There isn’t another “AEW Dynamite” like this one. All Elite Wrestling’s “Fight for the Fallen” (8 p.m., TNT) in Charlotte, N.C., is the company’s annual charity show. AEW has already donated $100,000 to Charlotte’s Safe Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to providing hope and healing for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Donations can also be made and a portion of the proceeds from limited edition “Fight for the Fallen” T-shirts will also go to Safe Alliance.
AEW president Tony Khan took time for some Q&A with The Post to talk about the event — featuring the first ever match between Chris Jericho and the king of death matches, Nick Gage — and all things AEW.
(Edited for clarity and length)
Q: Dynamite was the No. 1 Wednesday show on cable the past two weeks, with well over a million viewers last week. Does this feel like the most momentum you’ve had and do you feel like you can really kick this thing into high gear with the next two months that you have lined up?
A: I think this is the all-time high for momentum for AEW. We had great momentum when the pandemic shutdown occurred. We had done an amazing pay-per-view last year in “Revolution” just a few weeks before the pandemic hit. The Dynamite shows were very well received, our tickets were flying and things were going great. People thought it was tough for us to have to go to empty arena shows and do all the things we did.
I think we are now in as strong a position as we’ve ever been and I do think the next few months will be a very important time in the history of AEW. Right now we are writing a really important chapter in our legacy.
Q: Speaking of the next two months, have you signed and/or talked to any former WWE champions, one of which likes to drop pipe bombs and the other one is the leader of a movement?
A: I have no comment on those, but those are good questions but I can’t comment on those.
Q: Hypothetically, what would it mean for a company other than WWE to add a Daniel Bryan and a CM Punk at the same time? What would that do and what would that say to the world?
A: I can’t comment on those two guys, but I think there are certainly a lot of exciting rumors right now.
Q: How did this Chris Jericho-Nick Gage no-rules match come together?
A: I was working on it with Max (MJF) before Chris, the Five Labours of Jericho and I thought Nick Gage would be an excellent Labour of Jericho and a great opponent for Chris, very different from the first opponent (Shawn Spears). This is a great test for Chris as a match, but also generating a lot of excitement in the wrestling community, particularly the internet wrestling community where Nick Gage is something of a cult hero and a hardcore hero and it should be a really, really fun no-rules match.
Q: Did you have any reservations about putting Nick on national TV? I know he’s changed over of the last few years.
A: He’s demonstrated that he has changed a lot. He’s built a strong reputation as a hardcore wrestler and he’s been fulfilling his dates and commitments and he has a lot of support from the company. He made a big mistake (robbing a bank in 2010) a long time ago. I think there have been other people in wrestling that have made similar mistakes and come back and had great careers.
Q: We also get The Elite vs. Dark Order and Hangman Page. This is a story with Kenny and Hangman that’s been very slow burning. What’s it been like to watch the crowd reactions now that it’s back in front of an audience and working and you’ve gotten the reactions you wanted to get for it?
A: I’m absolutely not surprised this is something the crowd wants to see and that the crowd has followed the story of Kenny and Hangman. It really goes back to the first month of Dynamite; Kenny and Hangman teamed for the first time in October 2019.
They had a great run through the pandemic and a lot, as you indicated, a lot of the story that’s been told between Kenny and Hangman has been told on television in front of socially distanced, smaller audiences and now that we’re back on the road playing to full, sold out arenas again, the energy is off the chain. It’s unbelievable.
Q: We have seen a lot of the Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows) on AEW television, but why hasn’t there been more crossover with Impact talent? It seems like, especially Kenny’s stories have been kept very separate between the two promotions.
A: There are legitimately a few reasons for that. They’re telling different stories with different wrestlers, they have a different crew and also they tape a lot of their TV a month at a time. A lot of stuff is already set there and we’re live every week, so our stuff is moving every week. So they move at a different pace sometimes, the stories, and that’s a big reason why.
Q: I was just curious.
A: They’re focusing on different programs. We each have different contenders. I do think there is going to be some more interesting collaborations with them. I’ve enjoyed working with them. Sometimes the TV taping cycles present challenges in booking stuff.
Q: Does “Fight for the Fallen” have a special place for everybody at AEW because of the charity component that’s associated with it?
