Welcome to a new episode of Power

Players. I'm Yahoo! Finance executive

editor Brian Sozzi. I am pumped for my

next guest because I and I think I've

said this in a few prior episodes, I am

a wrestling fan. My next guest calls me

a laughed wrestling fan, but I'm still a

fan nonetheless. That is AEW CEO Tony

Khan. Tony, good to see good to see you,

man.

>> see you, man.

>> I last saw you at at Khan. We were on

the beach. We were talking some

wrestling. I can't think of a better

moment in my life.

>> Well, it was one of the best interviews

I've ever done and it was certainly one

of the most beautiful sets I've ever

seen and your show Power Players sounds

like a wrestling show. That's why I love

being on with you, Brian.

>> I wait for you to just hit me over the

head with a chair or something, which I

know you won't do cuz you are like a

super nice guy.

>> You've been lifting. You look like you

could get in the ring right now, Brian.

>> It's ridiculous. [laughter]

You know who has been lifting? Wasn't

Billy Gunn? Like guy, he's over 60. Like

I I aspire to be in shape like him. How

do these guys do this?

>> Billy Gunn's got amazing genetics, first

of all. In his 60s, he looks incredible.

He's in great shape. He's still

wrestling and and he's training

wrestlers, including his sons. And Billy

Gunn's sons, Austin and Colten, wrestle

for me now, as does Billy. And they're

part of the Bang Bang Gang. Billy is

mostly stays behind the scenes as a

coach, but he still can get in the ring

and do very well.

>> I'm glad you mentioned cuz I go to I

went to the website and I'm like, "Those

There's some people in here that look

alike."

You have other family members wrestling,

don't you? Wasn't Sting's son

>> Yeah. We're training Sting's son,

Steven, right now. He wrestles before

all the shows in what we call the dark

match and I think he's going to be a

tremendous wrestler. I'm really really

proud of the work he's doing and

right before we started the interview,

we were talking about the fact that

Sting retired in AEW. He's one of my

all-time favorite wrestlers and the work

Sting did in AEW, I still think is some

of our greatest stuff.

>> This has to be amazing. So, what people

don't know, perhaps don't know about you

that are watching this program, this

podcast, listening, whatever it is, you

are a hardcore wrestling fan and you've

been a wrestling fan, I think you and I

are around the same age.

Uh you and I grew up watching A-Team, uh

watching Hulk Hogan on TV. This is like

Night Rider. This is like This is what

we did. Um and I still kind of do it,

but we'll take We'll take it offline. It

must be amazing to see this next

generation uh of these iconic wrestlers

come up in your business.

>> Absolutely. We have some of the all-time

greats in AEW as far as some of the

veterans who uh like I said, to have a

Sting, uh to have his input, to have

Samoa Joe, who I think is one of the

greats. Uh right now the AEW World Tag

Team Champions are Adam Copeland and

Christian Cage.

>> Yes.

>> Uh I won't say their names that I

remember, so I I get it.

>> The Rated-R Superstar.

>> There we go. Fair enough.

>> And uh I have to say that uh having some

of these great legends in AEW along with

some of the greatest young stars, it's

really awesome because when you watch

AEW, you see the very best. AEW is where

the best wrestle. We do every Wednesday

night, it's on TBS and it streams on HBO

Max. It's called Wednesday Night

Dynamite. It's the longest-running

primetime pro wrestling show ever on

TBS. And you're a wrestling fan, that

covers a lot of ground because several

wrestling promotions have had shows

dating back to 1971

on TBS. And AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite

has outlasted them all. Every Wednesday

night on TBS and streaming on HBO Max.

And then Saturdays, we have a great show

we do called AEW Collision. That's on

TNT. And that also you can watch on HBO

Max. It's been on for years, and that's

some of the best hard-hitting wrestling.

And we've got the best young wrestlers,

but we also have the best veterans and

the best competition. There's great

rivalries,

uh and really some of the stories that

are unfolding are I think the best in

wrestling right now.

