Random, yet Researched, Thoughts AEW (written by a Disabled USMC Veteran w/insomnia)

[WCW Lead Creative]

NOTE: Because I couldn’t sleep last night, I was reading some of the comments on the “articles” on WrestleZone, regarding AEW... HERE ARE THOSE THOUGHTS...

I don’t think All Elite Wrestling is a “flash in the pan” but I also don’t want to commit to paying $50 for a Pay-Per-View to a Wrestling Company who hasn’t even started broadcasting a live show on basic or premium cable yet.

I think of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) that same way I look at any start company.

Shadid Khan may be the AEW's Lead Investor AND Majority Owner (Shadid is also the Majority Owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars), but his son, Tony Khan, is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Owner (CEO) of AEW (Tony is also a “silent” minority owner of his father’s NFL team and also serves as the team’s Senior Vice President of Football Technology & Analytics). Shadid Khan bought the Jags for $760 million in 2011 (The team sale was finalized early 2012, but Kahn bought team midway through the 2011 season) but in January of 2017, they were valued at $2.075 billion. Look at the Jags record and their overall history in the NFL since the Eldest Khan bought the team! And yet, the oldest Khan & Company still own the team and refuse to sell the team. However, both father and son have stated they would relocate out of Jacksonville, Florida (Shadid Khan tried to buy Wembley Stadium in England, and informed the NFL that he were willing to relocate across the pond. Since putting the purchase of Wembley on “hold” in October of last year [Khan offered $760,000,000, while the current owners, The Football Association {the governing body of Association Football in England, the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man} wanted “no less than $800,000,000,” both Khans have been seriously looking into taking the Pro Football Team, overseas, to London. In the 5 Major Pro Sports[NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS] in the USA, it would be the first, outside of Canada, to leave the nation). Besides the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Kahn Family also bought UK's Fulham Football Club in 2013 for $300,000,000 (now valued at $450,000,000).


Let me show you a little comparison between Vince K. McMahon and Shadid Kahn (as of March 2019 from Wrestling Inc):
VKM = worth $3.2 billion - 691st richest person
SK = worth $7.2 billion - 224th richest person
Ted Turner (remember him?) = $2.2 billion - 1.057th - sold Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner for $7.3 billion in stock in 1996, then lost $8,000,000 of his $10 billion soon after Time Warner merged with AOL (buh-bye WCW), heis America's second-largest individual landowner, with roughly 2 million acres, was the first “celebrity” to give away more than $1,000,000,000, owns over 50,000 bison, he has never owned a cell phone, he has never wrote an email (instead he dictates them to his longtime assistant, Debbie Masterson.)


...*Oops, back to Tony Khan and All Elite Wrestling*...


In his career as a Team Owner and Pro Sports Team Exec. for the Jacksonville Jaguars (Tony Khan is the Vice Chairman and Director of Football Operations, General Manager and Sporting Director for the Fulham F.C., the Owner and Chairman of TruMedia Networks, the Owner and CEO or Activist Artists Management [a talent management and advisory firm], COO of two of his father’s newest ventures; Bio-Alternatives and Smart Structures. He is also a hotelier owning stock in many Canadian Hotels and even MGM Grand), Tony Khan doesn’t make the the absolute best decisions. For example, allowing the GM and Head Coach to start Blake Bortles at Quarterback for 5 less-than-mediocre years. He even allowed the GM to re-sign Bortles to a $54 million, multi-year contract extension last year after the Jaguars made it all the way to the AFC Championship Playoff Game, losing to the New England Patriots. Then finally after last 2018’s abysmal Regular Season record, 5-11, Tony Khan himself, not his father, General Manager or anyone on the Coaching Staff pulled the plug, and cut, Blake Bortles.


A “Blake Bortles-type” scenario might work excellent in All Elite Wrestling. Tony Khan has proven that he is the the type of owner who allows his management team, that he hired and signed to contracts, to handle the running of football operations, without stepping in and/or interfering in the football operations. He doesn’t say who WILL BE on the coaching staff or is on the 53-Man roster. He only steps in to make football decisions when he believes management can’t make the “right/correct” decision. Then when his management or talent fails Khan and/or the organization, he comes in and handles the “problems” with “staff and roster.” I have never seen Tony Khan blame anyone else except himself when his team fails, as he takes FULL SOLE RESPONSIBILITY. This type of owner works great in most companies, businesses, and organizations , I think, especially with a brand new company like All Elite Wrestling, who only have had two events, the two Pay-Per-Views, they have had. I’m not going to agree with some Wrestling News outlet and say “Cody and the Young Bucks have a positive track record as bookers following the success of All In,” because, it was one event, it being successful, to me, doesn’t matter.


