Posted in: AEW, Sports, TV | Tagged: aew, all out, Big Swole, britt baker, tony khan, wrestling

Tony Khan Says All Out Pre-Show Not a Demotion for Baker and Swole

Ahead of AEW's All Out PPV this Saturday, Tony Khan hosted a media conference call, tossing buckets and buckets of chum in to the journalistic waters so click-eating sharks could gobble it up and poop out dozens of clickbait articles. For that, we, just like the rest of the wrestling media, are grateful. On the call, Khan was asked about the placement of Big Swole and Britt Baker's Tooth and Nail match on the All Out pre-show. Though the match has been built for months, it's appearing on the free Buy-In pre-show, which many fans view as not as prestigious as being on the main PPV card. Khan disagrees.

"I've always felt that way, and we put from the first pay per view we did, Double or Nothing, we put some of our biggest stars, including Hangman [Page] and MJF, on The Buy-In," Khan said. "And the idea of it, the reason it's called The Buy-In, is because we try and put exciting stuff on this first hour of the show so that people will pay to see the whole show."

"I love wrestling fans, and I've often said that wrestling is my favorite economy, and it is a strange and elastic economy, is the only place in the world where you'll have people complaining about getting something for free, that they don't have 50 dollars for," Khan continued. "And I think that's great because like the prestige of the quarterly pay per views, it shows how important I think we made getting on the main card. But at the same time, this is a great, important match for us."

Khan also implied that this might not be the final battle between Baker and Swole, which would certainly make sense considering the feud is basically just getting started in terms of actual wrestling since Baker has been out with an injury for months.

"I think you'll see a lot more of Britt Baker and Big Swole, and I'm excited about this," Khan said. "This isn't going to be a traditional wrestling match. The pay per view is going to be very, very wrestling-heavy and not as story-heavy. I'm sure we'll talk more on this call about it. But philosophically, like last night, the second hour was more story-based stuff to get you ready for the pay per view. You know, similar to what we did for Revolution, we had a very wrestling heavy first hour in Kansas City with Kenny Omega and Pac in the iron man match, and the second hour was more story stuff, and Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley did the weigh-in. Last night was great wrestling in the first hour, and some good wrestling in the second hour, too, I thought, particularly Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb, were excellent."

"But with Brit and Swole, there's gonna be a ton of great wrestling on this card," said Khan. "Their match is going to be cinematic, frankly, and it's going to be great. We're gonna have a live crowd there. And we thought for the live crowd; given the kind of match they're going to have in this situation, this isn't the… Britt and Swole can and will have great wrestling matches. I think this will be a little bit different, but it's also gonna be a lot of fun, and it's going to be free for everybody to check out. And I think all the great wrestling everybody is gonna get on the pay per view will be worth the money."

One reason that people consider the pre-show a downgrade could have to do with the history of pre-shows, particularly in WWE. Back in the day, pre-show matches would often be left off the DVD release of a PPV, which led to wrestlers on the pre-show making less money. That's probably an antiquated viewpoint, but it's one that's persisted. As for Khan, he doesn't think being on the pre-show makes the match between Britt Baker and Big Swole any less important.

"I don't think it affects the status of the match," Khan concluded. "It's more about the tone of the match, frankly, and also the fact that its good placement. It's a good advertising for broad fans to AEW. We think it's gonna be a great match, and it's going to be going out to a big audience."

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!