AEW President Tony Khan discusses the positives and negatives of wrestling media.
During his recent appearance on the Marking Out with MVP podcast, AEW President addressed the pros and cons of wrestling dirt sheets. While he noted that there can be misinformation occasionally in wrestling media, he believes the positives outweigh the negatives.
“I think overall there is more help than hurt,” Tony Khan began. “I think there can be, at times, misinformation or even disinformation where people put incorrect things out into the world in wrestling for their own benefit. I find that sometimes there’s a lot of truth in these stories, and sometimes there’s not. When you know things firsthand, it can definitely be interesting.
“I do think there is a net benefit and a lot of good that comes from it. There’s so much wrestling in the world, and for me, this is where I learned a lot about international wrestling. We’re talking about Japanese wrestling—I first read about and learned about a lot of what was happening in Japan and in Mexico. I’m a big fan of lucha libre, and I learned a lot about it from wrestling newsletters,” Tony Khan continued.
“So yeah, I absolutely think there are benefits. You can read about wrestlers, then go out and watch them, and they can be very influential on you. There are definitely positives and negatives, but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives when it comes to wrestling newsletters and wrestling media.
Tony Khan says there are benefits from the coverage promotions get from wrestling media
Speaking further, Tony Khan highlighted that journalistic standards in wrestling media are significantly lower when it comes to sourcing and verification of rumors. However, he says there are benefits that the promotions can gain from the coverage.
“There are different ethics in journalism-the sourcing and verification of rumors has a much higher standard in something like football than it does in wrestling. The kind of sourcing you need to report what are essentially locker room rumors is very different. You don’t see legitimate football writers reporting those kinds of things. In wrestling, the journalistic standard is generally much lower when it comes to that sort of reporting,” Tony Khan continued.
“But there are benefits from the coverage you get, just like in any other sport where you want top writers talking about what they see and giving their opinions. I don’t always agree with football writers, and I don’t always agree with wrestling writers, but I respect that people follow something year-round—especially wrestling, which truly never stops.
“If you follow the sport closely, whether it’s football or wrestling, it’s a similar situation. There are always going to be some writers who set a higher standard for their work and for their ethics,” Tony Khan said. [H/T NoDQ]
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