Tony Khan Explains Budgetary Reasons For Releases And Not Taping ROH At Universal Studios

Tony Khan addresses the AEW and ROH budget. 

On April 1, AEW made a round of multiple layoffs for the first time in company history, releasing talent who had largely been part of the ROH roster. Budget cuts were cited as the reason for the releases. 

Asked by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics about the cuts and if budget cuts were the reason, Tony Khan confirmed as much and provided more insight into the AEW budget. 

“This year, I have been very active, not only in the free agent market, but in the production budget. There are things tonight, for example, on one song alone, I spent a year’s pay for most pro wrestlers in this business. The budget with not only free agency, but production, is very high. Also, we’re going into a contract year. I plan to continue being very active, not only in free agency, but in the production of the show, and producing great content. Going into this year, I have to look at where we’re at. I had spent more than I had planned going into this year. I really love our roster and where we’re at. I’m very supportive of everybody we have here and everybody who has ever worked here. This particular group, it was not easy choices to make. With this group, I would be happy to take any of them back under the right circumstances. I have no bridges burned with any of them. For us this year, it’s an important year. I’m looking forward going into the media rights year and being very aggressive and putting our best foot forward doing the best wrestling we can. I expect there will be people who will want to come to AEW and ROH. We’re doing great wrestling and this is a great place to work,” said Khan. 

Khan stated that he had tough choices to make regarding the cuts and understood every situation was different. 

Later in the press conference, Khan was by Xenia about moving ROH tapings from Universal Studios to being part of AEW Collision tapings. Khan replied by once again citing the budget. 

“That’s a budgetary thing. It’s the difference between hundreds of thousands and, annually, millions of dollars in taping costs. It’s several million dollars. When you’re looking at the budget, that’s a good place to look. I would rather protect as many people as possible when looking at the budget. That’s millions of dollars that we’re able to put into the roster we have now, the people here, and production. I love those tapings and doing it at Universal, but it is very cost effective to tape together. There are a lot of positives carrying the crew together. People are able to come and work on TNT and get experience. People have floated back and forth. It’s a difference, over the course of a year, it’s millions of dollars. That’s part of the thinking. I love the Universal tapings. I would love to get back to that if the finances make sense, but I definitely think it’s a logical thing the way we’ve been doing it,” he said. 

ROH has not taped at Universal Studios since June 2023. 

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