Tony Khan On AEW Allowing More Fans In More Shows
Tony Khan answered questions at Saturday night's post AEW Revolution media scrum and took questions on AEW's future plans to take Dynamite on the road. Khan is in no rush to make a decision.
"I think we're going to take it every few months at a time," said Khan. "Right now I can't say it's where we want to rush out and pack arenas indoors. But I think doing outdoor shows we've had great success. There have been, I think seven, maybe eight months of running AEW events, now with live crowds, outdoors, social distancing, fans masks. There's been zero known transmissions; AEW and the Jaguars we've been running these shows at roughly 20% to 25% capacity since the summer. We've had zero known transmissions and I think there's something to do that."
"At the Super Bowl and the College Football National Championship game, I did sit out in the crowd at both of those games in my pod. I felt it was a very safe experience. And I thought 'would I have felt as good, right now, with everything going on about being inside in the same environment?' Probably not.
"What I'd like to do is slowly increase capacity, but not put the pods too close together yet. And as we learn more and more about the transmission of the virus then we can go and make a plan for touring. But right now for Double or Nothing I think it was just too soon to try and pack an arena."
Khan was also asked about Red Velvet and the chances of her signing full time with AEW following her performance last week teaming with Cody Rhodes against Jade Cargill and Shaquille O'Neal.
"It's very well overdue," stated Khan. "It's coming, it's coming. She's tremendous. I can't say enough good things about Red Velvet."
In addition to Velvet, Khan put over several talents that have worked their way up from AEW Dark.
"As I talk about the extension of Dark, the one thing I'm very proud of is there's been so many great young wrestlers that have gotten to do more and more and develop themselves," said Khan.
"We've seen a lot of people start on Dark that have made their way onto Dynamite and onto pay per views. Red Velvet, Will Hobbs, both members of the Acclaimed, Lee Johnson; so many others who've come up through this pandemic, working on Dark and made a name for themselves. They've become really important parts of AEW, and I think that's really cool."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription. You can find the full audio from Tony Khan's AEW Revolution media scrum via the embedded players below: