Tony Khan comments on WWE’s ‘predatory’ counterprogramming

WWE has not been subtle in its efforts to undermine AEW’s attendance and ratings by scheduling events on the same days as major AEW events. Recently, the WWE-owned Lucha Libre AAA even announced a major event in the same area (metropolitan Chicago) and date (September 26) as AEW’s All Out. During a recent interview on an episode of the Battleground Podcast that dropped on Wednesday (July 22), Khan was asked by these moves taken by WWE. “All Out was already announced for Chicago, and there’s another event now that has been announced happening on the same day in the same market,” host Timothy Battle asked the AEW president/CEO. “Do you view that as healthy competition, maybe a compliment or is that simply the reality of today’s wrestling business?” “It’s probably all of the above. I think it’s all of the above,” Khan replied. “It’s the reality of current wrestling. It’s the, frankly, predatory nature of scheduling of events. But also the compliment that says that AEW is doing very well.