Billionaire Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shadid Khan announced Tuesday his latest venture, All-Elite Wrestling, a pro wrestling company to be ran by his son and Jaguars administrator Tony Khan.
Shadid and Tony Khan released press statements early Tuesday announcing the venture, followed by a rally at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, featuring cheerleaders, pyro, and announcements of the core administrative team made of wrestlers and executive vice presidents Cody Rhodes, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson; and Chief Branding Officer Brandi Rhodes. The company will be based in Jacksonville and has been in talks with several TV networks for a show since November.
“I know AEW will be welcomed by wrestling fans here in the U.S. and throughout the world who are ready for something new and authentic,” Shad Khan said.
The company’s name is based off The Elite wrestling group, a stable of wrestlers who worked together in New Japan Professional Wrestling and Ring of Honor, an American promotion owned by Sinclair Broadcasting based in Baltimore. The group of wrestlers have been made a template to be successful outside the monopoly of World Wrestling Entertainment, thanks to social media and their weekly YouTube show “Being The Elite.” The show has 133 episodes, nearly 300,000 subscribers and has sponsors such as Cracker Barrel.
Rhodes and the Jacksons, who represent around half of the group, held an event in September dubbed ‘All-In’, to see if they could draw 10,000 fans to an independent wrestling show, something no company other than WWE has done in the United States since Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling went out of business in 2001. The September show, held at the Sears Centre in Chicago, sold out 12,000 seats in seconds.
The event was helmed by Cody Rhodes, son of the late wrestler Dusty Rhodes and a former WWE star and now a top-drawing international star after striking out as an independent wrestler.
He becomes an executive at AEW nearly 35 years after his father, who became a national star wrestling out of Florida, became an executive at Crockett Promotions and later WCW based in Atlanta. The early success of the pro wrestling on TBS helped a young Ted Turner turn TBS into one of the first national cable networks and financed the beginnings of CNN.
“It was four months ago at ‘All In’ at the end of the show, and I heard this wall of sound, and I felt this fire from the fans,” Rhodes said Tuesday. “I know this is a fire we had to keep going.”
The company revealed several of its first signings, including a surprise appearance by PAC, who wrestled as aerobatic WWE star Adrian Neville. He walked out of WWE over a year ago while under contract due to frustrations with the company.
The biggest name to sign at the event was Chris Jericho, the multi-time champion in both WCW and WWE, who was one of WWE’s top stars for 15 years. He’s also garnered a large mainstream following with appearances in movies, network television shows and his heavy metal band FOZZY.
“I’m not here for the money, I already got that,” Jericho said ending the press conference. “I’m here because I believe in doing something new, and that’s something I’ve been doing my whole life.”
Wrestling historian and reporter Dave Meltzer, who publishes the Wrestling Observer and has worked for Yahoo Sports said the company has a long road ahead, and those involved know it.
"You can tell they are serious about this,” Meltzer said. “It’s day one of a very long marathon.”
Tony Khan, a lifelong wrestling fan, had been wanting to start a wrestling company with his father for a while. When the ‘All In’ event was such a success, it gave Khan something to go to TV companies with as a sort of demo tape.
“This may have happened without that event, but it would have been different and hard to get into the door at TV companies,” Meltzer said.
According to Meltzer, there are two TV companies that are wanting to go to air with AEW, though TV deals are “never sure things”, it’s looking good for AEW and he expects them to make a deal with a national network. Forbes reported Tuesday that Turner Broadcasting TNT network is in talks with the company for a weekly national TV show.