In AEW, as President, Tony Khan has made great decision after great decision, in my opinion, building a team to support his Company, and Roster, in All Elite Wrestling. His first, and I think best, decision was to get partnered up with Cody Rhodes, Nick and Matt Jackson (The Young Bucks), Kenny Omega and made them Executive Vice Presidents, and not just in-ring talent. Brandi Rhodes is also in the same position being a wrestler and Chief Brand Officer (CBO). Khan also brought on Chris Harrington as Vice President of Business Strategy. To many of his peers, Harrington is second-to-none in the fields of Marketing and Business Strategies. Dana Massey is the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Merchandise Officer. She is still the Vice President for Domestic Media Operations at A+E Networks. Also for A+E she is in charge of Program Acquisitions, Global Quality Control and Standards, Post Production, and Digital Content distribution to 3rd party MPVD’s, SVOD, and other digital partners. Kahn has also hired former D-X member Billy Gunn, former Four Horsemen members Arn Anderson & Dean Malenko, B.J. Whitmer, Jerry Lynn and Christina Meyers as coaches. Keith Richards, formally a Producer for IMPACT!, will take on the same role in All Elite. The Broadcast Crew stars Good Ol’ JR, Jim Ross, also a Senior Advisor, and Head of Commentary. I’m pretty sure JR will have a big impact in writing as well. Kahn also signed Christopher Daniels, not just as in-ring talent, but to be the Head of Talent Relations as well. We’ll also get to enjoy Earl Hebner back in the ring as Head of the Officiating Crew!


Unlike some of WWE fans, I do not want AEW to fail. I do think though, their success will literally lie in the TV deal with TNT, and how consistently they will air a live, high quality product onto the basic cable TV platform. AEW does have a trademark for "Tuesday Night Dynamite", so they will not be going up against WWE in prime time, as SmackDown! will move to Friday nights, when the show moves to Fox. There is absolutely no way for AEW to go heads up against Raw right now, and win ratings, especially during late summer, fall and winter with Monday Night Football. SIDE NOTE - Fox will be the biggest network WWE has ever been on.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm not sure if giving talent so much power is a good thing for the company. While Cody Rhodes probably doesn't have Hulk Hogan's ego, he still needs to look out for himself and his wife (what history or education does she have to be a competent CBO?).

I'm just being skeptical. I want AEW to succeed. I just haven't forgotten about the WCWs and TNAs of the world.

 

[FromGlasgowScotland]

I knew this Khan family were wealthy but I didn't know it was so much wealth and more than double Vinces wealth.
The WWE is at their best when there is competition so I hope AEW is successful but I know what you mean about the PPV price it is high for an unproven product.

 

[Rossinater]

WWE went to the attitude era because they were in serious danger of folding. Vince had his back against the wall and he pulled the trigger which led to the attitude era. Turner was also competing head to head with WWE and the way it panned out shown that each company was fighting for its life. Vince squeaked by and survived. After that the WWE grew into the empire it is now. WWE has guaranteed TV deals for the next five years. The only way AEW can be true competition is if AEW survives through them 5 years. At that time both wrestling companies will be looking for renewals of their shows and would in turn start a bidding war to get the hottest company. Lets say WWE is business as usual in the next 5 years, then both companies would be competing for the better tv deals. Lets say AEW is a huge success and WWE continues to be what it is now- AEW could potentially get better TV deals and other big time endorsements.

I really do not see the WWE catching AEW(in the ratings war) if they continue with the PG rating. Maybe Monday Night Raw can be TV 14 and Smackdown PG or vice-versa. I just do not see WWE changing the way they do things. I think they are fine and content with what they are doing now and the income they are generating now. Their answer to AEW might be the PG rating. They could go all in on the PG rating and be the place for family entertainment. The family entertainment aspect could be what they are pushing for to be the alternative to AEW.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

On a level playing field, i think wwe could leave AEW in the dust within the next 5 years.