>> Have you still not missed an an a taping

or an episode, nothing? You're still

being a good boy.

>> to every AEW show we've done, which is

saying a lot because we've done hundreds

and hundreds of shows over seven years.

>> That is amazing. What

what drives you? You don't have to be

doing this. Like what why are you still

like so why are you so engrossed in

this?

>> I love professional wrestling and to be

able to

be the CEO and to be the head of

creative of what I believe is the best

wrestling promotion in the world. I'm

very proud of it. I love sports and my

family works in the NFL and the Premier

League and I love football and I love

wrestling and it's really a blessing to

be able to work in those things every

day. The difference with wrestling

certainly there's no off-season in

wrestling.

>> It's like every day, right?

>> Yeah.

>> Is uh are you still doing work with the

Jaguars?

>> Yes, sir.

>> Yeah. What do you what do you do there?

>> I'm the uh

well, the chief football strategy

officer. So, I'm the head of football

analytics and uh I created the football

analytics department at the Jaguars 15

years ago. And I also I'm the owner and

chairman of True Media Networks which is

the number one sports analytics in the

world. We do work for 29 out of the 30

Major League Baseball clubs. Uh ESPN is

an amazing partner for True Media and

there are thousands of users at ESPN

every day who use True Media which is

amazing. That says a lot of about deep

ESPN stats and research is.

>> How how is the analytics game in sports

changing? I of course now we have AI on

the scene, but I mean you literally got

this department started like you just

said 15 years ago. How's it different?

>> It's completely different. There's so

much more data-driven decision-making

across all sports. Certainly baseball

it's very apparent to anybody who

watches baseball how much the

presentation of the game has changed,

but also if you follow the sport how the

decision-making has changed. And I also

believe in the NFL from being there in

the meetings and being part of the

league for the last 15 years, it's

amazing how

much the league has progressed in 15

years as far as utilizing data and

information. Next Gen Stats is a big NFL

platform that's been created in recent

years that

uh the league now has data that the fans

can look at and use in their fantasy

leagues and in their following the sport

and making their predictions. And also

for the NFL

uh for the teams, we have great

opportunity to get that data and use it

in making decisions, whether it's in

free agency or then looking at the best

college data to prepare for the NFL

draft. Something I'm still very involved

in is the undrafted free agency, and

that's kind of where I still come in and

like

>> AI agents? Like how are you finding time

to do all this? It's tough. Like you

were just all you're all you're on the

motion constantly on the go.

>> I First of all, I've got wrestling every

week, and then throughout the football

season, I really get excited when we get

into the games and I can look at the

games week to week to week. But, there

is some downtime for me. Like in the NFL

right now, this is kind of a slow time

because uh you know, I I I like to ramp

up going into the draft, and then uh I

do a lot of work during the season, but

right now in NFL-wise, it's a slow time.

Very busy time for the Premier League.

Fulham, we just hired a new head coach,

which I'm very excited about. And also,

uh we're doing the transfer business,

and it's uh a busy time in the Premier

League.

>> I just uh

Well, two things. One, is it hard with

everybody using these advanced

analytics, is it hard to spot the

undervalued athlete?

>> It's harder than ever. It definitely uh

is

a much more competitive market for

certain players uh where there's a lot

more research and a lot more teams know

some of the things to look for. Uh

there's a lot more readily available

data. There are analysts at all 32 NFL

teams and all 20 Premier League teams

now. So, absolutely, there's a lot more

research being done, and uh

again, you know, as somebody who studies

finance and you know, that being a topic

that this show is largely based in and

and looking at finance, the stock

market, and things like that, I do think

just as there's much more research and

uh many more tools for preparing and

making investments now that there are

also a lot more research tools available

to prepare for making investments in

football.

