Tony Khan Wanted To Call His Promotion ‘World’s Best Wrestling,’ Wanted CM Punk In AEW To Start

Tony Khan wanted everyone to know that he was promoting the best wrestling in the world.

Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Khan discussed the start-up of AEW, revealing the original idea he had for the name of the promotion.

“It wasn’t exactly AEW to begin with. My first idea was something called World’s Best Wrestling, at the end of the day, it’s similar meaning to All Elite Wrestling,” he said.

The Elite part of All Elite Wrestling comes from The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, who called themselves The Elite in NJPW. Khan went on to reveal that the first names on his list for the start-up were The Young Bucks, Omega, Cody, Chris Jericho, and CM Punk.

He knew the contracts of The Elite were coming up with ROH/NJPW, thought Jericho might be interested after seeing him work for NJPW, and did not elaborate on Punk, who had been out of the business since 2014.

Khan continued, discussing his meetings with TNT President Kevin Reilly at Halloween parties, which got the ball rolling on AEW landing on TNT.

“I wasn’t sure that the TV rights they were looking at bidding on were going to be a fit for them and I wasn’t sure they were going to be in the market at the end of the day of wrestling TV shows that were out for bid; Raw & SmackDown,” he said.

After explaining the history of wrestling on TNT to Reilly and having more formal meetings outside of Halloween parties, AEW eventually landed on TNT. The partnership with TNT has done so well that the two parties agreed to extend Dynamite through 2023.

You can find Khan’s comments on the extension by clicking here.

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