Tony Khan Explains Why AEW Women Haven’t Main Evented a Pay-Per-View Yet

AEW has delivered some of the most critically acclaimed pay-per-views in recent years, but there’s one milestone that still hasn’t been reached: no AEW women’s match has ever headlined a pay-per-view. That streak looks set to continue tonight at Worlds End, where the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Title bout featuring Mercedes Moné and Athena is expected to fall beneath the men’s main event.

Speaking with The Takedown on Sports Illustrated, Tony Khan addressed the long-standing question—what will it take for the women to finally main event an AEW PPV? His answer: timing, circumstance, and the right rivalry.

“It’s very potentially possible. It has to be the right match, the right situation, at the right time. If there were ever two that could do it, it would be the two you mentioned,” Khan said, referring to Mercedes Moné and Toni Storm. “But there’s a bunch of other candidates for it as well.”

Fans had hoped this glass ceiling would shatter at AEW All In: Texas earlier this year, when Toni Storm defended her title against Moné in what many considered an instant classic. Instead, that match was placed earlier in the card, with “Hangman” Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley closing the night. Khan insists the Moné-Storm bout was still treated as a top-tier attraction.

“That was a main-event-caliber match. And it really felt that way. And it was presented as one of the main matches on the card,” he explained. “There were three key matches we featured on the Globe Life Field—Toni Storm and Mercedes, Omega vs. Okada, and Hangman vs. Mox. Any one of those could have been a great main event.”

But what exactly separates a women’s match from making it to the final slot of the night—especially when someone like Kyle Fletcher vs. Hangman Page gets the nod instead? Khan said it’s not about gender—it’s about what’s booked for the moment.

“It just depends on the situation, the rivalry at the right time,” he explained. “For what they were going to do, going 38 minutes, tearing the house down on that particular night, I thought Hangman and Kyle was a great choice.”

Still, 2025 has been a banner year for AEW’s women. Mercedes Moné returned to full-time wrestling, held over a dozen titles, and continued to push for more spotlight for the women’s roster. Kris Statlander claimed her first AEW World Title. Despite all that progress, the final slot of a PPV remains elusive.

“It’s absolutely something we can see, and I would expect to see, in the future—on the night where it makes the most sense, and it’s the biggest and most anticipated match on that card,” Khan added.

This Saturday at Worlds End, Moné and Athena will challenge The Babes of Wrath for the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championships—another historic first. But the main event slot still belongs to the men.

What will it really take for the AEW women to break through to the main event of a pay-per-view? Do you think Moné and Storm should have headlined All In: Texas? Drop your thoughts in the comments and join the conversation.