KROL’S TAKE: Tip of the cap, Tony Khan; you did it, though it won’t silence the “haters”

Tony Khan, take your victory lap.

You certainly couldn’t blame AEW’s owner if he decided to run naked down Laura Street in downtown Jacksonville, Fla. yelling for everyone in the pro wrestling world to kiss his bare, soon-to-be 42-year-old ass.

Khan announced a new TV deal with WBD reportedly worth anywhere from $150 million to $185 million, with even more money from a potential third show on Fox or FS1 a possibility. It means AEW is on track to become the second most profitable wrestling company of all time. It means AEW is a success. It means AEW defied long odds after starting five years ago.

The list of doubters who should be putting on their bibs to eat a heaping helping of crow is long.

All of the phony podcasters trying to stay relevant and make a buck after washing out in the industry, whether they used to be a contender for 83 weeks or failed to evolve their views on wrestling.

All of the content creators (notice, I didn’t say journalists) who quickly grasped there is money to be made in posting unflattering Tony Khan thumbnail pics slapped on top of clickbait videos where they absurdly suggested AEW wouldn’t make it.

All of the respected, seasoned analysts who complained about the lack of long video packages for the soft-brained, or who tut-tutted about fans having to remember more than one thing each week, or who nitpicked seemingly every last detail because AEW’s storytelling method didn’t always jibe with what they personally wanted out of a wrestling promotion.

All of the bad-faith goalpost movers who, like Roddy Piper back in the day, changed the questions just when you thought you knew the answers. Those folks remind me of doomsday cult followers, always with another explanation ready for why the world didn’t end when their leader predicted it would. These types have falsely insisted that AEW had to overtake WWE to be successful, a fake benchmark AEW was never going to reach nor ever said was the goal.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Podcast weekly Tuesday Flagship episode with guest cohost Jason Powell: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

Hell, while we’re finger pointing, let’s look in the mirror. All of the folks who lost faith big time last year after the promotion tried our patience amid nine months of MJF brochacho nonsense and inane, WWE-style backstage skits, the latter of which are still going on today a little too much for our tastes.

So, Tony Khan, feel free to raise your arms and do the DX crotch chop a few times as fireworks go off. Do a ring entrance for a comical length of time, then pause and ask the people to acknowledge you. Call it cinema?

Because you did it. Despite all the ups and downs, all the explosions that failed to detonate after a barbed wire death match, all the badly missed fake punches by indy creepers that led you to take control of the book, all the missed dream matches due to your booking stinginess, all the bad signings of ex-WWE talents who refused creative plans or self-sabotaged because the kids in the locker room wouldn’t listen to their sage advice, you secured the big bag, securing your place in wrestling history.

They won’t acknowledge you, of course. Most not for long, and some not at all. They’ll create new problems to chin scratch over, make more mountains out of proverbial molehills, raise eyebrows over the latest ginned-up controversy. All the while failing to emphasize enough the super huge problematic red flags of a wrestling company whose longtime chairman paid money to keep sexual misconduct allegations under wraps, faces a headline-grabbing lawsuit where inhumane sexual abuse is alleged, is the subject of a federal criminal investigation, and carried the water of a nation trying to clean up decades of horrible human rights abuses in return for a pile of cash. Dwelling on such things is bad for their bottom lines, especially when there’s a little bit of money and clout to be had ladling undue praise on eyeroll-inducing, overproduced stadium angles.

That group already is beating their collective breasts, noting AEW’s new TV deal is only three years with an option year (cable TV is rapidly changing, who knows what that world will look like in three years, and signing a shorter-term deal allows AEW to potentially not forfeit a bunch of money if rights fees somehow continue to escalate). They’ve attempted to shift the major focus to live attendance and TV ratings being down, pooh-poohed whether AEW is worth the money WBD is paying them, and busted out the monocle emoji while hitting calculator buttons on whether the company is profitable, as though AEW were a publicly traded company where that would matter and not the passion project of a billionaire’s son whose family makes piles of money while asleep through the power of interest.

It’s not that AEW’s lagging attendance isn’t a concern, or that the company shouldn’t be figuring out ways to turn around TV ratings that have fallen faster than the rate of cable cord cutting. The company will either figure out solutions to those issues (booking smaller arenas might be the way to start, and if you’ve got to cut down the size of your stage, then do it) or it won’t. Either way, TV rights fees are how the score is kept in pro wrestling these days.

And for three years plus an option year, AEW is out of the red zone and in the end zone. For Khan, it’s okay to finally exhale. For the rest of us, it’s time to tip the cap and recognize the success.

(Erik Krol was a columnist for Pro Wrestling Torch circa 1990, stepped away from watching and covering wrestling for many years while he worked for Chicago Tribune as an investigative editor and politics editor, and was lured back in during New Japan’s heyday and when AEW launched. He has been a frequent guest cohost on Wade Keller Post-shows and VIP podcasts and he contribute articles periodically for PWTorch these days.)

Stay right here and keep the flow going. We think you’ll like to read this next…

RECOMMENDED NEXT: Update on Sammy Guevara’s scary injury that led to him being stretchered out before Dynamite last night

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: AEW Dynamite results (10/2): Powell’s live review of Dynamite 5 with AEW Champion Bryan Danielson vs. Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada for both titles, Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet for the AEW International Title