>> I think I need to be talking about

soccer more. I recently had a

conversation with Kara Norton,

uh really one of the OG investors in the

soccer space. And she said the whole

thing is blowing up. Now, she wouldn't

say that there will be, I guess, the

similar valuations uh on some of the

women's soccer teams as, you know, the

men's or even in other sports. Like,

where do you see

soccer go in the next decade?

>> Well, it's fascinating. Uh

I think the greatest league in the sport

is the English Premier League. And

certainly the great competition that's

happening right now is the World Cup. Uh

our club is Fulham Football Club. It's

London's oldest club. We're really proud

of the team, and also several of the

players have done very well in this

World Cup. We had six players across

five teams in the round of uh 16, and

then going into the quarterfinals, we

had two players that got knocked out by

their teammates' teams. So, then we had

four players for Fulham in the round of

eight. And they've done really, really

well. Uh

and they're including players from

Norway, Belgium, and Morocco, which are

teams that all went to the

quarterfinals. Uh but really, going into

this season with Fulham, the Premier

League, it's so competitive every year,

and

there's so much excitement, and it's one

of the leagues fans around the world

follow. Just as there are NFL fans that

follow this league with 32 teams here in

the United States, and there's fans all

over the world who like to watch it. The

Premier League, people watch it all over

the world, and I consider it the jewel

of the that sport. And we

are seeing that there's so much interest

in the Premier League. It's become much

bigger on TV here in the United States

in recent years with the TV deal with

NBC and streaming on Peacock. And I

think that the popularity of our team,

Fulham, and the popularity of the

Premier League in general is trending up

in the United States in a major way.

>> Do you even have a second to zoom out

for a second and say, "Wow, this is a

hell of a moment to be in sports." We

have rising valuations on these soccer

teams, or football teams, I should say.

Uh we have the Seahawks just sold for

$9.6 billion partially to a veteran tech

investor.

Um we have the World Cup rocking and

rolling. Uh we got wrestling out there

rocking and rolling. Like

what

have you got I've seen a period like

we're seeing Oh, another one. I talked

to Paul Rabil, uh his Premier Lacrosse

League just had a big capital raise.

Like this This has to be an amazing

moment in sports for you.

>> Yes, it is an amazing time, but I think

that's what's great about sports is it's

constantly changing, and it's always a

great time, isn't it? When is it ever

been a In our lives, hasn't it always

been great? And that's what's awesome.

>> of teams, like a finite assets here,

too.

>> Yeah. I mean, it's it's it's really

awesome because that's what makes sports

so cool. Like when we were kids, sports

was great. You know, we grew up and we

had Brett Favre and Michael Jordan and

Ric Flair. And now just as uh

now working in sports, and I get to work

around Trevor Lawrence and Kenny Omega

and MJF and uh top players in the

Premier League. And so, that's like

really

to me, sports, whether it's wrestling,

uh NFL,

NBA, these sports all doing very well,

all on the cutting edge, but uh

they manage to keep themselves relevant

and also to keep

fans hooked. You know, I I think that's

what's awesome about sports and being a

sports fan. It's always there for you,

and that's why I love wrestling, too.

It's the only sport that never takes a

break.

>> What was your vision when you founded

AEW? What are you 7 years into this

already? What was your vision and have

you achieved that vision?

>> Absolutely, yes. Uh my vision and dream

was to be able to put on wrestling and

have it be a lasting thing, bring

wrestling back to TBS and TNT, where I

grew up watching wrestling. Uh and

thankfully, we've been able to do that.

We started having Wednesday night

Dynamite in 2019. The show still runs,

as I was saying, on TBS every Wednesday.

And uh then we have Collision every

Saturday. This is my dream, to be able

to keep the show strong, and the show is

thriving. Last year, Sports Illustrated

voted AEW the best wrestling promotion

in the world. Also, a number of uh

major media companies, including Yahoo,

ESPN, Sports Illustrated, The New York

Post, all awarded AEW the best wrestling

event of the year. And these are awards

we hadn't won the year before. So, to be

able to stack up all these awards last

year, it showed we're making progress.

