Highlights from the Death Before Dishonor media call.
One day out from Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor, AEW/ROH owner Tony Khan fielded questions from reporters on a media call.
Below are highlights and key comments from Khan during the session:
- He was asked for his stance on unprotected chair shots to the head. He did not want to get into the art of wrestling but spoke about the roster’s lack of injuries following matches like Blood & Guts. He said how spots are executed are different now than they were decades ago.
- ROH has come up in media rights negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery. Khan said the ROH brand, library and I.P. can be leveraged.
- Jay White, Dalton Castle and Skye Blue being sidelined caused a domino effect on the Death Before Dishonor card. Khan feels he gets more criticism for booking 5-6 match cards than if other companies did the same and more criticism in general.
- Staying on the topic of injuries, Khan said the severity and type of injury determines if they’ll strip a champion or not. He cited Wheeler Yuta’s concussion as an example.
- Khan mentioned that they are still in the ‘exclusive negotiating’ period with Warner Bros. Discovery.
- He believes he’ll be sending a lot of great wrestlers and champions from AEW and ROH to Wrestle Dynasty in 2025.
- When asked about rumors of there being an AEW TV rights agreement in place, Khan said that is premature. He heard from a prominent media person that WWE P.R. is telling people a TV rights deal is already in place. Khan stated that AEW will have a great deal with a big increase regardless of what WWE is telling people.
