a wrestling promoter and and a creative person in wrestling I'm very excited about what's happening in aw but as a business person also very excited about growing this business because uh we have great opportunities out there and we're very blessed to work with a great partner like Warner Brothers discovery that treating us incredibly well in these negotiations right now and uh it's a very complex negotiation I mean it's it's not as simple as as shaking hands and slapping uh a couple numbers down on paper there's a lot of things to figure out and uh it's an exciting time for us to hopefully uh create some very new opportunities to grow aw in exciting new ways uh and build what we've build on top of what we've really done over the past five years thanks for asking Jason thank you Jason Jim barcelone from the Miami Herald is next and I will follow Jim with a WR in from John paw from Sam wrestling first Jim hey thanks everybody this will be really exciting you know aw Allin London always a hot crowd there too I'm curious because on the card uh you have three matches focusing on women and that's cool and and out of that rip Dr B Baker's back and Mercedes mon is ated timeless Tony stor IMA what they've been doing Willow Nel Chris statl Camille that's the one a blue chipper what are your thoughts of adding Camille to the roster and even her being a part of this well Camille's a great part of the roster in aw now and we love having Camille the brick house here in aw uh she has been instrumental in Mercedes Monet's dominance since uh you know in particular this past month and we've seen a lot of interactions with Camille and Dr Britt Baker we've seen a lot of interactions uh with Mercedes Monae and Dr Britt Baker it's an exciting time and exciting program and you know Camille being involved here is great and like you said there's a lot of great things happening and I'm really blessed to work with this great roster and the great team we have in aw and I feel really good about the shows I've been uh really happy about each of those matches you named and I think uh it's been a long time in the making I'm really it's so excited about Timeless Tony storm versus Mariah May to come to London and a story that's been ripped straight from the West End and uh a story uh that has come uh from the hills of Hollywood to here in here in London this this awesome opportunity for aw to uh have this great aw women's world championship match with Tony storm and Mariah May and uh tell this story uh Timeless Tony Storm's rise since last year's aw Allin has been medior and we've seen the evolution into Timeless Tony storm one of my personal favorite stars in all of wrestling and somebody I really believe in and her former Protege Mariah May it's been a a story of long time coming and it's crazy to think how far it come in a year uh but it's something I thought about and wanted to see here at Wembley Stadium in this spot for over a year now and have and have thought and worked and planned with a our great team and then to have uh like you said uh it's it's tremendous to have Dr Britt Baker and Mercedes Monae two of the top stars going one-on-one to have the DMD versus the CEO for the TBS title that's tremendous and that you know aew all in is the place for these huge dream matches and that's a match I think a lot of fans have wanted to see for a long time two of the top rising stars in women's pro wrestling Dr Brit Baker aw's original homegrown uh star taking on Mercedes Monae one of the biggest free agent acquisitions ever for the TBS Champion chat one of them is going to be the face of aew on TBS going forward and I'm so excited about the DMD versus the CEO for the TBS title I think it's a huge match and uh we've seen a lot of interest in it from everything on on TV Dynamite Collision this past week and also uh ComicCon and outside of wrestling so that's tremendous and Willow and Chris statlander have continued to uh build that rivalry the former friends we've seen a lot of great matches and uh I'm excited for this and uh we'll be excited to see two wrestlers uh with very little in common uh with either of them or with each other and Tomo hero isi and stokeley Hathaway involved as well it should be a great show I'm really proud of what we're doing in aw top to bottom the women and men in this company all of them are doing a fantastic job uh and uh the the men and women here are uh going to put on a great show this weekend with aw all in top to bottom thank you Jim Tony here's a write in from John Paul from Slam Wrestling and then Amy nedy from Russell Joy will follow John's question is pretty simple how how proud are you at being able to highlight many UK talents during the show that's a great question I'm very proud we have some top wrestlers in aw who are from the UK and have competed extensively in the UK and it's something I'm very proud of you know you want to have those homegrown Stars just like in the Premier League there's a league of top stars from all over the world competing in this Elite Sporting League and you want to have the Homegrown stars and you want to have the top competition the top Stars they come from all over the world to play in the Premier League or wrestle in aw it's great to have the Homegrown Stars too and here in London specifically but also all around England in the UK uh there's top top wrestling and some of the most passionate exciting wrestling fans I've gone to wrestling shows all over England and I love uh pro wrestling here and it was great to have aw make our debut in Wales last night as well uh and it's great to be able to feature a lot of the great UK wrestlers on the aew roster and I think the fans when we're wrestling doing dynamites collisions Rampage and pay-per-views the large percentage of them take place across