Tony Khan believes good things are in store for AEW now that Paramount and CBS have merged under the control of David Ellison and Skydance.
“I have been in a lot of discussions with everybody at the new Skydance and I’m really excited about what’s happened. This is great for AEW and the wrestling fans who like AEW and watched AEW shows. I think AEW is going to become a stronger company and I’ve been very positive and said a lot of things that I was really looking forward to this merger because I’ve had so many great conversations with David Ellison, and I really respect him and like him a lot. I think he’s going to be a fantastic leader,” he said during a WrestleDream conference call today.
Khan remains very positive that the connections he has within Skydance will benefit AEW going forward.
“I’m very excited that Channing Dungey will be returning. Channing Dungey’s been a great champion of AEW and a great leader for the Warner Brothers Television, so Channing’s been a great leader for AEW, he said. “I have had a great relationship with a lot of the people there. I think JB Perrette is going to be fantastic and is a great part of the team and has been very supportive of AEW and is somebody I got to know in 2024 better and and really like through the renewal process, I think him being here as a leader in the new Skydance is going to be fantastic,” he said.
Khan maintains that Ellison has always been a strong advocate for AEW.
“We’ve grown the business on HBO Max…David Ellison’s very positive and excited about AEW. So I’ve had a lot of really good conversations with him as far as what’s going to be the strategy of the company. I can’t speak to all those things but I think it’s going to be great, and I think it’s great for AEW and our fans, and for the company, for Skydance and Warner Brothers and Paramount that we’ll have Channing Dungey still leading television for us, and JB Perrette, who’s a great champion of the AEW business of the streaming on HBO Max for the TV and the pay-per-views and the and the company and is going to be taking a big role in Skydance,” he said.
Khan thinks the merger is the best thing for AEW’s future going forward.
“I was very adamant that this was the best path for AEW, and I think the best path for the company. There were are a number of reasons I feel that way but he (Ellison) was the person that had a vision for it. He believed in AEW and I’ve gotten to know him through NFL. I think he’s a great TV and and film leader, and also I think that he was the buyer and the only buyer that was interested in and excited about and has kept TBS, TNT, and HBO Max under the same roof and to have the networks and the streaming still together but now even stronger combined with Paramount. This was by far the best case scenario, and I really am glad TBS and TNT and HBO Max are still together under the same strong leadership we’ve had with with Channing and JB now with a great leader at the top with David Ellison and a lot of new people that I’m getting to know,” he said.
