Tony Khan: The Mastermind Behind AEW

Almost everybody has probably heard of WWE, but a new wrestling brand has emerged in the United States in the last 5 years. Tony Khan is the founder of All Elite Wrestling, the United States' second-largest wrestling company. For most of professional wrestling history, it seemed like WWE was untouchable as the US’ most prominent wrestling company, but Khan is giving WWE a run for their money.

As many people know, professional wrestling is different from other sports because the matches are performances are planned beforehand. It still is an immense show of athleticism and showmanship, but the foundation of companies like AEW or WWE is the storytelling and planning behind the scenes. Tony Khan is the head creative at AEW, working with all of the wrestlers at AEW to create the shows for the multimillion-dollar company. His job is to get the best out of the wrestlers while creating an engaging and appealing show for the viewer. Weighing in at 160 pounds at 5 feet 5 inches, Khan himself is no wrestler, but he works with world-class athletes behind the scenes.

Even though Khan has no wrestling background, his creative process was shaped at a very young age. Khan has noted that he used to create his own wrestling matches on paper with his favorite WWF/WWE wrestlers. He would create his own storyline and matches, which is exactly what he does now for AEW. His passion really shines through as he notes that his main goal is to just have fun in making the shows. While there are certainly extrinsic motivations in the form of viewerships and pay-per-view subscriptions, intrinsic motivation drives Khan and his creativity. He enjoys working with all of his wrestlers and doing the same things he did as a kid, but this time for national television.

One key part of the creative process for Khan is collaboration. Yes, he is the head creative at AEW, but he has numerous wrestling experts at his disposal. He works with wrestlers who have worked in WWE, TNA, ROH, and other numerous wrestling brands. Many of them have years and years under their belts in the ring. Months in advance, he meets with all the wrestlers and they work as a group to maximize the wrestlers' skills within Khan’s overarching storylines. Many disgruntled WWE employees have moved to AEW because of the lack of creative freedom they had individually in WWE. Khan has installed that as essential to the creative process for the matches at AEW. As a result, several world-class professional wrestlers have achieved success from an individual standpoint, as well as a commercial standpoint at AEW. 

AEW is still in its infancy, which is the main reason that Khan has yet to reach Big C status. However, his creative directive has set the company on track for major success. Within the wrestling industry, he easily finds himself within the pro-C distinction and realistically, only needs more time as head creative to ascend to Big C status. The brainstorming Khan did as a youth has come a long way- so much so that it would not be a shock if AEW becomes the largest and most successful American professional wrestling company in the near future.

Sources:

https://uproxx.com/prowrestling/tony-khan-creative-process-aew/

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/tony-khan-describes-aews-creative-process-talent-who-contribute-ideas