North America and US and Canada and you know week in week out you still see top UK wrestlers on the show and then when we come here to Europe and and wrestle in the UK there's so much excitement when aw's in town or or just in the country and I think you know it really speaks to how great our homegrown wrestlers are and our our International talent and uh that's a real point of Pride for aw absolutely especially when we're here in London and and here in the UK thanks for asking thank you very much John Amy neity from Russell Joy is next to be followed by Mark O'Brien from body slam and Irish Wrestling Entertainment Amy hello Tony can you hear me yeah yeah I'm here hey hey picture hi so you had mentioned earlier about being a promoter and a historian and a creative mind in wrestling and to that end I'd actually really like to dive in a little bit more on Timeless Tony storm and Mariah May so this is one of the most anticipated matches on the card this storyline has become perhaps arguably the greatest women story line of all time and certainly one of the best in professional wrestling captivating fans all over the world you've drawn parallels with Golden Arrow Hollywood movies such as All About Eve Sunset Boulevard Baby Jane among others last year at Allin the story really began taking shape with Tony storm as she started coming out to that black and white movie reel for her entrance and Mariah May made her debut just a couple of months later as we begin to look forward to what could maybe be heading to the final curtain call can you talk about the process of bringing the story to Wembley and has it shaped how you've been developing memorable storylines in aew across the board thank you thank you for asking it's personally for me one of my favorite things I've ever worked on I I thank so much of uh Timeless Tony storm and Mariah May and I think that they're GNA have a great match I loved the pairing and working with them and it's something I'm really proud of uh and when it came time when that when that fiful day happened for Mariah to flip the switch and make the turn uh I thought it was one of the greatest moments ever in aw and one of my favorite wrestling moments when Mariah turned on Tony at the culmination of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament and for their match to happen on this huge stage the biggest stage na aw and and and this Grand pro wrestling stage Wembley Stadium the sporting Mecca I just think it's perfect and it's the perfect City for the Rivalry to culminate in too as one of the world's capitals of the Arts and that's what this story is inspired by and um uh I I love those films Sunset Boulevard I saw many many years ago and was a classic and All About Eve I saw when I first started Living in La it was a movie that a friend recommended to me about 10 years ago and I watched it uh before I had a house in La I was saying in the London Ironically in the London West Hollywood actually and uh very fittingly and uh waiting uh for to move into a house and then uh uh uh you know many years later obviously with aw and uh we were back AG I can't remember what city I was in but uh it was at a dynamite and I was talking to Tony storm and I told Tony storm that I saw something here and there was a uh an opportunity to create a new character and it's something that I thought was her and the best wrestling characters are when you see something in a wrestler and you you turn it up and you go past the 10 on the dial like in spinal tap try to go to 11 with with that thing and really uh show the fans that side and to me Tony storm is this just classic personality and I think she's so so elegant and Brilliant and uh articulate yet she's this tough lady and she reminds me a lot of Betty Davis and All About Eve she's much younger but the idea of having this real hardened veteran who is just so classy and bigger than life and to me that that star of the screen in that forgotten black and white era that's Timeless Tony storm who's Timeless and it could be in any era but she captures that Elegance uh and that Essence and so that's what I saw uh Tony Storm's character really changing and this was over a year ago this was like last summer probably early actually would be really I think it was right after double or nothing and I started to think about because it was all one story and you know not only for Tony that I saw this progression but an opportunity to do something and tell a bigger story and Mariah is the uh the CounterPoint in that story and and it was right after double or nothing last year when I first reached out to Mariah to come to aw and uh she was very uh eager uh to be part of not only aw but to work in such an exciting story and there were parts of it that I don't think anybody that you know necessarily everybody's watched all the films that I was talking about or all the references so I started working on this and this idea of building uh this partnership and this toship and really introducing Mariah but then getting the ACT where uh they became an indispensable part of AW Television and really Inseparable where you saw Tony storm you saw Mariah May and Luther and uh you know he's a he's a important part of the story too and and he's been uh at Tony's side the whole time and when you look back at when Mariah debuted I put Luther in right around the same time by Design and I had uh not only because he he Bears some similarities uh to Norman Desmond's husband in Sunset Boulevard sorry for the uh nor Desmond's Butler in Sunset Boulevard uh and uh and uh that um spoil for anybody who hasn't seen it it's been you know been like 70 years so uh I can't say spoiler alert at this point but uh yes so uh I think um it's uh really really uh been a great thing working with them and uh introducing the references