This year, I feel we're doing even

better in 2026. Halfway into the year,

our viewership is up double digits.

We're trending in a great direction.

AEW's doing really well on TV, but also

our major pay-per-view events are way

up.

>> Why?

>> I think that the quality of the

wrestling has been very consistent and

keeps getting better. The best matchups,

uh people love seeing the great

rivalries. We just had our most watched

episode of Wednesday night Dynamite in

years for the big Beach Break show last

week with MJF versus Kenny Omega for the

World Championship. And now we're

heading towards AEW at Wembley Stadium,

AEW All In London.

>> When is that?

>> That is going to be August 30th, and I'm

really excited because the world

champion, at this as it stands, it's

Kenny Omega is the champion. He won the

title last Wednesday, and Will Ospreay

is the number one contender. No

Englishman has ever won a world title in

England, and Will Ospreay's goal is to

go to Wembley Stadium, the national

stadium in England, and to go to London,

to go to the capital, and be the first

Englishman ever to win the world title

in England. And if that match-up holds

up, if Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay meet

as it stands for the world title, first

of all, that's a rubber match because

they fought in two incredible matches.

It'll be

such a huge stage to go to Wembley

Stadium and have that dream match-up as

the world title fight with the stakes

being what they are. Kenny's been a

mentor to Will. They're friends. This

has all been unfolding on television for

a long time. There's a lot of excitement

around AEW. So many of the wrestlers

have been delivering at a high level,

women and men. And I think the

excitement right now is at an all-time

high, which is evidenced by the

viewership because last week was our

highest viewership in years on TBS. And

it was the most since our big Blood and

Guts cage match in 2024.

>> I told him we're telling him I love that

name. I just It's a great name, dude.

>> Well, it's funny because

the name actually comes from taking it

something and twisting it around because

Vince McMahon on an investor call said,

"We're not like those Blood and Guts

guys." And at that point I said we have

to use that. We have to use that. That's

such a great quote. So, Vince actually

named it. And

so, 2024, in July, 2 years, was the last

time the viewership on TBS had been this

high. But, 2 years ago, we weren't

streaming on HBO Max yet. So, the

viewership now, the true viewership, is

actually much higher because not only do

we have the TBS viewers, but also we

have streaming viewership. So,

in reality, this is the the hottest and

most viewers we've had in in a long

time, if ever. And it feels like the

excitement around AEW today is at an

all-time high.

>> How does How is your wrestling different

at this point, 7 years in, compared to

the competitors?

>> That's a great question.

Uh well, I say AEW is where the best

wrestle, and I really do believe it. I

think we have the best roster of

wrestlers, and we're very focused on

that. Uh we make sure that all of our

pay-per-views are action-packed. I try

to pack as many great rivalries in as we

can. We have

>> a lot of title fights, too.

>> We do have a lot of great title fights,

and we have a lot of great champions,

cuz we have 4 hours of television, and I

think when you have 4 hours, 52 weeks a

year, you're doing 104 episodes, you

want to have great champions, great

stakes, and great fights. And so, across

the women and men, we have a lot of

great champions and championships, but

there, believe me, when you look at how

many people are in my locker room and

how many great wrestlers there are, the

truth is, there are so many of them that

are clamoring, that are hungry for

championships. The wrestlers would say

they want more, but there are a lot of

champions and championship fights, and I

think that's what makes it exciting. We

had three great championship fights on

the show Saturday. Wednesday's show,

Beach Break, was the most-watched show

in a long time, and I'm very proud of

it. It's a show I think people will

remember in 20 years from now with the

great fights we had. Saturday's show, it

may not be a show they talk about 20

years from now, but it was a fantastic

show, and there are matches that people

will remember for a long time, and I

think all of our shows are important,

and I wanted to put just as much

attention into that one, even though it

wasn't didn't have it necessarily all

the hype and ads around it. But, uh

every show is important, and just as an

example, we had

uh multiple championship fights on each

show last week, and multiple

championship changes, and I think that

uh

that's what part of what makes it

exciting every week to to come and see

the best wrestlers fighting for high

stakes.

