Tony Khan has experienced a notably active year in 2025, focusing heavily on All Elite Wrestling’s ongoing success. During an interview with WJXT-4: The Local Station from Jacksonville, Florida, Khan highlighted AEW’s use of a “stick-and-move” strategy to counter WWE’s programming shifts, contributing to what he described as perhaps the best year in AEW’s history.
Stick-and-Move Tactics Help AEW Navigate Tough Competition
Khan attributed AEW’s impressive growth to carefully adapting their scheduling to respond to WWE’s counterprogramming efforts. He emphasized the intense competition within professional wrestling that demands continuous hard work throughout the year. According to Khan, this approach allowed AEW to maintain a strong presence despite the challenges posed by rival promotions, resulting in rising ratings and audience engagement.
Well, we’re having a great year,
Khan said.
We’ve been able to stick and move and make [WWE’s counterprogramming attempts] work really well for us. There’s always going to be tough competition, and in this sport, it’s very tough competition, a kind of competition that makes you work really hard 52 weeks a year.
– Tony Khan, AEW President
Ratings Growth Driven by Multiple Platforms and Pay-Per-View Success
A key reason 2025 stands out for AEW, Khan explained, is the company’s strong weekly ratings for AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision, supported by expanding their streaming options through HBO Max. He pointed out that alongside gains in traditional cable viewership on TBS and TNT, their streaming audience continues to grow—contrary to analysts’ previous expectations.
For AEW, we’re having a great year,
Khan remarked.
We’ve been putting on great shows. The TV shows have gotten great ratings. We’ve got great support from our audience. And we’ve really grown the audience in 2025. Not only have we added HBO Max and put new viewers on streaming, we’ve got more people watching the shows on cable than we did last year. For Dynamite and Collision, the audience has gone up. If you look where we ended up in Q4 of 2024, each quarter we’ve been going up, building our audience on TBS and TNT, while there’s also people watching on HBO Max. It’s kind of the opposite of what the analysts had predicted when we started simulcasting.
– Tony Khan, AEW President
Pay-Per-Views Highlight a Banner Year for AEW
Khan further praised this year’s pay-per-view events, describing them as the best AEW has ever produced. He noted that among the top pay-per-views in AEW’s six-year history, a significant portion originated in 2025, reflecting both the quality of the events and their positive reception by fans.
So we’re still seeing great returns, great audiences on cable, and I’m really excited about it because I think that 2025, right now, this year, has been maybe the best year of AEW ever. The pay-per-views, you mentioned pay-per-views, we’re doing our best pay-per-views we’ve ever done. If you say… from the past six years, what are the top 10 AEW pay-per-views? I think there’s a good chance five out of the 10, six out of the 10 would be from this year. So it’s definitely a great year for the product of AEW and we’re very focused on how we can make AEW the best wrestling company it can be.
– Tony Khan, AEW President
What This Growing Momentum Means for AEW’s Future
The ongoing growth in ratings and audience size underscores AEW’s strong foothold in professional wrestling amid an increasingly competitive landscape. With their strategy of leveraging multiple broadcast and streaming platforms, combined with compelling pay-per-view offerings, Tony Khan’s leadership appears to be driving the promotion toward sustained success. As AEW continues building on these achievements, it remains poised to challenge traditional powerhouses and attract a broader fan base throughout 2025 and beyond.
