Why Tony Khan Keeps Booking Big AEW Events In Chicago

AEW will present its annual All Out pay-per-view from the NOW Arena outside of Chicago on September 4, 2022. Ticket sales for the event have been brisk despite a very unique approach that upset lot of fans. While the company has had no problem getting people in seats for their major events, many AEW fanatics around the country have frequently expressed their disappointment that the main pay-per-views keep happening in the same handful of cities.

Other than the pandemic year in 2020, All Out has always been held in the Chicago area. Fans in other strong AEW markets have been waiting for a pay-per-view in their city since the company’s inception. Tony Khan is hoping to keep it in Chicago.

In the old days of wrestling, there were traditional events that were held in the same location on the same date each year. Tony Khan considers himself a professional wrestling historian. On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer spoke of Tony’s love for those traditions and noted that he wants to establish several of his own.

“So, the demand should be very high for the show and I know people are complaining about Chicago, but Tony Khan is very much into tradition and probably heard a million times the story about how they ruined the Greensboro Thanksgiving tradition and he wants to establish traditions and not ruin them.

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Those traditions are the night before Thanksgiving and Labor Day in Chicago, Memorial Day in Vegas, and I guess trying to establish that September Arthur Ashe Stadium show, which tickets go on sale for that, for all the New York shows in a week.”

AEW’s broadcast partners at Warner Bros. Discovery would love to see the company expand its pay-per-view offerings. Forbidden Door was a huge success, but it was also held in Chicago. Somewhere down the line, AEW fans in other markets could get their chance to see a PPV, but for those that already exist, Tony Khan wants to build them into annual traditions.

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Transcription by Ringside News