All In is quickly becoming AEW’s WrestleMania, its biggest event of the year. This Sunday, the promotion returns to the UK for another blockbuster show featuring some of the biggest UK superstars in the world today. Names like Will Ospreay, Pac and Mariah May will be taking centre stage at All In.

Having spent so much of his life in the UK, Tony Khan told Slam Wrestling it gives him a sense of personal pride to be able to showcase such UK talent. Khan compared AEW to the Premier League in the UK.

“I’m very proud. We have some top wrestlers in AEW who are from the UK and have competed extensively in the UK. It’s something I’m very proud of. You know, you want to have those homegrown stars, just like in the Premier League, there’s a league of top stars from all over the world competing in that elite sporting league. You want to have the homegrown stars and you want to have the top competition, the top stars, they come from all over the world to play in the Premier League or wrestle in AEW,” Khan told Slam Wrestling. Khan’s father, Shahid, is the owner of Fulham F.C. of the Premier League.

During the All In media call Khan also officially confirmed that AEW is looking to put on a stadium show in Australia in 2025 and that Marshall and Ross Von Erich will be part of All In on Sunday.

Khan also addressed some other topics during the call:

Media rights negotiations:

“It’s a very fair question and I think it’s absolutely right for you to ask that. I am in very exciting time, personally and professionally right now with everything happening in AEW I am very excited about the show this weekend but there’s a lot of things happening in the office and meetings off site and phone calls. It’s an exciting time. The Warner Brothers Discovery relationship has been very strong for us…There’s a really great relationship between AEW and Warner Brothers Discovery, and it’s never been stronger. It’s really in a great place. As for exclusive negotiating or talking to other parties, I prefer not to get into any of that or talk about it. I think we have a really good thing going….We’re very blessed to work with a great partner like Warner Brothers Discovery that has treating us incredibly well in these negotiations right now. It’s a very complex negotiation. I mean, it’s not as simple as shaking hands and slapping a couple numbers down on paper. There’s a lot of things to figure out and it’s an exciting time for us to hopefully create some very new opportunities to grow AEW in exciting new ways.”

Bryan Danielson’s AEW legacy:

Bryan Danielson at AEW Dynamite at MVP Arena in Albany, New York, on Wednesday, September 14, 2022. Photo by George Tahinos, Slam Wrestling, georgetahinos.smugmug.com

“The three years he spent with us have been a very important chapter in a career that to me is start to finish is one of the greatest careers ever in wrestling. I put Bryan Danielson as one of my personal favorite wrestlers ever and somebody who I have so much respect for. He has built an audience worldwide and had people supporting him before he ever really had that huge international television platform. He was already known and established and I don’t think there’s anybody that would work harder or is more respected by their peers.”

“That’s why it’s an honor to work with him backstage. It’s an honor to work with him off site and especially whenever Bryan Danielson is at a wrestling show and especially when he’s in the ring or around the ring, we’re all very blessed to have him. He’s been a captain of this team in AEW and as he approaches the final countdown this Sunday we’re going into what could be the final match of his entire wrestling career just hours from now, certainly I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on it.”

“I thought we put together an excellent video package highlighting a lot of Bryan’s career, including so many things outside of AEW and before AEW was even a possibility. For decades he’s been doing it at the highest level. I think there’s even more of an emotional component because for so many of us who love Bryan and believe in him or are fans of him, like I am, I think we all feel like we’re living on free time like this is all a bonus for us, right? Because we all thought he was gone a long time ago and then he came back and now it’s all gravy.”

“I think you can hold up AEW against everything he’s done and say that it’s been the best and that this is the best Bryan Danielson. I’m very proud of that. Up to this point he’s continued to excel. He’s continued to amaze but the person he’s wrestling this Sunday is a great, great world champion in Swerve Strickland. This is Swerve’s time and the stadium will be his house. Swerve has had this dominant year…He’s been wrestling at the very highest level. He’s beaten everyone he’s faced effectively and has continued to knock down people at the very top of the business and also had great matches in the process, some of the best we’ve ever had in AEW. That’s something the two wrestlers have in common. They both wrestled at the highest level and they both had some of the best matches we’ve ever had in AEW.”

“The stakes are the highest possible: Title versus Career. To have a great champion putting the championship up against this great career and to have it be at Wembley Stadium and have this massive crowd and the promise of the drama and the action, and for a lot of us what we know is going to be a great match. It has been a great story on television. I’m very excited for that. It’s been a great chapter in AEW’s history and I also think it’s been a great chapter in Bryan Danielson’s career. I’m really looking forward to AEW All In and the final countdown for Bryan.”

The absence of Ricky Starks:

“Ricky’s been a great star in AEW. He’s been a champion here and has had great matches here. I think very highly of Ricky. He’s somebody that has been here for several years and he’s under contract in AEW. He’s a well-regarded wrestler here in AEW.”

Here is the current All In card:

  • Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Bryan Danielson – for the AEW World Championship (Title vs. Career)
  • Mercedes Moné (c) vs. Britt Baker – for the AEW TBS Championship
  • MJF (c) vs. Will Ospreay – for the AEW American Championship
  • Toni Storm (c) vs. Mariah May – for the AEW Women’s World Championship
  • The Young Bucks (c) vs. FTR vs. The Acclaimed – for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
  • Casino Gauntlet – Winner gets AEW World Championship match
  • Jack Perry (c) vs. Darby Allin – for the AEW TNT Championship
  • Chris Jericho (c) vs. HOOK – for the FTW Championship (if HOOK loses, he cannot challenge Chris Jericho again for the title)
  • The Patriarchy (c) vs. Bang Bang Gang vs. House of Black vs. TBD – for the AEW World Trios Championship
  • Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway vs. Willow Nightingale and Tomohiro Ishii

TOP PHOTO: Tony Khan on Wednesday, January 3, 2024 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Photo by George Tahinos, https://georgetahinos.smugmug.com

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