Tony Khan Admits He Was “Flying Blind” During Attempt To Buy WWE

Tony Khan took a massive swing at buying WWE in 2023, but now he’s admitting he didn’t have the inside information most serious bidders usually get.

During the pre-AEW Dynasty media call, Khan opened up about his reported $6.9 billion bid to purchase WWE when the company was up for sale. He explained that the opportunity caught his attention because of how big the moment was for the wrestling industry, especially considering how AEW started as a challenger promotion.

While reflecting on the situation, Khan said the entire process was unusual for him because he didn’t have access to the deeper financial details that typically come with a deal of that size. Instead, he said he had to rely on public information that anyone could see. He explained that he built his offer based largely on WWE’s stock value, which is why his bid landed so close to what the company was trading for publicly at the time.

“I looked at it and felt that it was certainly, for me, in my capacity as the CEO and owner of AEW, a very interesting opportunity in the market. When we launched seven years ago as a challenger promotion, I never imagined I would have even an opportunity to consider such a position.”

Khan also made it clear that he didn’t get access to a data room, which is where sellers usually share confidential financial and operational details with serious buyers. Without that access, he admitted he was working with limited knowledge compared to other groups involved in the process.

“Given some of the restrictions, I think compared to other people, I was flying blind… I basically had the same market information everyone else had, which is why the bid I made was very close to the stock market price.”

Even without that deeper access, Khan said he understood why the process played out the way it did and why other bidders were able to move further along.

“I had no more information than the rest of the public, no data room access or anything, and I’m sure that’s why they all made it further in the process than I did.”

Khan also revealed that while the bidding process was happening, he was still heavily focused on building AEW and pursuing major free agents across the wrestling world. Names like Kazuchika Okada, Mercedes Moné, and Will Ospreay were all part of the bigger picture during that time. Looking back, Khan admitted he never seriously planned out what would happen if he actually won the bid, but he still felt it was worth making the attempt.

“We never even gotten close to considering that. But knowing what was happening in the world of wrestling, I think it made sense for me to do the things that I did there.”

Khan’s comments pull back the curtain on just how unusual his attempt to buy WWE really was, showing that even a multi-billion-dollar bid can sometimes be built on limited information when the stakes are that high.