Tony Khan Defends AEW WrestleDream Runtime, Says Tailgate Brawl Is No Longer Pre-Show

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Despite AEW WrestleDream impressing from an in-ring standpoint this past weekend, the show received criticism from fans regarding its runtime, with the event ending at 12:30 AM EST and being over five and a half hours long. On the other hand, the promotion also received praise for delivering a solid product despite the amount of injuries on the roster as of late, with top stars like Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay currently being out of action. Following WrestleDream, AEW President Tony Khan defended the show’s runtime on “Z100 New York” due to the event taking place from St. Louis Missouri, and stated that AEW Full Gear will not conclude after midnight on the east coast.

“In the local time, I thought it made sense and here in the local time, we’ll definitely be out well before midnight and be out in Eastern time here. So, it’s different time zones, but I absolutely loved the WrestleDream show start to finish … especially with some injuries and some top stars away, I thought this was the absolute best show we were capable of putting on.” 

Khan stated that WrestleDream is the AEW pay-per-view that he’s the most proud of since the pandemic and explained that the lengthy injury list allowed him to be more creative with the card for the show.

“Some of the top wrestling stars were away and I said, I’m going to make this the best possible show and everyone’s going to say WrestleDream was the greatest event AEW could put on and it’s going to be about the people who are here and they’re going to love this event. And that’s how I felt at times in the lockdown in the pandemic. If anybody wasn’t available, we would be creative. We would come up with the very best shows we could possibly put on.”

Tony Khan claims that AEW is ushering in a ‘new era’ with Tailgate Brawl

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In addition to being satisfied with WrestleDream this past weekend, Khan also commented on the new format of the promotion’s pre-shows, which have now become episode of “AEW Collision” that feature the highly anticipated Tailgate Brawl. 

“I don’t consider it a typical pre-show anymore because now it’s ‘AEW Collision,’ the Tailgate Brawl on TNT,” Khan explained. “There’s a huge emphasis now on the Tailgate Brawl internally in AEW because that’s an episode of ‘Collision’ and it’s a super important piece of real estate. Not only a chance to sell the upcoming pay-per-view, but ‘Collision’ and ‘Dynamite’ are massively important to AEW … So, I wanted to do something very different and unique and tell people you have to watch these Tailgate Brawls leading in. They are a huge part of the event. This isn’t a ‘pre-show.’ This is a new era.”

Khan also touched on one of the only other occasions where a major cable network show led into a wrestling pay-per-view, as he reflected on “WCW Main Event” airing ahead of many high profile programs. He also believes that the Tailgate Brawl is a better way to lead-in to AEW’s biggest shows with the match being an effective strategy to build fan intrigue for the pay-per-view that follows it.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Z100 New York” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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