Tony Khan wanted to know whether WWE actually admitted it was surprised AEW All Out sold so well. He now has his answer—and there’s a difference between people inside WWE talking and WWE putting out a company statement.
Fightful Select clarified its report after Khan questioned it during the All Out media scrum. The outlet stood by what its sources said: some people within WWE thought running Worlds Collide in the same market would put a dent in AEW’s ticket sales.
“To clarify the question asked by Tony Khan in regards to our report that WWE was surprised that AEW sold out All Out, we noted it was WWE sources, not WWE in an official capacity. They would almost never officially comment in that way about AEW. But there were sources in the company that thought Worlds Collide would slow down the ticket sales.”
Ringside News can confirm that this matches our own experience speaking with WWE sources. WWE keeps tabs on AEW, and AEW absolutely keeps tabs on WWE. People inside those companies talk about the competition—but WWE isn’t about to issue a statement admitting a rival’s sellout caught anyone by surprise.
Khan raised the question during the post-All Out media scrum, stopping to ask whether anyone from Fightful was present. He specifically wanted to know whether the reaction had come officially from WWE.
“Is there anyone from Fightful here? Did WWE actually go on the record to Fightful today and say they were surprised we did so well? They said, ‘WWE sources’… I was curious about that.”
Once he got past who said it, Khan had another issue: why would anyone be surprised in the first place? He argued that AEW’s performance and history in the building gave the competition plenty of reasons to expect a strong turnout.
“I think anyone underestimating AEW is making a mistake, and AEW is continuing to defy the odds and succeed. If AEW has ever been on the mat, every time we got up and fought. So I was surprised when I read that WWE sources commented they were surprised themselves that AEW All Out performed very well. So I don’t know why anyone would underestimate AEW.”
The discussion stems from the report that WWE chose not to air Worlds Collide live in an effort to affect All Out’s ticket sales. WWE and AAA still ran their show at Allstate Arena opposite AEW’s Chicago-area pay-per-view, giving local fans two events competing for their Saturday night.
According to that initial report, WWE sources were happy with Worlds Collide’s performance while also acknowledging that All Out did better than they expected. Those two things can both be true—and neither requires WWE to publicly congratulate Tony Khan.
The clarification doesn’t take back the original story. Some people inside WWE expected their show to slow AEW down, All Out sold out anyway, and Khan made sure that became part of the post-show conversation. What didn’t happen was WWE officially stepping up to a microphone and admitting it underestimated the competition.
What do you think of Khan’s reaction and the explanation that followed? Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