and the stories but then another person along the way who you know it's like if you're coaching a team you can't coach a football team by yourself you can't coach a basketball you need great coaches that are going to do a lot of work and they're philosophically similar and there are some people I work with on some programs and ideas that that are good coaches and you know that people that I can put with me good assistant coaches good right-hand people that you know in any sport you need including wrestling and in this case there were not a lot of people there were not a lot of women and men that had all the references and understood what I was talking about and probably for these kinds of references and things and tying it to wrestling the person I knew who actually hadn't really ever worked on any stories with and wasn't really doing that for us at that point it was a was RJ City who's the uh probably one of the more uh articulate and well read uh and certainly about the the cinema uh one of the the best people you'll find around wrestling certainly and uh you know if I was talking about old movies and stuff would be who I went to so I went to him and told him I have this big idea I think there's I can do this I have Tony Mariah Luther I have all the pieces but you know week to week I need uh somebody to come in and really be my right hand and and deal with a lot of the ideas and help me with the writing and help me uh you know uh tie my vision for this together and he's been tremendous and the thing is what's made it all work is it played to everybody's strengths and this is time timely Tony storm is Tony like she's just absolutely this for for somebody at her young very young age it's incredible to have somebody so well traveled and and Brilliant I really love working with Tony and I think that Timeless Tony storm is larger than life and uh that's like her that's what she is and then Mariah introducing a new star to the American television audience it's not necessarily how we always do it the way we did it a lot of times we debut people off of their uh Indie gimmick or their gimmick internationally they've done or we bring in a wrestler from overseas or another company and try to do a presentation like of what they've done in wrestling and in this case it was not Mariah's presentation she was doing in wrestling it was something totally different and I think she at first probably was wondering why I wanted to do that but then when you see the story and the plan it makes sense um and you know most people come in to aw historically a lot of times will bring people in and and they do what the fans have seen if they came from Ring of Honor New Japan Pro Wrestling or we're a Lucha star typically we've done things like that that's what I think makes it even more interesting when you introduce a new character that's completely different from what they've done before it might mean frankly that I have a big plan for somebody like Mariah May or hologram in fact uh so uh like and in Mariah's case uh to come back here to London and uh like I said one of the world's leading capitals of the Arts and entertainment and also pro wrestling and also her hometown and for the Pro toj to step out of the shadow of the mentor in such a uh really memorable indelible way in pro wrestling when Mariah turned on Tony I think it's very fitting that they have the match here on this Grand stage at Wembley Stadium this Sunday just hours from now really at aw all in it's been a long time coming and uh and it's also been one of my favorite things I've ever been able to work on so uh credit to everybody involved and to the the fans who uh have really supported it and believe in it thank you thanks Amy Mark O'Brien from body slam and Irish wring entertainment is next to be followed by Ella J who has a writing question Ella is from a wrestling gal Mark hello can you hear me yeah hi hi Tony listen thank you very much for having me on H firstly I'd want to say congratulations this is two years in a row sold more than 50,000 tickets in Wembley I'm not sure people on the call will fully appreciate this time of year all the football teams are back this is the UK bank H all the kids are going back to scho incredible achievement I want to ask you what did it mean to you personally this is following on from last year where there's so many more additional programs and so many more additional pay-per-views being programmed this year across Europe across the UK how big ofest achievement is it this year to surpass that 50,000 number Mark once more thank you that's tremendous and uh and we can do even more it's going to be a great go home week and I expect a great close out had a huge close out last year that was beyond everybody's expectations and I expect we can continue to do that and that's what aw's been doing since the beginning we've been uh defying the odds we've been doing things that have been unprecedented in wrestling and we'll continue to do that it's an exciting time to bring that up as we are embarking on such exciting times with this new media rights uh deal that's going to bring new exciting things to our fans that I'm excited about and the most uh the biggest thing that we have to look forward to is what's just hours away the the the huge event aw Allin and for fans all over Europe for anybody who can make it to London this Sunday I promise you you're gonna want to be there in person if you can't be there it's worth the early start on pay-per-view for all the fans in the US uh you know it's it's an NFL style kickoff it's like 1 p.m. Eastern 10: a.m. Pacific it's NFL hasn't kicked off the regular season yet but we are all used to that kickoff time and I think uh it'll uh be worth the pay-per-view for everybody buys it it's it's such a great event and I think that's