AEW: Tony Khan on AEW Being “The Wrestling I Would Love to Watch As a Kid”, WWE Asking Bryan Danielson to Not Do “Yes” Chants Update, Kevin Knight on Working With AEW & NJPW Is A “Dope Experience”

Tony Khan Comments on AEW Being “The Wrestling I Would Love to Watch As a Kid”

A recent episode of 1035 KissFM’s The Hot Tag featured AEW CEO Tony Khan as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Khan’s thoughts about AEW being geared towards all age groups and being the type of wrestling he would love to watch as a kid.

“All ages. AEW, when I was a kid, is the wrestling I would love to watch.”

Khan also gave his thoughts about if the kind of wrestling he loved to watch as a kid was ECW.

“I absolutely loved watching that. And the first wrestling show I ever went to outside of Champagne, Illinois was actually in Philadelphia, was ECW.

The first two shows I ever went to outside of Champagne were back to back, outside Philadelphia Friday night and then in Philadelphia Saturday night in the ECW arena and it was fantastic stuff. The late great Sabu passed away recently and I actually saw his stretcher match with RVD.”

Khan also gave his thoughts about All In Texas being the best show that AEW has ever done.

“It was the best show we’ve ever done. AEW All In Texas.

It’s the biggest pay-per-view we’ve ever had on Amazon Prime and one of our biggest pay-per-view shows ever. One of our biggest crowds ever. The biggest crowd AEW’s ever had on this continent in North America ever.

It was just a great experience. Fans live were great. The show was great. The wrestlers fought so hard. Our biggest rivalries, the best night. And it sets up tomorrow night. We’re here in Chicago and we’re beginning a three-week stay.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

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Update on WWE Asking Bryan Danielson to Not Do “Yes” Chants

As noted before, Bryan Danielson revealed during his panel at this past Friday’s Starrcast Texas convention that WWE had contacted him asking him to stop doing his “Yes” chants at non-WWE wrestling shows.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated WWE’s requests goes as far back as his exit from the company in 2021 and more recently in 2023.

It was reported that Danielson had largely avoided doing the chants in AEW following the first request in 2021 due to WWE claiming that it would infringe on their IP.

It was also reported that Danielson had also filed a trademark for the chant in 2023 that was opposed by WWE and sent him an email again saying that he was infringing on their intellectual property. It was reported that it is currently not known how that issue played out but Danielson has used the chant since then but has never actively merchandised the “Yes” phrase.

It was also reported that it is currently not known if there has been any contact between WWE and Danielson over the chants since 2023.

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Kevin Knight Comments on Working With AEW & NJPW Is A “Dope Experience”

Fightful held a recent interview with Kevin Knight. One of the topics discussed included Knight’s thoughts about his work ethic and mindset as a young performer in wrestling.

“Man, I like to keep the people guessing. I like to keep the people on their toes. So I stay a couple steps ahead and people just react however they want to react. But to me it’s just another day at the office. I’m just staying disciplined, staying consistent with my work and I feel like it just shows itself. So to me, I’m just doing what I regularly do and the people are getting a peek. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of everything that they see. So it’s it’s expected, I guess. That’s all I could say.”

Knight also gave his thoughts about AEW coming into his life and it being an eye opening experience working in the company.

“It was a fun process. Just eye opening process to see where I stand, see where companies think of me and Rocky initially got me into New Japan anyway. So me and Rocky have a good, healthy relationship. So he’s known me since the very beginning. So it was just like having another talk and just bringing in another factor, which was AEW, in the meeting with Tony Khan and QT Marshall and the other people behind the scenes. So it was an eye-opening experience just to get those talks out the way and just see what we can do for my future.”

Knight also gave his thoughts about him having two different contracts and getting to work in both NJPW and AEW being a “dope experience” for him.

“Right. It really, really is. I think Takeshita is the first one publicly that did it and being with DDT as well. So he has three under his belt. So I don’t know, just the way these things happen. I was just looking for exploring my options with my free agency and Rocky being in so many different offices, he pitched the idea of, ‘Hey, you can stay with New Japan and you could do AEW as well.’ Tony approved it. He really liked the idea. You know, me and Tony are pretty cool. I think it’s worked out for the best, get the best of both worlds. I get to continue my stuff in Japan while also furthering my career in AEW. So I think it’s like a handshake deal. AEW is helping New Japan. New Japan is helping AEW. I’m being helped by both companies, being able to keep my name in both companies. So I feel like it’s a dope experience. It’s pretty cool.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com