AEW Revolution media scrum highlights: comments from Khan, MJF, Starks, Wardlow

The following are highlights from AEW’s Revolution PPV post-show media scrum:

Tony Khan opened by saying he believed the main event was one of the best matches in AEW history.

MJF

-MJF came out using a crutch to sell the leg work done by Bryan Danielson during the main event. He was asked about throwing a beverage on a child during the early portion of his match with Danielson. MJF said the child looked “thirsty.”

Tony Khan then said he had a serious conversation with MJF about the incident before the media scum started. He said Titus, the child MJF threw the drink at, was a “pro” about the incident. Khan also stated that Titus would be coming to AEW’s next event in California.

-MJF was asked about his training for the Iron Man match. He said he’s never been in better shape. He mentioned that Danielson is the toughest wrestler he has been in the ring with.

-MJF was asked about wrestling Hangman Page. MJF answered the question in character and said Page is scared of him. He later said that he doesn’t do dream matches.

-MJF said his match against Danielson was a statement for him. He said he constantly has to remind people that he has classic matches. He said that he doesn’t need to wrestle a lot and mentioned that he’s not a mark.
He went on to say that at the age of 26, he’s had a Hall of Fame career. He said he doesn’t care what others think. He said Tony Khan is lucky to have signed him when he did. MJF mentioned that he would thank Khan, but it wouldn’t be sincere.

RICKY STARKS

-Starks opened by saying that since he beat Chris Jericho twice that he should be the next in line for a shot at the AEW World Championship since Jericho is a former champion.

-Starks was asked about if he was having difficulty keeping his momentum up. He admitted that he lost who he was during the first part of 2023, but he had found his confidence again. He said he realized he can’t lose what he has. He said he can’t be blackballed or made to fail. He said after working with MJF and Jericho, his confidence won’t falter again.

-Starks was asked what he learned from working with Jericho. Starks said he learned the right things to do at the right moment. He said iron sharpens iron and he felt his program with Jericho added seasoning to his meat. He said Jericho has been doing this for a long time and he has observed that people like him are hungry and don’t want to wait for the next thing to come along.

WARDLOW

-Powerhouse Hobbs confronted Wardlow before his portion of the scrum started.

-Wardlow talked about how he won the Revolution Ladder match last year and this year, he won the TNT title. He said he’s been on his own and hasn’t begun to come close to showing what he’s capable of.

-Wardlow was asked about cooling off in the past and what he would do to ensure that wouldn’t happen again. Wardlow said he’s still hot. He said he beat Samoa Joe and on Wednesday he would beat Hobbs on Dynamite. He said he wants to prove people wrong that think he’s not the man. Wardlow also talked about how he would like to do an open challenge for the TNA Championship.

-He talked about how he has beaten MJF in the past. He said the MJF he saw tonight was impressive and he wasn’t expecting him to perform so well against Danielson. Wardlow said that he “mopped the floor” with MJF when he faced him. He went on to mention that he would like to be the first to hold the TNT and World Championships at the same time.

-He said he will be featured on All Access. He said he will make a few appearances on the show.

TONY KHAN

-Khan said the gate for Revolution was over $800,000 and that they had over 8,000 fans paid and 9,000 in attendance for the show.

-He said they are still finalizing plans for Las Vegas for the Double or Nothing PPV week.

-Khan was asked about managing the time tonight vs. other PPVs with the Iron Man match going on last. He said the total amount of content on tonight versus other PPVs was the same with the exception of the Double or Nothing last year when they specifically timed the show around an NBA Championship game.

Tony said there was less on Revolution because they needed time for the Iron Man match. Khan said that every AEW PPV has ended before 11:58 PM EST except for one and that it was done by design. Khan said Revolution was one of the best PPVs they’ve done. He went on to say he felt the pacing was strong and that there were a lot of great matches on the show. Khan said he also felt that the pacing of the show was very good and he felt it was the most balanced show he’s put on PPV to date.

-Khan was asked about wrestlers that weren’t featured on the show tonight. He said he would try to feature them on shows in the future.

-Khan was asked about AEW getting more TV time for wrestling programming. Khan said that the three hours they have are in great places. He talked about people missed having wrestling on a major platform like TNT. He then went on to say that he would love to have more TV time.

Khan said their reality show, All Access, had gotten positive feedback and the network was excited about it being announced. Khan said the network noticed a lot of social media engagement from the announcement. Khan talked about how this was a strong business week for AEW and Ring of Honor. He circled back to giving talent opportunities in ROH and NJPW. He said there’s room to put on more great wrestling with the roster he is building if it is needed.

-Khan was asked if he had any early indications of the buys for Revolution. He said indications are that it was a successful show in line with their first PPVs. He said he believes it will fall in the range of 130,000-140,00 buys. Khan said with the positive buzz the show is getting, he expects even more buys via VOD order.

-Khan was asked about ROH TV and HonorClub. He noted that HonorClub has 12,000 subscribers right now.

-Khan was asked about Mercedes Mone. He said that because he has respect for NJPW, he wouldn’t comment on any conversations he’s had with her.

-Khan was asked for an update on bringing AEW to the UK. He said an announcement is forthcoming. He said that the show will take place in London and it will be special. Khan mentioned that he’s had a good relationship with ITV in the UK and they were some of the first people he worked with when he was launching AEW.

-Khan was asked about Kenny Omega’s contract status and his visa issues. Khan said he wouldn’t comment on them. He said he hopes Kenny will be in AEW for a long time.

-Khan said 2023 has been great for new markets and put over San Francisco. He said they would return to San Francisco in the future.

-Khan was asked about FTR making their return to AEW tonight. He said the first thing he thought of when FTR came back was Jay Briscoe and he praised their series of tag matches. Khan said that perhaps rumors of FTR exiting AEW were premature.

-Khan was asked about the AEW videogame. He said he couldn’t comment on when it would come out. He did mention that the game is finished.

-Khan was asked about what is different for him booking ROH versus booking AEW. He said when he was writing fantasy TV shows as a kid, they were closer to what the ROH show is compared to Dynamite. Khan mentioned that it’s easier to do studio tapings and tape a bunch of episodes together compared to taping Dynamite every week where different issues pop up that can affect the show.

Khan noted that Dynamite is a more challenging environment for him because he’s trying to produce a good show and keep the ratings high as well. Khan mentioned that ROH has a hardcore audience, but AEW is broadcast in 150 countries, so he has to take a much wider and larger fanbase into consideration when booking AEW. Khan said he felt the reception to ROH TV so far has been strong and they doubled their internal projections for HonorClub subscribers.