why it's been able to draw huge audience for the second year in a row and will continue I believe next year and and for many years going forward with aw all in being this massive platform and great success and it's a huge credit to everybody in aw uh that's involved in that and also to our fans that just keep turning out and supporting us and here in London uh and all the fans coming in from all over Europe and all over the world for this event uh it's really proven to us that we made the right choice coming back here I'm very excited about this event and uh this is my favorite place in the world where I am right now and it's great to be here and excited to bring the best of aw here to stadium in London thank you very much Mark Tony I got a write in here from ell J from a wrestling gal and then we'll follow from uh with Ric aino from Sports Illustrated Ella's got a question regarding one of the big stars of of many stars uh this weekend Brian Danielson and she she says that he's had a quite a storied career spanning 25 years what do you think his legacy is in regard to to all elite wrestling what a great question I think Brian Danielson has come here and the three years he spent with us since his arrival have been a very important chapter in a career that to me is start to finish one of the greatest careers ever in wrestling I put Brian Danielson uh is one of my personal favorite wrestlers ever and somebody who I have so much respect for who's uh built an audience worldwide and had people supporting him before he ever really had that huge International television platform he was already known and established and I don't think uh there's anybody that would work harder or is more respected by their peers and that's why it's an honor to work with him backstage it's an honor to work with him offsite and especially whenever Brian Danielson is at a wrestling show and especially when Brian danielson's in the ring or around the ring uh we're all very blessed to have him he's been a captain of this team in aw and as he approaches The Final Countdown this this Sunday as we're going into uh what could be the final ma match of Brian danielson's entire wrestling career just hours from now certainly I've spent a lot of time reflecting on it I thought we put together an excellent video package highlighting a lot of Brian's career including so many things outside of aw and before aw was even uh a possibility and for decades he's been doing it at the highest level I think there's even more of an emotional component because for so many of us who love Brian and believe in him and are fans of him like I am and and I do I think we all feel like we're living on free time like this is all bonus balls for us right because we all thought he was gone a long time ago and then he came back and now it's all gravy it's like uh everything he's done has been building on top of this great legacy that for a lot of us we thought as a in terms of wrestling matches was probably over a long time ago and what he's been able to come back and do and be in my opinion better than ever and have the run that I think you can hold up against everything he's done and say that it's been the best and that this is the best Brian Danielson I'm very proud of that and up to this point he's continued to excel he's continued to amaze but the person he's wrestling this Sunday is a great great world champion in swerve Strickland and we've seen swerve Strickland uh this is his time and Wembley Stadium uh will be his house and swerve has had this dominant year and in the past year uh ever since last year's aw all in he's been wrestling at the very highest level he's beaten everyone he's faced effectively and has continued to knock down uh people at the very top of the business and also had great matches in the process some of the best we've ever had in aw and that's something the two wrestlers have in common they both wrestled at the highest level and they both had some of the best matches we've ever had in aw and the stakes the highest possible title versus career to have a great Champion putting the championship up against this great career and to have it be at Wembley Stadium and have this massive crowd and and the promise of the drama and the action and for a lot of us what we know is going to be a great match and has been a great story on television I'm very excited for that so uh you know it's it's been a great chapter in aw's history and I also think it's been a great chapter in Brian danielson's career and I'm really looking forward to aw all in and the final countdown for Bryan thank you thank you Ella Rick aino from Sports Illustrated is next to be followed by L Swinson from blavity Rick thanks for doing this as always thank you um so really looking forward to the show this weekend uh I I do want to ask about somebody who's not currently booked for the show I mean obviously there say to assume there's going to be a few surprises in that casino Gauntlet so maybe he's there there um but there has been a lot of online chatter this week regarding Ricky Starks uh even some comments that he may no longer be under contract with aew I'm just hoping maybe you can clear some things up is there anything definitive you can tell us regarding Ricky's aew status and when we might see him on TV again well Ricky's been a great star in aw he's been a champion here and uh has had great matches here and uh I think very highly of Ricky he's uh somebody that has been here for several years and he's under contract in aw he's a well regged wrestler here in aw very much thank you Tony let's go to Lyric Swinton from blavity and we'll follow lyric with Stephanie Chase from Stephanie Chase on wrestling LC L are you with us no he lost his audio um we probably need to come back to him oh we lost her okay