Tony Khan Talks About WWE Counter Programming AEW

WWE counter programming AEW has become a new theme in recent months. Despite saying they don’t care about the competition, WWE keeps putting their shows against AEW.

Earlier this month, Wrestlepalooza went head-to-head against AEW All Out. Their counter programming worked as AEW was forced to start its PPV earlier than scheduled. Now, they’ve announced NXT Invasion special to go against AEW Dynamite: Title Tuesday, next month on October 7. Tony Khan was recently asked to share his thoughts on WWE’s counter programming, and it seems like he’s not bothered by it at all.

Tony Khan Reacts To WWE Counter Programming AEW

On Going Ringside, the interviewer Scott Johnson had asked Khan if there had been any frustrations within AEW regarding WWE’s attempts at counter programming their shows. Khan responded by saying that AEW is having its best year in the history of the company in 2025.

“Well, we’ve been having a great year. We’ve been able to stick and move and make it work really well for us. There’s always going to be tough competition and this sport, it’s very tough competition, the kind of competition that makes you work really hard 52 weeks a year.”

He also said that AEW is doing better numbers on television than last year, and that their partnership with HBO Max gives them more eyeballs on the product. Their pay-per-views have been selling well as well, and they’re just focused on making AEW better in every way.

WWE Wants TNA To Become The No. 2 Promotion In North America

PITTSBURGH, PA – OCTOBER 02: Tony Khan, President of All Elite Wrestling, addresses the crowd during AEW Dynamite on October 2, 2024, at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire WRESTLING: OCT 02 AEW Dynamite/Rampage Pittsburgh EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon241002008

A few weeks back, Dave Meltzer also commented on this and said the reason WWE is doing everything to counter program AEW is because they don’t want them to get their next media rights deal.

If they raise the competition by putting a show on the same day as AEW, many fans will choose WWE over AEW, and that’ll hurt Tony Khan’s promotion. The belief is that WWE wants TNA to surpass AEW as the second-largest promotion in North America.

Here’s what Meltzer had said about the situation:

“[WWE] really want TNA to become the other promotion because they can control TNA. This is a major full-court press. They just want [Tony Khan] out of the box and they know if the numbers stay good that he’s gonna get a renewal at a much bigger number, just like they did. He’s already very profitable, the number will make him incredibly profitable and they’ll never get away from him or anything like that. So they feel that they need to make sure this is the last contract.” (H/T Cultaholic)

Tony Khan is currently focused on the upcoming Dynamite’s 6th-anniversary edition of the show, which airs on October 1. Kenny Omega is returning, Orange Cassidy will challenge Kyle Fletcher for the TNT Championship, and fans will also see Toni Storm for the first time since losing the AEW Women’s World Championship to Kris Statlander at All Out.

Main image credit: JJ Williams, Digital media staff at Wrestling Observer Newsletter, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons