AEW Worlds End 2024 Media Scrum: Ricky Starks, AEW Rampage Ending & Potential Roster Cuts, Viewership Data Issues for AEW Shows on MAX, Jamie Hawn Allegations, Potential Future Women’s Continental Classic, New TV Deal for Canada

AEW CEO Tony Khan held a media scrum on Thursday to promote tonight’s AEW Worlds End 2024 event at the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida.

Some of the notable highlights included:

• On the topic of Ricky Starks’ current absense in AEW and potential return at AEW’s Dynamite Fight for the Fallen 2025 show, Khan stated “I think we’ll have to stay tuned to see who’s going to be a part of the Fight for the Fallen simulcast. It remains to be seen. We’ve got a great roster here, and we’ve got one of our best pay-per-view lineups for Worlds End this year. I think it’s a tremendous card. Then, As for who’s going to be at the ‘Mother of All Simulcasts,’ that remains to be seen. But thanks for asking.“
• On the topic of potential roster cuts being made over AEW Rampage ending and the loss of over 50 hours of yearly AEW television as a result, Khan stated “I can’t say right now how we’ll accommodate that. It’s a good question to ask. With the company getting significantly more money, many times more money to produce these four hours of TV and focus on that, and then carry that over into the streaming platform, it is a change from doing five hours of TV. But we’ll be much, much, much better off as a company with this deal. As for how we’ll reimagine the roster and how we’ll utilize everybody going forward, it’s a fair question to ask and it’s something we’ll have to look at, but I think there will be great opportunities versus a year and a half ago, when Collision first launched, we had been doing AEW for many years with three hours, with only two primetime hours. Now, this opportunity to have four hours in these time slots is just a great, great chance for AEW. It’s the biggest opportunity we’ve ever had. It will be a change, doing four hours instead of five hours, but again the company is growing, and it’s going to be a great opportunity for AEW, but it is a change. It’s a really exciting opportunity for us. It’s a fair question to ask about how we’ll handle it. I can’t speak to that now, but I appreciate you asking.“
• On the topic of the end of AEW Rampage, Khan confirmed that both AEW Dynamite and Collision will remain as two-hour weekly shows. Khan also gave his thoughts about the profitability of AEW’s new media rights deal with Warner Bros Discovery. Khan stated “It’s a great situation for AEW. We’re getting a new media rights agreement that is huge for us, for many reasons. It’s a massive opportunity for AEW to be able to simulcast our shows and reach new viewers through the streaming service Max. It’s a huge opportunity for us and the deal was very favorable for AEW. We were able to get the rights fees that are many times larger than what we had in our first five years. It completely changes the financial picture of AEW and it’s the big target we have aspired to for many years. Part of that agreement is we would focus on these four hours [of AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision].” Khan continued stating “It is, in many ways, a reimagination of the calendar, but it’s also going to be great for the company. It allows us to really focus on Dynamite and Collision and put more resources into those shows and grow the company. By getting right fees that are multiple times higher than we initially had, we put the company on the path to profitability and that’s really important. The company is going to be one of the most successful wrestling companies of all time, on the bottom line, and we’ve grown the business. We developed it and gone through the startup phase, and we had a great media rights deal for many years, and then we built, built and invested and invested in the company, invested in talent, invested in TV, invested in technology infrastructure, international growth, all with this year in mind. Now, we’re just days away from the thing that we all targeted. When I said the TV deal was in the red zone, that it was on the goal line. All those things proved to be true, and we put together this huge media rights deal that now we can make this a very profitable business for many years to come.“
• On the topic of getting viewership numbers for AEW’s shows on MAX, Khan stated he didn’t think he would get the same amount of information about viewership from Max as he does from traditional cable. Khan also stated he hopes to get good data and insight for himself and the media from MAX for AEW shows.
• On the topic of the recent allegations made by BJ Whitmer’s domestic violence victim Jamie Hawn against AEW’s Head council Chris Peck and AEW’s legal department, Khan gave a non-answer due to legal reasons stating “I cannot. Thanks for asking.“
• On the topic of AEW’s creative structure going forward, Khan stated that it will be the same leadership that they have had.
• In regards to the change in format for this year’s Continental Classic tournament, Khan stated that he felt it would add to the PPV and add another positive aspect to the tournament.
• On the topic of a potential Women’s Continental Classic tournament in the future, Khan praised AEW’s Women’s division and stated there is a potential for a Women’s Continental Classic tournament but scheduling is an issue and same for injuries.
• In regards to AEW’s new media rights deal with Bell Media for Canada, Khan stated they multiple “great” offers and interest for their product. Khan also stated that the new deal they signed was what they liked better, which was the option of staying with TSN.

AEW Worlds End 2024 media scrum full audio: F4WOnline.com

Source: F4WOnline.com, Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, & 4