this is she well we can get L we can get her back uh okay well L if L comes back we'll get her uh get her question in and uh we can get her another link or something maybe yeah let's try Stephanie Chase next and then we'll try lyric um after Stephanie Stephanie you there Jim and Robin we keep missing good question no here's here's Stephanie oh good all I'm running to get the twin um some UK fans were disappointed that Dynamite didn't ER live last night in the UK and then was delayed on triller was there any effort to meet Dynamite live in the UK last night and what prevented it it's not legal for me to put the show on live in the UK before I put it on to the people that pay 97% of the TV rights these year in Warner Brothers Discovery I think they have earned the first right of uh of airing the show and they have the legal first right to air the show and it can't I can't put Dynamite on anywhere before it airs on TBS and TNT nor should I because I think TBS and TNT have been a great home to us uh I think uh fight has had uh you know at times some uh issues in the Stream of the show I would love to do the show at some point uh if possible on ITV uh and uh you know put the show ideally on at the same time as it's on TBS and TN I just can't jump start if it makes sense our primary media partner because like let's face it in pro wrestling right now those TV rights are a huge huge component of the business and it really drives a lot of the revenue along with huge Tempo events like this one right aw all in so I guess Stephanie what I would say is probably uh for the live solution obviously we had a great live crowd um and uh ideally what I'd like to be able to do is simal cast it but that would still be very late here that's like a 1 a. start it's not ideal so I think for the streaming uh you know this this is an option obviously there are people that stay up and watch wrestling live at a 1:00 am start time I know I have been one of them I lived in eng Glendon I would watch wrestling late at night uh before work and after work in between shifts a lot and uh you know I'm a I'm a wrestling fan who's lived in England a lot too so I do appreciate what you're saying Stephanie that uh people would like to see that live um but you know it's a big it's a a big step for us to to bring the whole company over here to travel everyone over because we want to do the very best possible event we can in the UK with aw all in and also do great TV for the first time we've ever done UK TV here in Cardiff uh and uh that was a very exciting thing but you know there there are obstacles to uh putting it on live but obviously everybody will be able to watch aw Allin live either in person this Sunday at Wembley Stadium or on pay-per-view thank you thank you Stephanie lyric uh lyric Swindon from blavity we're gonna Try lyric again and then on Deck uh Chris Chris Mueller from Bleacher Report lyric sounds like we've got you yes um I'm sorry about that hello Tony um so last week we saw with the um introduction of all in Texas there was a powerful image there um you had um three black stars um in the Ring of Honor women's world champion Athena um TBS Champion Mercedes Mane as well as um aew world champion swerve Strickland um being at the Forefront of that announcement especially since Athena has been off aew television um in um recent years um on her historic Reign and Ring of Honor talk about the importance of having those three stars at the Forefront when an announcing an event um as historic as the first um a W us Stadium show at all in Texas well it's a great question to me you want to have the greatest Stars the top Champions and and the biggest names in the company and those are some of the great stars and it was a big deal to have the aw world champion swb Strickland the RO women's world champion Athena and of course the CEO the TBS Champion the face of our home network and uh it was great to have Mercedes Monae there and uh you know we have these three great Champions and there were a lot of great Stars top to bottom they represented a great group that was a tremendous tremendous way to kick off that press conference we have a lot of stars top to bottom uh and those are three of the really great ones and uh they were part of that featured group and there you have uh you know not only three great Champions three great stars but I think three great pro wrestlers and three great rep representatives for aw and Ro and in particular what we're doing with aw in Texas but thanks for asking it was obviously very cool and a great photo with a swerv and Mercedes Monae and Athena Al together that's great Jim you there I apologize um uh Chris Mueller from Bleacher Report is next to be followed by Connor develin from The westmeath Examiner Chris Camille coming in and you also mentioned the Von Erics and I'm curious do you have a maximum roster size in mind when you're hiring these new talents and how do you balance which talents you want to feed fure on a show as big as Allin that's a great question I think uh it is primarily people that have been wrestling on television it's a culmination of a lot of the biggest stories just some big examples of some of the big matches on the show when you look top to bottom I think you see great things that have been happening across aw's television and so there is a lot of selection byas there it's definitely uh a lot of the people featured on TVs the matches the rivalries uh relationships and uh these big matches coming up at aw all in you see all that but also uh I think we're trying to bring in what I believe are the top stars from all over the world aw and as far as the right roster size it's a great question it's certainly grown but so has aw you know what we do across aw with five hours of Television every week now 52 weeks a year