Tony Khan Comments On Having WWE Competition On Labor Day Weekend, Won’t ‘Sit Back And Take It’

It was a loaded wrestling weekend for fans as WWE held Clash at the Castle on Saturday, September 4 and NXT Worlds Collide on Sunday, September 5. 

Almost immediately following NXT Worlds Collide was AEW All Out, its annual event that has been held on Labor Day weekend. 

While the AEW All Out buyrate has increased every year, Tony Khan wasn’t optimistic that would be in the case in 2022.

“I don’t have an exact number for you. I think it’s probably, there’s a chance, it’s the second highest All Out ever. It may not be the highest All Out. It might the first time we haven’t hit that high,” Khan said when asked about the AEW All Out 2022 buyrate during the post-show media scrum. 

“I knew last year, the all-time high would be challenging. There is a big difference between this year and last year. We were the first professional wrestling show and the only professional wrestling show on Labor Day weekend last year. We were the third professional wrestling show of the weekend this year. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. When I talk about things I wasn’t thrilled about, I was a little surprised we were the third professional wrestling show this weekend and it’s probably a little more challenging, the marketplace when it becomes a little more crowded. Given the prior years, we’ve never had this kind of competition, it’s a first for us to see this kind of crowded marketplace. I don’t know if this is what we’ll see from now on. If it is, when the fight is brought, I will continue to bring fights of my own and I have unique ways to do that, a lot of money to fight with. This is not a game to me. This is my life. I don’t think it’s a joke and I take it really seriously. I’ve very happy with the numbers we did give the competition we had. Very good, given the competition we never faced before, this is an unprecedented marker,” he said. 

Khan noted that 2022 will be the best year on pay-per-view in terms of buys for AEW and credited the success of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, which did around 127,000 buys. 

“The number is the number and I have to face the competition out there. When I compared myself to Jim Crockett Promotions this weekend, I think I got a taste of the same medicine Jim Crockett Promotions took, but I have a lot more fucking money than Jim Crockett did and I’m not gonna…I’m serious, I’m not gonna sit back and take this fucking shit,” he stated.

AEW All Out 2021 reportedly did 205,000 buys and is the highest selling AEW pay-per-view to date. 

Fans can find Fightful’s coverage of AEW All Out by clicking here. Check out the post-show podcast for a full review of all the action by clicking here. 

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