Tony Khan knows AEW has been throwing more World Championship matches onto TV this year, and he’s not acting like it happened by accident.
With MJF set to defend the AEW World Title against Kenny Omega on Dynamite this week, Khan was asked by Q101 why AEW has been loading up weekly television with so many major title fights. His answer was basically that AEW wants fans to turn on Dynamite or Collision and feel like they are getting the real thing, not just filler until the next pay-per-view.
“Well, I think we’re delivering at the highest level and it’s great having these championship fights. And when AEW’s at our very best, I think you can tune in and expect to see the top stars fighting each other in huge matches and big rivalries. To me, this has been some of the best AEW TV ever. It’s certainly some of the most world championship defenses and major main events that we’ve ever had in a calendar year, and we’re only halfway into the year.”
Khan also pointed to the champions themselves. Darby Allin came up during the conversation, but Khan made sure MJF got his flowers too, saying this version of MJF has been far more willing to put the title on the line than fans may have expected.
“I do think that having great wrestlers—you mentioned Darby Allin also—you have to give a lot of credit to MJF, who’s been a fighting champion, much more so than previous incarnations of MJF, by the way. And I do think that having all these great championship fights on Dynamite, on Collision, on the major events, and having the very best pay-per-views, our fans are having their cake and eating it, too.”
That is really the whole play. Khan wants the fans who watch every week to feel rewarded, especially the ones who cannot drop money on every single pay-per-view.
“You get the very best on TV and a great wrestling product for the fans who can’t necessarily afford the pay-per-views, that you can certainly expect to get such a high standard watching AEW on weekly TV, Wednesdays on TBS, Saturdays on TNT, or streaming everything on HBO Max. I think there are some fans that necessarily maybe can’t buy every pay-per-view and they still are getting great wrestling every week.”
Still, Khan is not saying the pay-per-views are suddenly less important. If anything, he said AEW has to go even harder on those shows because fans are paying extra for them.
“The cool thing about the AEW pay-per-views, they’re worth it. I try to put out an incredible pay-per-view every time because I never want to take for granted the people spending the money on the tickets or on the pay-per-view and delivering at an even higher standard than the incredibly high standard that we try to hold ourselves to week to week in terms of delivering great matches and great episodes of wrestling television.”
Khan said AEW has been building toward this for years, but 2026 has made the approach impossible to miss. More world title matches are hitting TV, and he believes the weekly product is delivering at one of the strongest levels AEW has ever had.
“That is the goal and I think through these past few years, we’ve been doing a very strong job of promoting big title fights and now this year more than ever, there’s been a lot of big world championship matches on AEW TV. It feels like for the last couple years, the quality of the TV continues to deliver at maybe the highest level ever in AEW. We’ve been putting on these fantastic pay-per-views for years and I do think we’ve tried to hold a really high standard at TV and right now I think we’re delivering on it.”
That brings everything right back to this week’s Dynamite. MJF vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Title is exactly the kind of match people expect to see behind a paywall, but AEW is putting it on weekly TV as proof of the pitch Khan just made.
AEW is clearly betting that giving fans major title matches on Dynamite and Collision will make the weekly shows feel bigger without hurting the pay-per-views. Now the question is whether fans see it as a bonus or start expecting that level every week.
Do you think AEW is making the right move by putting more World Championship matches on TV? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
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