we we definitely needed a bigger roster than we did originally when we were doing two hours you know that's it's two and a half times the amount of shows and we've added a lot more people because we're doing you know effectively uh 250% more content than we were at the start of this thing in terms of TV so uh for us it's been really great I think expanding this year and having some of these huge free Agents come in and you're seeing them across this card and a couple of the biggest name free agents in particular with uh will ospray challenging versus mjf one of the biggest stars in aw to have your big new free agent uh in his home country and the the national sporting ground at Wembley Stadium this Sunday just really hours from now and to have will Osprey the former International Champion taking on the hated American champion mjf one of a original stars and when you have a great match like that uh it's so great to be able to bring in a top free agent and have them really wrestling at the top of the company and put them in a rivalry with one of the greatest homegrown stars and and these two huge names that's a dream match on pay-per-view and the match they already had that was you know 59 minutes and about 58 and a half seconds uh that was one of the greatest things we've ever had on television uh I don't take it for granted when people go out there and wrestle for roughly an hour at the highest level that was phenomenal and we get to see Osprey versus mjf bringing it on pay-per-view at Wembley Stadium this weekend I can't wait for mjf versus Osprey to see again one of the great homegrown stars of aw and an American Star versus a top free agent signing who we brought in somebody that we've scouted and that's somebody I've known and watched since before we even launched aw and uh to have will come in here and challenge mjf that's a big deal and you have a big free agent signing like Mercedes Monae who's come in become the TBS Champion uh been featured across awtv and taking on again a top homegrown star somebody that was there from the very beginning Dr Brit Baker MD and that's a huge match and uh to have the DMD versus the CEO for the TBS title at aw Allin this Sunday that's awesome uh and these are to me exciting matches exciting rivalries and they've been great stories on television and if you watching the shows I think less and less people are saying that about you know that that that uh they want to see more story because there's so much story on the show and I think if you're really watching it the people paying attention have seen that and and it's been really something that we've gotten so much positive feedback on how great uh the flow has been on our shows especially this forbidden door it's gotten even stronger as we built towards aw all in our track record this year on pay-per-view I think is spotless it's flawless I think we've had top to bottom our best of pay-per-views ever this year and to come here with this card in this setting it feels like it's set up for us to come in and have a huge success story with aw all in this Sunday and I'm really excited about it thanks for asking thanks Chris Connor develin from the West meath examiner is next and Connor will be followed by auna a Goa from Sports ke Conor Sunday and I just wanted to know if should we expect any returns or debuts maybe for the gauntlet match on Sunday well it's going to be a great match as we know the number one participant the first person coming to the ring is the former International Champion orange Cassidy and uh orange Cassidy has never been a world champion in aw but it's uh something that I think everybody would be interested to see and you know who the first person in the match is you've heard some of the big names clamoring to get in the match match of course uh you can expect uh some of those big names lined up but the crazy thing about this match is you never know when it's going to end it could end at any time it's sudden death so you know orange Cassidy and one other great star are going to start this match out and you know that I'm going to keep sending stars out it's uh a randomly drawn entry and at different intervals and that's what makes the match so exciting and it's in my opinion it's one of the best new matches uh to come into pro wrestling in a very long time and I've been able to bring it just this year to two of my hometowns and two of my favorite matches I've ever been able to with so many great wrestlers and to have the casino Gauntlet match in Daily's place in Jacksonville for the shot at the international title and to have the casino Gauntlet match at The Forum in La for the shot at the world title and now to have this casino Gauntlet match for an aw World title shot at Allin this weekend at Wembley Stadium these are my home buildings and my home cities and they have my favorite match and something that I invented in DA's place out of necessity and is probably uh like I said my favorite match idea I've ever had and it came to me in our old DA's Place office where there's a lot of magic I you know I think I I probably should sometimes think about moving my office down to just work out of DA's place and uh own in to the facility down the street um but yeah I uh I absolutely love it and it's a great match and it's going to be very exciting there'll be great wrestlers in the match and and there's a lot to look forward to in the casino Gauntlet and top to bottom on AW all in but the only thing that's for sure is Orange CA is number one and then there's going to be somebody else out there and then this match could end at any time so get ready thanks Connor a Runa a goall from Sports ke is next to be followed by Luke Lewis from the Newport City radio there in UK excited to see mjf Excel again in a new character if you could Shar with