Tony Khan On If He Watched NXT Backstage, Wanting Talent That Aren't Free Agents, NJPW
AEW President Tony Khan was all smiles Wednesday night during the Post-Dynamite media scrum. In the 35 minute scrum, Khan was beyond happy that AEW Dynamite did so well for its premiere episode. He noted that he was too focused on keeping up with everything going on backstage, that he didn't have a chance to watch their competitor WWE NXT live.
"I had eight camera angles, the live feed of our show, plus the network feed, the headset, and the stopwatch (to watch)," Khan chuckles. "So no I didn't watch it (NXT). But I will watch it after I watch our show."
With the stacked roaster AEW currently has, Khan stated that he is still looking at adding more free agents to the promotion. At the moment, he is waiting for the other talents to finish working their current contracts. He did not specify exactly who he is wanting to sign just yet.
"Just like I was saying, with Jake Hager, we did a good job keeping that a secret," Khan said. "There are definitely people, to be honest, there are a lot of people that we want that aren't free agents. We just have to keep an eye out on when they are available, and hopefully, people are going to see the good shows that we do.
"We've done one excellent TV show, and hopefully, it's commercially successful and brings in big ratings. I think more people are going to want to come here after seeing us do good shows, and it's also a good place to work. Everyone tells me they like working here."
Speaking of talents in different promotions, it was announced yesterday that AEW World Champion Chris Jericho will go one-on-one with New Japan Pro Wrestling legend Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 4th. With this recent announcement, Khan was then asked if there was going to be a future AEW event that would showcase NJPW stars. Khan wasn't too sure if that would happen in the near future, but says he's hopeful that it could happen someday.
"I believe one good turn deserves another, but we shall see," Khan states. "I don't know. I can't say for sure."
Prior to his big match coming up at Wrestle Kingdom 14, Jericho will have to prepare for a match in two weeks, when he defends his title against the number one contender that will be determined during next week's episode of Dynamite. Khan mentioned that on next week's episode, there will be a number one contenders match for the AEW World Championship. The winner will get a shot at the title against Jericho on October 16th in Philadelphia. Not only will Jericho have to defend his title, but the newly crowned AEW Women's Champion Rhio will also be putting her title on the line.
"There's going to be an announcement about it," Khan addressed. "There's going to be a match next week and the person who wins that match is going to wrestle Chris in Philadelphia for the championship. We've already been advertising in Philadelphia that there's going to be the first title defense for both the men and women's titles."
You can watch Tony Khan's full Post-Dynamite media scrum above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.