Tony Khan provides more information on how the first episode of AEW Dynamite almost took place at Madison Square Garden.
Over the weekend, AEW taped Dynamite and Collision at Madison Square Garden. During one of the breaks, Tony Khan addressed the live crowd about bringing a major event to New York City. When the crowd chanted for Madison Square Garden, Khan told a shocking story about how the first episode of Dynamite was initially planned for that venue until MSG management backed out of the deal.
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan recently hosted a Worlds End Media Call. When asked to expand upon the timeline of events, Khan offered a more detailed explanation on the situation.
“I got a call from somebody who no longer works there,” Tony Khan began. “Who I have a very good relationship, who actually works in a building and a building we frequent. He called and said, ‘I would love to have AEW here and we’d love to be the home of the first Dynamite.’ It would have been early 2019, and we hadn’t announced or scheduled the first show yet, but there was excitement and hype around it.
Tony Khan doesn’t believe there was anything nefarious with MSG talks
“I was offered to go there and we were really interested in it. Once we started to have more calls, they called me back and said, ‘We were really excited about it, but after doing more research, it probably won’t be more viable for us. We thought it was a great idea.’ I have respect for the person who called me. He said, ‘It’s not me.’ He was very apologetic and nice about it. I told him it’s nothing personal against him and I understood why his bosses felt that way.
“We’ve gone on to be very successful in other places in New York. I’m always open to brainstorming and thinking about different ideas with them, but the person here is a fan of AEW, and I don’t think he was trying to do anything hurtful or switch things around for us. It was probably a well-intentioned thing. He’s gone on to work other places and he probably has a good relationship with AEW. I don’t think it was anything nefarious.” [H/T: Fightful]
So that settles that.
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What do you make of Tony Khan’s comments? Are you disappointed that the first episode of AEW Dynamite didn’t take place at Madison Square Garden? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