>> Uh you work with a lot of

really veteran wrestlers that have been

in this business for a long period of

time, and it is usually universally

viewed as you have all the respect

because you are back there with them

busting your ass off and you have been

doing this since day one. And I think

what I think there's a good a good

lesson here to be learned to a CEO of a

public company. How do you gain the

respect of these

in your case,

you know, colleagues, employees, however

you want to call them. You have seemed

to have pulled it off.

>> Well, you have to really know your

craft. My dad, for example,

knows a million times more than I do

about auto parts, but also my dad is a

leading expert in that field. He didn't

just uh walk into the business. He

rolled up his sleeves. He's an engineer

by trade and he built that business. So,

when he's in Detroit talking to people

in the auto industry, they know he

really understands that business very

well. And uh my dad's the kind of person

that if you ask him what time it is, he

could tell you how to build a watch. And

uh so, I

I think that it started people

understood that I really loved

wrestling, but I had never produced a

wrestling show first hand. I actually

grew up dreaming of doing this and

Dynamite is a show that I have written

in notebooks and emails and message

boards since 1995. Since I was 12 years

old, I've been doing a show called

Dynamite. And then in 2019, we actually

brought the name to reality. I got to do

a real show called Dynamite and it's a

lot different just like fantasy football

is a lot different than the NFL. Writing

a show in your notebook and on message

boards with your friends is a lot

different than

producing a show with human beings,

that's for sure.

Um so, I

start I wasn't very involved in the

ideas from the very beginning and got

more and more involved uh until, you

know, we ramped up. And I think people

backstage saw that I had a mind for it

and had good ideas and then

as we went into our second year, when

the pandemic happened, I went from being

very hands-on to being the only person

backstage, a one-man backstage

>> What was that like?

>> That's the best experience I've ever

had. That's the best thing that ever

happened to the company. It really

leveled the odds for uh the two

wrestling promotions and so many people

around the world, people to this day

talk about the quality of wrestling and

say that wow, when you put it all back

like that and put everyone on a level

playing field, so many people saw that

AEW is the best wrestling. So, for me,

that was the best experience and those

are probably the shows I'm the proudest

of with a skeleton crew. We were putting

on wrestling shows people all over the

world still talk about during the

pandemic with AEW.

>> What did you I mean, your dad has had um

just amazing career, has achieved many

amazing things. What business lessons

did you learn from him? Besides, you

know, working hard and staying focused

that you have have built into AEW.

>> There's so many aspects of it. First of

all, my dad is a very hard person, but

he really is a great guy and he has a

big heart. And

uh

you know, it swings both ways cuz he can

be

uh

a person who could swing a big axe, but

he's also a very fair person. And I

think that's a good

uh lesson and mindset. I have very

different

focus areas than he does, which I think

is good because we look at different

parts of the business. So,

uh we can work in some ways as a as a

team, but also it's good because he has

so much experience and wisdom that he

can share from all walks of life. Uh for

me, I'm very focused on wrestling and

and match-ups and rivalries and TV

shows. And he has all kinds of strategic

ideas that he can bring in that he can

teach me so many things still. And

uh

his experiences in the NFL, it's really

cool because now he's owned the Jaguars

for 15 years and I've gotten to see him

learn so much about football and become

such an expert much more than he was at

the beginning and it's really great. For

an example, I think a lot of the NFL

fans can really see that

unfold.

The hiring and the work he did to put

this group together. I think we have

such a tremendous group coach with Liam

Cohen and my dad did a great job

identifying Liam, interviewing him and

making sure that we got our guy and Liam

does a fantastic job. And uh

I really believe that

his experience and

the fact that he came here to the United

States with almost nothing in his pocket

and

the opportunity to go to college here

and that he grew up here, he really does

embody the American dream.