A: I think so. I think it’s one of our major events — the charitable component really makes it stand out — and an important event on the calendar, and it’s something we’ve done from the beginning. It predates even “Dynamite.” We always load it up with big matches, I always try to put a lot of great matches on a “Fight for the Fallen” card, but also now it will have an extra special touch to it because the event is also about helping people.
Q: How did the partnership with the Safe Alliance come about?
A: I asked a group of people in the company to identify the best possible charity. There were parameters and I indicated this was a big area of focus and concern and the Safe Alliance’s mission really fit what we were looking for, and the directive I put out that I was looking for in a charitable partner. They have a great mission and they’ve helped a lot of people.
Q: We will also see Jurassic Express and Christian against the Hardy Family Office. Was the pairing of Jungle Boy and Christian just partly an idea of, ‘Let’s get Jack under the learning tree,’ or is there even more to putting them together?
A: There are a lot. Some of it is Christian is not only one of the best tag team wrestlers of all-time, he’s one of the most intelligent wrestlers. He’s acclaimed for his mind, his ability to put great matches together and in these multi-man tag matches his experience is unparalleled. For Jungle Boy, Christian has been a great, great mentor and they have this connection.
I think we’re all seeing since Christian’s arrival, Jungle Boy has stepped up and had some of his finest moments since Christian got here and that likewise Jungle Boy’s presence has been good for Christian. I think for the AEW fans, they saw Christian and Jungle Boy in the Casino Battle Royale and it’s a new moment for Christian. We have fans that really respect bell-to-bell, in-ring wrestling. To many of our fans that’s the end-all, be-all and Christian can really go, he’s always been able to go, he can still go. For him to come back and wrestle at the level he has, I think he’s really earned the respect of our locker room. I believe for a lot of our young fans who haven’t seen a lot of Christian in action before he returned to the ring, Jungle Boy’s been a perfect teammate for him. Jungle Boy is very popular with the young fans.
Q: What’s the potential for Malakai Black and Andrade El Idolo in AEW now that they are getting to do what they want to do as characters right now?
A: I think the sky is the limit. They have huge, huge potential. They’re both well known wrestling stars already, and we’ve had some good success already in AEW in terms of people arriving. They had wrestled on a national stage before, they wanted to redefine their career and I love working with people like that. I love working with motivated people that really care that are passionate about wrestling.
I think in the case of both Malakai Black and Andrade El Idolo, they’re very different, they’re both huge stars in my opinion. They both have potential to become bigger stars and box office attractions for us.
Q: Was it Andrade’s idea to make the Guerrero connection or is that something you guys put in once he got there?
A: It was his idea to make the connection with the Guerreros and he had asked about using Vickie. It was my idea to bring in Chavo. I thought Chavo would really add something. I’d seen Chavo recently on an independent show. He was in great shape and we had talked about associating because Andrade El Idolo comes from a very famous wrestling family.
He wanted to be associated with that (the Guerreros) and Vickie was here. As we went on I wanted to add something to the presentation and I couldn’t put my finger on what, and then I saw Chavo on an independent show and I just had a light bulb moment.
Q: Lastly, you had this fun moment between Orange Cassidy and Sting last week. Was that your idea or one of their ideas? It seemed like both guys had a lot of fun with it.
A: I put the match together and I put Orange and Sting in the corners (as managers). I called for the double down and the interaction between Orange and Sting and what was really cool was the idea of doing the kick back of Sting doing Orange’s kick, that was Sting’s idea. I put them out there in that situation and what they did out there, Sting doing the kicks and then the very lazy chest beat as kind of a nod to Orange, that was my idea.
As I put these matches together I often try to put fun moments together with Sting. If you look back the last seven months there have been a lot of fun moments with Sting. That’s probably one of the most fun. But it’s one of those moments I try to create and Sting came in with the best idea of all. It was absolutely his idea. He called me at 10:45 a.m. in Dallas and he was so excited about this idea because he knew he was managing Darby and Orange was managing Wheeler [Yuta] and he knew I wanted them to have an interaction, to have a moment. He asked me, what do you think if I kick him and do his kick to him? And I just loved it. I thought it was such a great idea.
