AEW CEO, President and General Manager Tony Khan spoke on a number of subjects during the Dynasty PPV media call on Thursday.
Khan responded to the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission’s warning to AEW regarding Nyla Rose and more.
The commission voted to warn AEW that if Rose wrestles against a (cisgender) woman again in the state of Oklahoma “there will be punitive action made against them.”
AEW made their debut in Oklahoma City at the Paycom Center back on December 20, 2023 for a live Dynamite and a Rampage and ROH TV taping. Rose defeated Alejandra Lion in a match taped for ROH television, which aired on the ROH HonorClub streaming platform.
Khan said the following as it related to the OSAC and Rose:
“I was really surprised by this. It was not something I was expecting and of course I was disappointed by the commission’s position and by that warning. I don’t think we did anything wrong. I’m really, really disappointed. shocked by it. I don’t think there should be discrimination against transgender wrestlers or transgender people at all and, you know, they have rights and to that end, I absolutely stand by Nyla Rose. AEW stands behind Nyla Rose and all transgender people who want to play sports and this is wrestling. There is. was nothing wrong with it. Nyla Rose is a great wrestler. She’s been a great world champion and I love Nyla. I love working with Nyla. She’s been a great part of our history. She was the first transgender world champion ever and she’s a great part of the AEW Together program. She does a ton for the community. She’s a great person with a great heart. and very supportive of the other wrestlers. One of the funniest people on social media, I personally have nominated Nyla to TBS for the best social media presence on more than one occasion over the years and she’s an amazing 2019 going back to the very first. year of AEW, the first shows, the first dynamite. And look at everything Nyla’s accomplished and to just put that label on her that’s not right. She’s much more than that and, you know, she’s a great athlete and I hope everybody can look at Nila and see that she’s accomplished. a great wrestler, a great person, and she deserves the same chances as everybody else. And if the AEW locker room, which consists of people from all over the world, all kinds of different backgrounds, all different beliefs, if everybody in the locker room can embrace Nyla, I would hope that the Oklahoma Commission could do the same thing. So, thank you. So I’d also like to mention speaking of Dynasty, Nyla is working with one of our new pay-per-view partners for the domestic digital presentation of AEW Dynasty, PPV.com. Nyla is going to be a special guest host for the ppb .com AEW Dynasty event. Very happy about that. We were thrilled when she accepted the invitation weeks ago and we’re all excited about all the different ways you can watch this pay-per-view. This is going to be the most widely available event for digital distribution domestically ever in the history of AEW. For AEW Dynasty, there’s a lot of choices. Of course, Nyla is going to be there on PPV.com. We have great providers with Triller TV, YouTube, and our long -term time base at Bleacher Report. We really appreciate Bleacher Report and Warner Bros. Discovery working with AEW to make sure our fans have a lot of options to watch the pay-per-view and I’m glad Nyla is going to be hosting that. That’s something that’s been in the works for a while. I think the world of Nyla and that’s how I feel about it. “
When Khan was asked if AEW will continue to run events in Oklahoma, he said the following:
“I definitely am treating this as a developing story. It was kind of surprised by this, but definitely wanted to do our best to support the fans across America and all over the world and bring AEW wrestling everywhere. We have great fans. We have great fans in Oklahoma that are important to us and great fans all over the country. And so we’ll do anything we can to support those fans. So it’s something we’re going to have to think about, but you know, it’s a fair question. Thanks for asking.”
Quotes are courtesy of PWInsider.
Other highlights from the media call are below, courtesy of F4WOnline.
-Khan acknowledged the $2 billion valuation by Forbes that came out Thursday and said that AEW is the most valuable sports startup since the AFL which eventually merged with the NFL. He also went on to say that the upcoming media rights deal is the most important thing for the company and that PPV growth is also important. Khan added that said he isn’t sure if the multiple streaming options to buy AEW PPVs will continue after this upcoming three-month stretch. He did not specify the reason why WBD allowed them to now offer the PPVs via streaming sources other than Bleacher Report domestically. The next three PPV’s, including Dynasty will be available also to purchase through TrillerTV and AEW’s YouTube channel. He expects the availability of his full library to be part of the next media rights deal he signs. They are still in the exclusive negotiation window with WBD on those rights.
-Khan said that the AEW Trios and Ring of Honor Six-Man Tag Team titles will be unified Sunday at the Dynasty Zero Hour.
-Khan said AEW is up year-over-year when comparing first quarters, crediting more shows, higher PPV revenue and increased media rights.
-He said the releasing the full PPV schedule for the year was an initiative from new hire Kosha Irby.
Khan said hiring Carlos Cabrera was Mike Mansury’s idea after having worked with him in WWE. Khan added that he listened to fan feedback to upgrade their Spanish language presentation.