Tony Khan only wants the best on his roster.
With WWE making multiple rounds of cuts in 2021 and contracts of top stars expiring, some have worried how AEW can keep signing talent no longer signed by WWE. AEW has signed Malakai Black, Andrade El Idolo, Bryan Danielson, Ruby Soho, and Adam Cole this year, all of whom appeared on WWE television within the past year.
When asked by Tony Maglio of The Wrap of AEW avoids simply becoming WWE, Khan replied, "You avoid [becoming WWE] by only signing the best people. I believe we have the best roster in all of wrestling right now. I really do believe that.”
AEW has skyrocketed in popularity since the debut of Dynamite two years ago. In September, AEW Dynamite beat WWE Raw in the 18 to 49 demo for the first time ever.
Speaking about ratings, Khan said, "The (18-49) demo is the number that we are measured by, and that’s the chart that we receive from our partners at TNT. I have a meeting with TNT executives every week and we go through the ratings. We used to just go through the ratings for ‘Dynamite,’ but now we also go through the ratings for ‘Rampage’ and look at patterns. The main thing we tend to look at is 18-49. We’ll look at different splits, by gender and different demographics, but absolutely the 18-49 overall is the bread and butter number that we always look at at the start of the meeting.”
AEW Dynamite will celebrate its two-year anniversary on Wednesday with a show headlined by the Casino Ladder Match and an eight-man tag featuring The Elite (Kenny Omega, Adam Cole, and The Young Bucks) taking on Bryan Danielson, Christian Cage, Luchusaurus, and Jungle Boy.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.