But it's not a level playing field. The thing is wwe as a lot of people to answer to as far as what the product looks like. That the problem they gain when they went public. They can't do what they want anymore and it work more like a business now then a wrestling company. I'm not sure if AEW went public they could get away with everything they are doing right now.

That's the biggest difference between WWE and AEW. WWE is a coorporation and they make all they're decision based on how it affect the bottom line, the sponsors, the shareholders and sadly they can't be controversial anymore, they can't be a more adult product anymore because that not what the a level sponsors wants.

AEW as that liberty of being a more adult oriented product because they are new, they don't have shareholders to answers to or a-level sponsors to answer to so they can be a more creative company.

Let not forget, AEW isn't in the same business as wwe. AEW is in the wrestling business. WWE is in the entertainment business with has a ring as a prop.

 

[philipk2011]

Great read but I have to disagree on some trivial points. There's no chance the FA will ever sell Wembley to him. The fan backlash wouldnt be worth it as he's already considered a joke in England due to how he's run Fulham. He's turned them from club that were consistently in premier league to championship fodder. Also I believe your figures are off. As far as I remember he bought Fulham for only 150m not 300m.

Also can I asked where you sourced your figures for their current value? Been looking for a source for stuff like that for a while

 

[WCW Lead Creative]

Also can I asked where you sourced your figures for their current value? Been looking for a source for stuff like that for a while

From 2010 to 2013 I attended the University of Phoenix, in person, at the “campus” in San Jose, CA. The “school” is an absolute scam and joke, but, their Online Library is absolutely on point. There is over 1,000,000 books in their library and countless peer reviewed articles, journals, etc. When you graduate from the University of Phoenix, you are granted access to their online library for life! So, any time I need to look something up, or do research on anything, I immediately login to the UoP Web portal.

 

[Rossinater]

You are entirely right, WWE is a corporation and cannot do the things they used to. WWE will have an answer for AEW. Who knows what happens if NXTgets its own show or what if Raw and Smackdown merged to just Raw and and Have NXT as the other show focusing more on sport. AEW is never going to be true competition in a financial sense. They will be competition in terms of public opinion and TV ratings. I see AEW catching a whole other audience on top of most of WWEs audience. I see AEW becoming the cool thing and really doing well. WWE does not need to be vulgar to be good. NXT is still basically a PG writing but the characters are booked strong and the talent gets creative freedom to do their own promos under the WWE guidelines. On the main roster you have every heel really just a mouthpiece for Vince McMahon. This is exactly what Moxley described. As soon as going heel McMahon was way more up his ass for scripted promos. Now the same is Sami Zayn. WWE is booking and writing themselves to be the joke of the industry. Nothing makes sense and its been made clear that its not supposed too. WWE is an entertainment company moreso than wrestling like AEW. On this past Raw there was less than an hour of actual wrestling and the actual matches were interrupted by commercials left and right. This is a disgrace, a mockery, a complete joke and complete waste of peoples time-PPL are hanging on praying something changes, the fans are told that they are going to change but they dont. They said they were gonna focus more on the tag division, Well we havent seen the champs for over a month. The best tag teams are shaving each others backs and the other group is doing comedy.
AEW will never be at the WWE level and if they ever do reach that level it wont be for many many many years. AEWs success right now is being fueled by horrible WWE product, once they fix that-which it doesnt look like that is happening anytime soon, wenever it is fixed, that will then be the real test for AEW. If another company like AEW is the better product in the coming years it will take a whole lot of consistency by WWE to reach the quality level. I am curious to see what AEW looks liike a year from now-who will be up from contracts,what will the landscape look like. If AEW can partner with New Japan by fostering a relationship through Jericho and Moxley then big things can happen. Then ROH can possibly mend fences and come together . Who knows what is going to happen with wrestling. Thats the exciting thing,

 

[philipk2011]

From 2010 to 2013 I attended the University of Phoenix, in person, at the “campus” in San Jose, CA. The “school” is an absolute scam and joke, but, their Online Library is absolutely on point. There is over 1,000,000 books in their library and countless peer reviewed articles, journals, etc. When you graduate from the University of Phoenix, you are granted access to their online library for life! So, any time I need to look something up, or do research on anything, I immediately login to the UoP Web portal.

Why haven't I tried my college library. Now I feel like an idiot. And to make it worse, I just realised your figures are in dollars. He bought Fulham for around 250m pound sterling. That's why our figures are so different.