us your thoughts on how this character change came up the backstage reaction how mjf has been involved in the process that's it it's a great question I think this new iteration of mjf is not my favorite person he had some very uh not kind things to say about me uh on TV but that's okay uh and I think mjf is a great wrestler and a huge star and big box off attraction and we've seen his true colors I think that uh mjf was enjoying the agulation of the fans and uh then when the fans maybe questioned him uh and his friendships fell apart for the first time maybe we were getting a look at a different mjf last year but I think uh he was not able to uh he was not able to maintain that uh level of kindness that level of uh humility and that kind of person that he was trying to be he couldn't sustain it and this is what he is at the end of the day at least uh this is his dominant nature and it's a different presentation it's a different mjf but it's mjf at his very best and I can't tell you how many people have come up to me in different walks of life uh different places whether it's the gym or Hollywood uh offices uh and charity dinners but people coming up to me and saying like I'm really glad mjf is a bad guy and I like seeing mjf like as a as a real and that's what he is and that's what uh so I get that everywhere I go and people bring it up to me all the time even my dad said it to me like you know and that's probably the uh the highest demographic you're going to get in terms of uh the quality of their feedback and their and their spending power so uh but uh I think uh it's been great for aw having mjf back and he's a great American champion friend frankly and it's going to be an interesting international title or American Title Match however it comes out with Osprey vs mjf at Wembley Stadium I'm really excited for this weekend thank you thanks rudova we've got time for probably Luke Lewis and I think that's G to have to wrap it up we're almost here at the hour so Luke Lewis from Newport City radio you get to bring us home hi atony uh thanks for taking the time to obviously talk to us tonight as you just CL from from the city Regio here in Wales great show last night obviously you've announced all in for next year is going to be in Texas but when you come back in 2026 has already been announced will that be in London or could we potentially see following the success of last night's show at the uell arena in Cardiff could we potentially see Orin come to Wales go to the principality Stadium the cardi City Stadium mayy from Ry prey down here and you but I had to get that in uh thank you very much Tony it's a great question we had a great debut in Cardiff last night but is a home to me and a home to aw so there will always be an aw presence in London I'll always to bring big aw events here to London my hometown here in the UK but I also love this country and I like I said I've driven up and down and across uh to most of the football grounds and I absolutely love the this place and I know there's so many great cities across England and Wales and all over the UK and uh you know so far we've only done aw in England and London and in Wales and Cardiff but there are great opportunities in cities but I can promise you uh next year 2026 I'm never going to forget London London's always going to be a big part of our plans and uh aw in London is really important to us all over the UK that was a great debut last night believe me um I think there's a lot of opportunities across the UK but I'll never stray from London we're always going to want to come back and bring aw here to London that's why we're so excited about this weekend it's just one of the greatest places for anybody any sport but to me personally this is a real home and I just love being here thank you all right thanks Luke Tony um any closing thoughts before we close today's uh press event and look forward to seeing you on Sunday any any any final thoughts well no it's great this has been love this Jim it's fantastic it's our biggest event uh in this great place I've you know I've spent a lot of time in London with you Jim and and you know this energy and what a great place this is firsthand and uh it's just a magical time and uh it's also a different time a day for me than I'm used to of these I'm used to talking to all of you in the afternoon with for my circadian rhythms and doing it here on UK time uh this is uh for the you know the rare time that uh our all media call cuts into my dinner so I'm G to go uh across the street to places I've been with you many times Jim and I'm gonna get some food uh and I really appreciate all all of you uh uh supporting us supporting aw this has been fantastic thank you Jim and Robin and and the whole staff and Danny and the whole uh media team and everybody that uh made this possible uh and I hope I can't wait to see all of you in person this weekend for everybody coming to Wembley Stadium if you can't come to Wembley please check out this pay-per-view it's going to be a great show and it's just hours away this is going to be a great wrestling weekend and a great bank holiday over here in London all right thank you Tony and thank you everyone it is a little bit after nine o'clock where Tony is so we're going to call tonight but uh as always we will be Distributing an audio recording to all attendees shortly and from everyone at aw I'm just going to Echo Tony our deepest thanks not only for today but for the past five plus years uh what an amazing ride so we we hope to see you at wble Stadium or or perhaps and Craven Cottage this weekend in London but if not do join us for the pay-per-view on Sunday morning or afternoon wherever you're maybe watching from in the United States best wishes everyone and once again thanks for joining us today with Tony