>> And now he owns a team and he has like a

cool son running like AEW. What is

What's next for AEW? I mean, you have

the TV deal.

You just tell me you're saying that the

viewership is up double digits doing

good there. What's next for this

business? What do you What else is there

left to achieve that you haven't

achieved yet?

>> I'm surprised that you have not asked me

about the merger and I will say that the

last time I was here, we were sitting on

a dock in Can and you asked me about the

plan to split the company up and to have

global networks and to have

the studio and streaming.

>> I want to make sure they watch the whole

>> And though they're going to see

and

so

I think we were set up great there

because we have a great viewership on

TBS and TNT for the global networks and

we have a great partnership and and

we've been very successful now since the

last time I did the interview with you,

we launched pay-per-views on HBO Max.

>> So you're talking about the Paramount

Warner Bros.

>> Yes.

>> Now now since our last interview last

year, that has come into focus and a lot

changed because

Um, Paramount now has come in to acquire

Warner Brothers Discovery and I think

that's fantastic. I'm so excited about

it and you asked me about the

opportunities for AEW and I think that's

a huge opportunity for AEW because we've

premiered our pay-per-views on HBO Max

and we have a great audience. And now

with Paramount making a deal to acquire

HBO Max for me as a showrunner that's

worked at Warner Brothers for over 7

years now, I have to say I'm very

excited about it and really welcoming

the ownership from Paramount.

>> Where does the excitement come from? Is

it the is it the ability to put on more

live programming? Is that where it is?

>> It's the ability to first of all bring

in more subscribers. I think HBO Max and

Paramount are going to be much stronger

and far more competitive together in the

streaming space than they are

separately. And they both have a great

base, but in the world of streaming

together, I think it's a much more

competitive company. It's not going to

be anything resembling a monopoly in

streaming because it's a hard fight out

there, but together, I think we'll have

more viewers with Paramount and we'll be

able to sell pay-per-views into more

homes, stream the show into more homes,

and we'll have a bigger future. And

there's uh first of all, the leadership

of David Ellison I think is going to be

huge for the companies to have the

supreme commander coming in who is the

same age as me and you, somebody who's a

wrestling fan, somebody who uh has a

vision for it and is already promoting

sports and uh is growing other sports

businesses and is I think doing a

fantastic job with Paramount. Now coming

into Warner Brothers, for us it's

perfect timing because we've been now

for 7 years on TBS and TNT.

Uh last year we launched our

pay-per-views on HBO Max and also

simulcasting streaming our TV shows on

HBO Max.

And

this is really exciting for us because

with Paramount coming in,

uh

we're at an all-time high on our

pay-per-views and our HBO Max

pay-per-view business continues to grow.

Our Double or Nothing event that we had

in May was a massive success, and that's

actually the 7-year anniversary of the

very first AEW show. And as a live event

here in New York at the Louis Armstrong

Stadium, we sold every ticket. It was

the biggest gate we've ever had for

Double or Nothing in all these years.

The original AEW show. And as a

pay-per-view, it was the biggest one

we've done yet on HBO Max. And we've

seen continued growth. I think the the

three consecutive pay-per-views all set

the record on HBO Max. So, it's a great

time for Paramount to come in and and

then add more homes for us

when this goes through.

>> Tony, it was good to see you, man.

Um

Thanks for doing this again. I

appreciate I can't believe it's been a

year.

>> It's Well, you know what? It's been a

year, and we've done now your office in

New York, and we've done France, so

we'll have to find a great

>> [laughter]

>> location for next year's interview.

>> Maybe in a ring. Maybe we just do this

in a ring for once.

>> That's great. Come out to LA. We'll do

it in the ring.

>> I think that's cool. Tony, so good to

see you. Appreciate you, man.

>> Thank you, man.

>> Thanks for having me.

>> All right, that's it for the latest

episode of Power Players.